Khorezmian Walled Sites of the Seventh Century Bc—Fourth Century Ad: Urban Settlements? Elite Strongholds? Mobile Centres?

Previous interpretations have reconstructed late Iron Age Khorezm as a sedentary, urban, agrarian state, and its largest fortified sites as urban centres following the hydraulic state model. This paper surveys the assumptions underlying this interpretation, and examines the archaeological evidence for urban settlements in relation to the fortified enclosures or kalas. A closer examination of these fortified sites reveals that they may have played a different role from that of centralised settlements. The lack of evidence for significant permanent, intra-mural housing and other factors requires the consideration of a greater influence of the steppe world and mobile strategies in the oasis during this period.

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