Ancient Agricultural and Pastoral Landscapes on the South Side of Lake Issyk-Kul: Long-Term Diachronic Analysis of Changing Patterns of Land Use, Climate Change, and Ritual Use in the Juuku and Kizil Suu Valleys

The main goal of this paper is to present results preliminary archaeological research on the south side Lake Issyk-Kul in Kyrgyzstan. We test hypothesis that agropastoral land use changed over four millennia from Bronze Age through Kirghiz period due economic, socio-political, and religious shifts prehistoric historic societies region. Our objectives are to: (1) describe analyze survey Lower Kizil Suu Valley; (2) discuss radiometric archaeobotanical samples taken three stratigraphic profiles at settlements Juuku Valley, including chronological periods Wusun (140 437 CE), Qarakhanid (942 1228 (1700 CE); (3) conduct GIS spatial analyses Iron mortuary remains (Saka periods). This emerges out first surveys conducted 2019–2021 includes alluvial fan; it an initial step toward developing a model for upland valleys Inner Tian Shan Mountains.