Dear Colleagues,
We invite you to participate in the international conference “Archaeology and paleogeography of Central Asia”. This meeting is called to honour the ground-breaking work of the Soviet-Tajik archaeologist Vadim Aleksandrovich Ranov, corresponding member of the National Academy of Sciences of Tajikistan.
The conference is intended to bring together specialists from various fields in the study of the human settlement of Eurasia and the environment of the Quaternary period. The purpose is to discuss new data on history, geoarchaeology, palaeogeography, Quaternary geology, stratigraphy, and geochronology, to present the latest achievements in the reconstruction of the ancient history of mankind, and to find solutions to some pressing issues relating to the Stone Ages of Central Asia and the adjacent regions.
The meeting is intended to create conditions for interdisciplinary and interregional correlation of archaeological and geological data; it is planned to hold a series of thematic sections and round table discussions of specific problems of Palaeolithic science, stratigraphy and paleogeography of the Quaternary period. The scientific content of the conference builds on the scientific heritage of V.A. Ranov; although it is focussed on the Central Asian region and the Stone Age, it will also cover the most significant areas of modern archaeology and palaeogeography throughout Eurasia.
Khovaling loess plateau. Khonako II section
Scientific topics of the conference:
1. Historiography of Stone Age research in Central Asia in the context of the scientific heritage of V.A. Ranov.
2. Current issues in Palaeolithic studies of Eurasia.
3. Current state of research of the Stone Age of Central Asia: new methods and ideas.
4. General issues of palaeogeography of the Quaternary period of Central Asia
5. Loess-palaeosol series of Eurasia and their significance in the study of the Quaternary history
6. Glacial history and human occupation of the high mountain regions of Eurasia
7. New methods in palaeogeography and Quaternary geology
8. Modern techniques in Stone Age archaeology
9. Central Asia as a cultural crossroads in the Stone Age: migrations, technological innovation and adaptation to climate change
Field seminars
An important part of the conference will be field seminars at key Palaeolithic sites in Tajikistan and at unique sections of the loess-palaeosol series of the Khovaling plateau.
These Quaternary sections are one of the most interesting and significant archives of the history of landscape and climate evolution: the loess-palaeosol series are up to 200 m thick and contain more than 40 pedocomplexes, many of which contain evidence of different tool technologies.
The sections that will be presented to conference participants during field excursions will enable them to become familiar with the stratigraphy and palaeogeography of one of the key regions of central Eurasia, and to trace the unique record of the main regional and global events in environmental and human history.
The organizers of field seminars will present new significant data obtained over the last few years on the structure, genesis and age of stratigraphic units and archaeological sites.
Venue
The conference will be held at the Institute of History, Archaeology and Ethnography of the National Academy of Sciences of Tajikistan in Dushanbe.
The plenary session will take place in the conference hall of the National Library of Tajikistan, and individual sessions in the halls of the Institute of History, Archaeology and Ethnography of NAST and the Presidium of NAST.
Dushanbe is the dynamically developing capital of Tajikistan, connected by air with many cities in Europe and Asia. Conference participants will stay in comfortable hotels in the centre of Dushanbe; special conditions and prices will be offered to conference participants. International flights to Dushanbe are conveniently carried out through Istanbul (Turkish Airlines; Somon Air), Munich (Somon Air), Dubai (Somon Air; Fly Dubai), Moscow (Somon Air; Utair; Ural), Urumqi (Somon Air; China Southern), Tashkent (Somon Air; Uzbekistan), Almaty (Air Astana), Delhi (Somon Air).
