Moving in the Margins: Desert Travel and Power in Medieval Central Asia

This is the first book dedicated to investigating desert infrastructure of the medieval Silk Roads in Central Asia, exploring the ways in which constructing and commanding these pathways was a means to exploit trade and control landscapes. Central Asia has been perceived as a landscape of connections, of Silk Roads; an endless plain across which waves of conquerors swiftly rode on horseback. In reality the region is highly fragmented and difficult to traverse, and overcoming these obstacles led to routes becoming associated with epic travel and high-value trade. Put simply, the inhabitants of these lands became experts in the art of travelling the margins. This volume seeks to unravel some of the myths of long-distance roads in Central Asia, using a desert case-study to put forward a new hypothesis for how medieval landscapes were controlled and manipulated. Front Cover Half Title Series Information Title Page Copyright Page Contents Acknowledgements Figures and Tables Notes on Transliteration, Transcription, and Dates in the Text Chapter 1 Introduction 1 Questions for Understanding Movement 2 The Layout of this Volume 3 Travel, Routes, Power, and Boundaries Chapter 2 Traditions of Travel and the Origins of Road Networks in the Eastern Islamic World 1 Pre-Islamic Travel and Trade in Central Asia 2 Approaching Late Antiquity 3 The Arrival of Islam in Khurasan and Transoxania, and the Establishment of Routes across the Karakum Desert 4 Beyond the Medieval Period Chapter 3 Black Sands: the Landscape of the Karakum Past and Present 1 Physical Geography 2 Climate 3 Flora 4 Water 5 Surveying the Karakum Landscape 6 Further Analysis Chapter 4 Defining the Architecture of Desert Travel 1 Large Architectural Remains: ‘Caravanserai’, ‘Khān’, or ‘Ribāṭ’? 2 Smaller Architectural Sites: Towers to Sardobas 3 The Built Remains as a Corpus Chapter 5 Moving Material Culture 1 Ceramic Forms 2 Unglazed Ceramic Wares 3 Glazed Ceramics 4 Ceramics as a Chronological Indicator 5 Ceramics as a Functional Indicator 6 Ceramic Distribution and the Origins of Wares 7 Stone 8 Semi-precious Stones 9 Glass 10 Metal Chapter 6 Modelling Landscapes of Movement 1 A GIS Approach to Pathways 2 Friction and Cost Surfaces 3 The Lure of Water – Weighted Analyses 4 Visible Tracks – Remote Sensing and Digitization 5 Historical Cartographic Comparisons 6 Material Comparisons – How Does the Survey Support the Geographical Modelling and Cartographic Evidence? 7 Paths, Chronology, and Movement in the Desert Chapter 7 Rethinking Routes – from Roads of Silk to the Threads of Networks 1 Securing Travellers 2 Sustaining Travellers 3 Controlling Travellers: Power, Ideology, and Desert Travel 4 A Model of Travel Peculiar to Deserts? Particular to the Islamic World? 5 Conclusions Glossary Bibliography Index of People and Places Back Cover