Jeitun: Recent Excavations at an Early Neolithic Site in Southern Turkmenistan

Abstract

Excavations at the Neolithic site of Jeitun in Turkmenistan, Central Asia, were carried out by a British team between 1991 and 1994 as part of a collaborative project with Soviet and Turkmenian archaeologists. Jeitun was first systematically excavated in the 1950s by Professor V.M. Masson and was shown to be a small settlement of mudbrick houses and ancillary buildings together with yard layers. Our recent excavations have attempted to refine knowledge of the site's stratigraphy and architecture by using fine-grained excavation and recovery techniques and by sampling systematically for sediments, plant and animal remains, and artefacts. We have also obtained the first suite of radiocarbon dates from the site which shows that it was first occupied at c. 6000 cal. BC and may only have remained in use for a few centuries. The excavations have uncovered the lowest architectural phases at Jeitun, as demonstrated by detailed examination of two houses at the northern end of the site. Both houses have a complex history of use, with well laid gypsum floors and intervening layers of sand and mudbrick destruction. Such complexity may indicate that the site was not occupied permanently, although year-round occupation is, on present evidence, equally likely. We tentatively define three phases in the occupation of the site, from ephemeral use in the lowest layers to complex and intensive occupation in the uppermost parts. These phases cannot be separated by the 11 radiocarbon dates obtained, which appear to suggest that activity at the site increased relatively rapidly over a short period of time. Further excavation and analysis is needed to refine and strengthen our conclusions.