Created by Aptechguwahatiaz
Last edited February 7, 2026

The Inner Asian Mountain Corridor (IAMC) was an ancient exchange route in Inner Asia, ranging from the Altai Mountains in Central Asia to the Hindu Kush in South Asia (present-day Afghanistan and northern Pakistan), which took shape in the 3rd millennium BCE.[1][2]Template:SfnTemplate:SfnTemplate:Sfn The expansion of the Indo-European Andronovo culture towards the Bactria-Margiana Culture in the second millennium BCE took place along the IAMC, giving way to the Indo-Aryan migration into the Indian subcontinent.Template:Sfn

Mountain Corridor

The IAMC contributed to the development of mobile pastoralism in the 4th millennium BCE.[1][2]Template:Sfn Bronze Age mobile pastoralists acted as agents between Central Asian cultures and South Asian cultures via the IAMC, spreading domesticated wheats from South and East Asia to Inner Asia.[3]Template:Sfn Bronze Age pastoralists also transmitted horse riding and bronze technology between Europe and China, but also into the Indian subcontinent.Template:Sfn

Indo-European migrations

In the fourth millennium BCE a mobile pastoralist culture emerged at the Eurasian steppes.Template:Sfn From the Pontic–Caspian steppe (present-day Ukraine and Russia), the Indo-European Yamna culture spread westwards toward the Great Hungarian Plain; and north-west it developed into the Corded Ware culture.Template:Sfn Expanding eastward, Corded Ware eventually developed into the Sintashta culture, which further developed into the Andronovo culture. According to Narasimhan et al. (2018), the Andronovo-culture extended southwards via the IAMC, reaching into the Bactria-Margiana Culture, from where Indo-European language and culture reached the Indian subcontinent.Template:Sfn

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 Pastoralist landscapes and social interaction in bronze age Eurasia{{#if:Frachetti, Michael D.|, Frachetti, Michael D.}. University of California Press(2008). ISBN 978-0-520-25689-7
  2. 2.0 2.1 Multiregional Emergence of Mobile Pastoralism and Nonuniform Institutional Complexity across Eurasia. Current Anthropology({Template:Date).
  3. Earliest direct evidence for broomcorn millet and wheat in the central Eurasian steppe region. Antiquity({Template:Date).

Sources

Template:Refbegin

  • [{{{url}}} A Companion to the Archaeology of the Ancient Near East]. Blackwell Publishing.Template:Dead link
  • [{{{url}}} Connections and Complexity: New Approaches to the Archaeology of South Asia]. Routledge.
  • The formation of human populations in South and Central Asia. Science({Template:Date).
  • [{{{url}}} Early agriculture and crop transmission among Bronze Age mobile pastoralists of Central Eurasia].

Template:Refend