00:00 Four thousand years ago, a dense network of trade and movement bound the societies of Mesopotamia, Iran, South Asia, and Central Asia together, with migrants moving outward from the Caucasus Mountains and the grasslands of the steppe, new states rising and falling in the mountains between the Iranian Plateau and the alluvium of the Tigris and Euphrates, and a new civilization of cities and great wealth blossoming in Central Asia along the Auxus River, driven by this world of movement and trade.

04:57 The regions of the Caucasus, Iran, and Central Asia have been historically important as gateways, barriers, homelands, and destinations, and understanding their interconnectedness is crucial to understanding the development of the ancient world.

09:26 The descendants of the goat herders in the Zagros Mountains spread east into the Iranian Plateau and eventually into Central Asia, while other distinct populations, such as the Caucasus hunter-gatherers and Anatolian farmers, also migrated and intermixed in the surrounding territories.

14:00 The Kura Araxes culture in the southern Caucasus was a distinct ethnic group that migrated outward from its homeland, with a unique material culture that tied them back to their communities and allowed them to fit into new places they settled.

18:37 The Kura Araxes culture was distinctive and widespread, spreading from its homeland in the Southern Caucasus to the fringes of Mesopotamia, and coexisting with other cultures like Uruk and Mekop.

23:45 The Susiana Plain, including the city of Susa, was deeply integrated into the Uruk world and may have been colonized by settlers from Mesopotamia, but eventually the influence of Mesopotamia retreated and the people of the surrounding highlands reasserted their independence; these highlanders, known as the Elamites, were a diverse group of clans or tribes who practiced a variety of ways of life and spoke different languages, but were lumped together by their Mesopotamian neighbors as the inhabitants of the highlands.

28:31 The proto-elamite writing system spread beyond Susa and was found in other areas of Iran, but it is unclear who the people were that wrote and spoke this language; however, it is believed that these connections were part of a trading network through the highlands of Iran, which eventually declined and was replaced by a new label, Awan, native to Western Iran.

33:13 In the face of continuous conflict from Mesopotamia, a new power emerged around 2000 BC that linked the highlands of Western Iran with the lowlands, with its language being Elamite and its trade connections reaching far and wide, including Central Asia.

38:14 The Oxis civilization, also known as the Bactria Margeana Archaeological Complex, emerged in Central Asia around 2400 BC to 1800 BC, with impressive settlements and rich cemeteries, but eventually disappeared and was only rediscovered in the 1970s.

43:04 The prosperity of the Oxus civilization can be attributed to their specialization in trading tin, a key ingredient in bronze alloys, which was in high demand during the Bronze Age for making tools, valuable items, and weapons.

47:46 The dense trading network of the Oxus civilization connected Central Asia with South and West regions, allowing for the exchange of various goods, including metalwork, pottery, textiles, and agricultural produce, and the movement of people, until the civilization entered a new phase characterized by a decline in trade and a shift towards a more localized and less sophisticated society.