From Mining Site to Mining City. A Spatial Reading of Mes Aynak, Afghanistan

Abstract

This paper discusses the role potentially played by the Buddhist community in boosting the social complexity of the mountain copper site of Mes Aynak in Afghanistan between the Late Kushan/Kushano-Sasanian (c. 3rd/4th century CE) and the Turkic-Hunnic phase (6th-7th century CE). Granted the limited stratigraphic data available, I conjecture that the Buddhist community, known in ancient times for their ability to establish new enterprises, might have played a role in managing the activities of extraction and processing of copper at Mes Aynak. Based on the spatial reading of Buddhist complexes within the city and on comparisons with other archaeological case studies in South Asia, I suggest that the “business virtuosity” of the Buddhist communities, in concert with local governmental and non-governmental authorities, led to overcoming local environmental constraints to such an extent that this inauspicious mining site transformed into a city.