Pre His Toric Ar Chae Ol Ogy in the Zhunge ’ Er ( Junggar ) Ba Sin , Xinjiang , China

Xinjiang is a vast area of moun tains and desert bas ins that formed the main route for con tact be tween early China and the West. The south ern Talimu Ba sin is well known for the re mark able or ganic pres er va tion there of buri als and aban doned set tle ments. Lesser known is the north ern Zhunge’er Ba sin that lay across the route out to the Eur asian steppes. From at least as early as the Bronze Age it wit nessed im por tant trans mis sions of tech nol o gies and cul tural in flu ence, but at pres ent the na ture and tim ing of these is poorly un der stood. This pa per is a re view of re search to date on the pre his toric pe ri ods in the Zhunge’er Ba sin and the ar eas im me di ately sur round ing it. The pa per also pro vides a re view of the prob lems that need to be ad dressed in the ar chae ol ogy, and par tic u larly the chro nol ogy, of the re gion.