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Description:
The volunteer camp is organized within the
context of a three-year INTAS project aimed at the study of the
medieval water use system in the region of Otrar and Turkestan.
In the region of Turkestan, the specific water supply system is
known as karez (line of wells excavated in the underground water).
Last season, the research teams worked in the area of the medieval
town of Sauran and has discovered more than 40 unknown karez lines.
Several time, Sauran was the most important town
of South Kazakhstan and the capital of the White Horde during
the 14th and 15th centuries A.C. According to historical sources,
the karez technique was imported at the beginning of the 16th
century A.C. but the recent investigations lead to an older and
probably aboriginal sophisticated technology.
The work of the coming season will consist of surveying,
mapping the karez lines of the region and excavating selected
wells. The team will also investigate the ancient settlements
and land use of the region. The study will be made in strict cooperation
between specialists from different disciplines - laboratory analysts,
computer specialists and archaeologists from several Institutes
of the Kazakh Academy of Sciences (Geology, Soil Sciences, Archaeology),
CNR Italy, Oxford and Southampton Universities.
Volunteers will be taught all the successive phases
and methods of geo-archaeological investigation.
Period(s) of occupation:
Neolithic through Contemporary Period
Minimum length of stay
for volunteers:
1 week
Minimum age:
18 years old
Room and Board arrangements:
Accommodation will be arranged in very comfortable local farm
houses. Volunteers should bring a sleeping bag, a mat, a sweater,
some strong shoes, and a flashlight. The surroundings offer facilities
for excursions to the Syrdaria river, the desert, the Karatau
mountains, the medieval towns of Otrar and Turkestan; for camel
riding and hot springs. Further tours could be organized at the
end of the fieldwork (the Aral lake and Samarkand are just five
hours away).
Cost: $300 per week
Academic credit:
Offered by: NIPI PMK (State Institute for Scientific Research
and Planning on the monuments of Material Culture, Min.Culture,
Kaz
Bibliography:
Groshev V.A., The ancient irrigations in South Kazakhstan (in
Russian). Almaty, 1996.
Barthold V.V., History of the irrigation of
Turkestan (in Russian: Istoriya orosheniya Turkestana). t.III.
Moscow, 1963.
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