Terra multiplex et varia natura. On the settlement patterns of Bactria in the Hellenistic Period

The proposed study aims to investigate the character of settlement transformation in ancient Bactria (upper Amu Darya basin) during the period following the conquest of Alexander the Great. This transformation is addressed by the comparison of settlement development in the two regions of Bactria, its north -western part in present -day Uzbekistan and the so -called Eastern Bactria in present -day Afghanistan, based on archaeological evidence. Attention is devoted mainly to the quantitative analysis of settlement sites attributed by previous researchers to the Achaemenid and Hellenistic periods on the one hand, and the evaluation of settlement hierarchy and spatial distribution changes on the other. The conducted analysis illustrates a massive settlement abandonment posterior to the fall of the Persian Empire. However, the results of the study suggest that the Hellenistic eastern Bactria, commonly associated with a high level of involvement of the new elites coming from outside, also exhibited many traits of structural continuity with the preceding period represented by a general settlement dispersal and reutilization of both, previous fortified centres and irrigation networks. On the other hand, interest in fortification and the settling of new areas at higher altitudes are clearly characteristic of the Hellenistic Bactria as a whole.