Region: Central Asia

The second volume of the Handbook describes different extractive economies in the world regions that have been outlined in the first volume. A wide range of economic actors – from kings and armies to cities and producers – are discussed within different imperial settings as well as the tools, which enabled and constrained economic outcomes.

The three-volume Handbook of Ancient Afro-Eurasian Economies is the main deliverable of the BaSaR project. It aims to offer a comprehensive discussion of economic development in the empires of the Afro-Eurasian world region and elucidate the conditions under which large quantities of goods and people moved across continents and between empires. Volume 1 provides succinct

This paper discusses the
transformation of the language from Greek to Bactrian which was as a
result of the coinage becoming imperial and a cultural reaction to
changing social and imperial requirements rather than the opposition of
a ruler to the former language and tradition.

This paper reassesses the material culture of Ai Khanum, the most
important site of Hellenistic-period Bactria, from a translocal
globalisation approach. While ‘Hellenism’ is a commonly cited
explanation for cultural change in what is often referred to as ‘The Far
East’, it begs the question how particular cultural elements were used
and perceived socially on

This paper offers two major revisions to the chronology of the archaeological site of Begram (Afghanistan). The first revision pertains to when the Begram hoard was deposited (i.e. not when the objects were produced). Based on the new identification of three coins from room 10 as belonging to the post- Vasudeva Oesho with bull series,