Abstrakt
Being sparsely populated in prehistory (in both the Bronze and Early Iron Age), the Sherabad Plain undergone substantial change during what is called Protohistory (Greco- Bactrian and Kushan periods according to the local terminology). This very period bore witness to emergence of the first larger urban centres in northern Bactria, while rural settlements in their hinterlands mushroomed along the newly constructed water canals. These developments caused population growth, increasing social complexity, but also affected heavily the so-far largely undisturbed natural landscape.
In this contribution, we would like to test previous hypotheses relating to the extent of such human interventions using some previously unavailable data on both water canals and settlements, such as Hexagon high-resolution aerial imagery. As testing area, the Sherabad plain was chosen since it had been thoroughly studied by our team and provided us with complex set of basic data.