The Relationship Between Archaic Construction Methods in Pottery and Architecture in Central Asia
Petrova N.Y. Dubova N.A. Rakhimzhanova S.Z.
2025Institute of Archaeology and Enthnography of the Siberian Branch of The Russian Academy of Sciences
Archaeology, Ethnology and Anthropology of Eurasia
2025#53Issue 299 - 107 pp.
This study explores the connection between archaic construction methods in pottery in Central Asian, mostly that of tandoors (tonurs), and present-day building technologies associated with the use of unbaked clay (“pakhsa”, “kuloh”, “adobe bricks”). Ethnographic fieldwork was done in several areas of Central Asia, including the Sughd Region of Tajikistan, the Turkestan Region of Kazakhstan, the Fergana and Samarkand regions of Uzbekistan, and the Batkent Region of Kyrgyzstan. Traditions of constructing tandoors were examined; materials relating to various building technologies using clay were collected and systematized. Two main methods of pakhsa construction were identified—lining up undried clay lumps in layers, or backfilling clay into a mold (“packed techniques”). The first was developed in construction technology using kuloh—dried lumps of clay joined with mortar. The technique of building tandoors from two layers of slabs, with subsequent transformation into a band, and coils connected pairwise during drying, resembles that of pakhsa construction by placing clay lumps in several rows across the width of the wall in strips (“kurses”) laid along the entire length of it. This confirms the common origin of the most archaic construction methods in pottery and construction from clay in architecture.
ceramics construction methods , coils , construction from clay , kuloh , pakhsa , slabs , Tandoors
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Institute of Archaeology, Russian Academy of Sciences, Dm. Ulyanova 19, Moscow, 117292, Russian Federation
Margulan Institute of Archaeology, Pr. Dostyk 44, Almaty, 050000, Kazakhstan
Miklukho-Maklai Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology, Russian Academy of Sciences, Leninsky pr. 32a, Moscow, 119334, Russian Federation
Institute of Archaeology
Margulan Institute of Archaeology
Miklukho-Maklai Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology
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