"On the contrary, it was certainly not before the Achaemenid period that areas with greater agricultural potential like Sogdiana and Chorasmia were widely populated and exploited. In light of archaeological research results, this delay is attributed less to their intrinsic geographical characteristics than to the distance separating these areas from those that, in the 3rd millennium BCE, saw the first state formations in eastern Iran. This marginality will disappear when they become demographically saturated and fully exploitable."