Editing Bronze Age (section)

==== Bactria–Margiana Archaeological Complex ====
{{Main|Bactria–Margiana Archaeological Complex}}

The [[Bactria–Margiana Archaeological Complex]] (BMAC), also known as the Oxus civilisation, was a Bronze Age civilisation in Central Asia, dated {{circa|2400|1600&nbsp;BC|lk=no}}E,<ref>Vidale, Massimo, 2017. Treasures from the Oxus, I. B. Tauris, pp. 8–10 & Table 1.</ref> located in present-day northern [[Afghanistan]], eastern [[Turkmenistan]], southern [[Uzbekistan]] and western [[Tajikistan]], centred on the upper [[Amu Darya]] (Oxus River). Its sites were discovered and named by the Soviet archaeologist [[Viktor Sarianidi]] (1976). [[Bactria]] was the Greek name for the area of [[Bactra]] (modern [[Balkh]]), in what is now northern Afghanistan, and [[Margiana]] was the Greek name for the Persian [[satrap]]y of [[Margiana|Marguš]], the capital of which was [[Merv]] in present-day Turkmenistan.

A wealth of information indicates that the BMAC had close international relations with the [[Indus Valley Civilisation|Indus Valley]], the [[Iranian plateau]], and possibly even indirectly with Mesopotamia. All civilisations were familiar with [[lost wax casting]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Possehl |first=Gregory L. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pmAuAsi4ePIC |title=The Indus Civilization: A Contemporary Perspective |publisher=Rowman Altamira |year=2002 |isbn=978-0-7591-0172-2 |pages=215–232}}</ref>

According to a 2019 study,<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Narasimhan |first1=Vagheesh M. |last2=Patterson |first2=Nick |last3=Moorjani |first3=Priya |last4=Rohland |first4=Nadin |last5=Bernardos |first5=Rebecca |last6=Mallick |first6=Swapan |last7=Lazaridis |first7=Iosif |last8=Nakatsuka |first8=Nathan |last9=Olalde |first9=Iñigo |last10=Lipson |first10=Mark |last11=Kim |first11=Alexander M. |last12=Olivieri |first12=Luca M. |last13=Coppa |first13=Alfredo |last14=Vidale |first14=Massimo |last15=Mallory |first15=James |display-authors=1 |year=2019 |title=The formation of human populations in South and Central Asia |journal=Science |volume=365 |issue=6457 |biorxiv=10.1101/292581 |doi=10.1126/science.aat7487 |pmc=6822619 |pmid=31488661 |last16=Moiseyev |first16=Vyacheslav |last17=Kitov |first17=Egor |last18=Monge |first18=Janet |last19=Adamski |first19=Nicole |last20=Alex |first20=Neel |last21=Broomandkhoshbacht |first21=Nasreen |last22=Candilio |first22=Francesca |last23=Callan |first23=Kimberly |last24=Cheronet |first24=Olivia |last25=Culleton |first25=Brendan J. |last26=Ferry |first26=Matthew |last27=Fernandes |first27=Daniel |last28=Freilich |first28=Suzanne |last29=Gamarra |first29=Beatriz |last30=Gaudio |first30=Daniel}}</ref> the BMAC was not a primary contributor to later South-Asian genetics.