The Bactria-Margiana archaeological complex (BMAC)in the context of interactions between communities in the Near East

This article presents an analysis of certain constants, which played a decisiverole in the emergence and decline of regional formations in the Near East during theIII and II millennia BC. The main thesis is that these were not all isolated events, butformed part of a single phenomenon permeated by a whole network of interactions. Inthis region there had been two main zones - the valleys of great rivers, on the one hand,and other regions located mainly in the dry farming zone. The valleys were more stablethanks to their surplus produce, but they had a constant shortage of metals, minerals andtimber. When they came into contact with those living in the zones where those resourceswere to be found, the regions which were more developed in the socio-economic respecthad a stimulating effect on their inhabitants. Thus it came about that in the middle ofthe III millennium BC a «second urban revolution» took place in the Syro-Anatolianregion and in the zone known as «Outer Iran». These relations became more complicatedas a result of ethnic migrations and transformations in the contacts between settled andmobile groups. A question to be resolved is whether or not the BMAC can be identifiedwith the state of Markhashi mentioned in Mesopotamian texts. The author suggests thatboth the emergence of this culture and its decline resulted from the dynamics of tradingcontacts and changes in their vectors during the complicated history of many states andthe formations which they brought forth.