Explore the vast range of titles available.

The initial movement of herders and livestock into the eastern steppe is of great interest, as this region has long been home to pastoralist groups. Due to a paucity of faunal remains, however, it has been difficult to discern the timing of the adoption of domesticated ruminants and horses into the region, though recent research on ancient dairying has started to shed new light on this history. Here we present proteomic evidence for shifts in dairy consumption in the Altai Mountains, drawing on evidence from sites dating from the Early Bronze to the Late Iron Age. We compare these finds with evidence for the rise of social complexity in western Mongolia, as reflected in material remains signaling population growth, the establishment of structured cemeteries, and the erection of large monuments. Our results suggest that the subsistence basis for the development of complex societies began at the dawn of the Bronze Age, with the adoption of ruminant livestock. Investments in pastoralism intensified over time, enabling a food production system that sustained growing populations. While pronounced social changes and monumental constructions occurred in tandem with the first evidence for horse dairying, ~1350 cal BCE, these shifts were fueled by a long-term economic dependence on ruminant livestock. Therefore, the spread into the Mongolian Altai of herds, and then horses, resulted in immediate dietary changes, with subsequent social and demographic transformations occurring later.

Dairy pastoralism reached Mongolia during the Early Bronze Age and flourished in the Late Bronze Age alongside the emergence of diverse mortuary practices, including the Deer Stone-Khirgisuur Complex and figure-shaped/Ulaanzuukh burials. While the spread of pastoralism has been widely studied, interactions between these pastoralist groups with distinct mortuary traditions remain underexplored due to challenges in obtaining both genomic and mortuary data. In this study, we analyzed genome-wide and mortuary data from 30 ancient individuals in central Mongolia, a key region where pastoralists with distinct mortuary practices converged. We identify two genetically distinct clusters persisting throughout the Late Bronze Age that correspond to separate burial types, suggesting limited genetic mixing and a maintenance of distinct mortuary practices despite their coexistence. These groups were eventually replaced during the Early Iron Age by the expansion of the Slab Grave population and the establishment of a new burial tradition. Finally, we refine the genetic origin of the Late Bronze Age Deer Stone-Khirgisuur Complex populations, tracing their minor western Eurasian ancestry back to the Eneolithic/Early Bronze Age Afanasievo and Early Bronze Age Khemtseg (Chemurchek) populations. This study provides fine-scaled genetic tracking of major mortuary transitions in prehistoric Mongolia, offering insights into the complex and divergent processes that shaped the ancient pastoralist societies of Asia. Late Bronze Age and Early Iron Age dairy pastoralists in Mongolia are associated with diverse mortuary practices. Here, the authors analyze aDNA from 30 individuals and identify two genetic groups associated with distinct mortuary traditions that seem to have mixed rarely, pointing to complexities in these pastoralist societies.

Innovations in horse equipment during the early Middle Ages provided advantages to societies from the steppes, reshaping the social landscape of Eurasia. Comparatively little is known about the precise origin of these crucial advances, although the available evidence points to early adoption in East Asia. The authors present new archaeological discoveries from western and northern Mongolia, dating to the fourth and fifth centuries AD, including a wooden frame saddle with horse hide components from Urd Ulaan Uneet and an iron stirrup from Khukh Nuur. Together, these finds suggest that Mongolian groups were early adopters of stirrups and saddles, facilitating the expansion of nomadic hegemony across Eurasia and shaping the conduct of medieval mounted warfare.

In the thirteenth century AD, the city of Karakorum was founded as the capital of the Mongol Empire. Relatively little archaeological attention, however, has been directed at the site and the phenomenon of steppe urbanism. The authors report new magnetic and topographic surveys of the walled city and the surrounding landscape. The resulting maps reveal the city in unprecedented detail. Combining the magnetic and topographical data with aerial photographs, pedestrian surveys and documentary sources reveals the extent, layout and organisation of this extensive settlement. Road networks and areas of variable occupation density and types of activities deepen our understanding of this important commercial hub and royal palace, which is conceptualised as a form of ‘implanted’ urbanism.

Not even a dozen burials are known from Neolithic times in the area of modern-day Mongolia. This period is of utmost interest as it constitutes the transitional phase from hunter-gatherer-fisher communities during the Palaeolithic to the introduction of mobile pastoralism around 3000 B.C.E. with the Afanas'evo culture. This article presents new excavation results from a Neolithic burial at \"Olziit Denzh\" (internal site code KGS-11), near the center of Erdenemandal in Arkhangai Aimag, Central Mongolia, and places this burial in the context of the earliest graves in Mongolia. The site consists of nearly 180 indistinct earth mound features, one of which was excavated to verify anthropogenic origin of the identified mounds. All mounds were strongly affected by burrowing animals. The excavation yielded the body of a female in an extremely crouched position. The find inventory contains two unique stone artifacts. Two radiocarbon dates put the burial at the first half of the fourth millennium B.C.E. The other 10 earliest burials from Mongolia fall into two regional groups, one in the Egiin Gol valley of northern Mongolia and one in eastern Mongolia; each group displays different burial customs and grave structures. Although it remains to be corroborated by further excavations, the pure earth mounds and their association within a large burial ground at Olziit Denzh seem to be unique aspects of a burial style otherwise unknown for this time and region, as the comparison with the other largely contemporary remains from Mongolia shows. This article therefore aims to draw attention to a potentially new form of burial that has not previously been recognized in the field.

Not even a dozen burials are known from Neolithic times in the area of modern-day Mongolia. This period is of utmost interest as it constitutes the transitional phase from hunter-gatherer-fisher communities during the Palaeolithic to the introduction of mobile pastoralism around 3000 B.C.E. with the Afanas’evo culture. This article presents new excavation results from a Neolithic burial at “Ölziĭt Denzh” (internal site code KGS-11), near the center of Erdenemandal in Arkhangaĭ Aĭmag, Central Mongolia, and places this burial in the context of the earliest graves in Mongolia. The site consists of nearly 180 indistinct earth mound features, one of which was excavated to verify anthropogenic origin of the identified mounds. All moundswere strongly affected by burrowing animals. The excavation yielded the body of a female in an extremely crouched position. The find inventory contains two unique stone artifacts. Two radiocarbon dates put the burial at the first half of the fourth millennium B.C.E. The other 10 earliest burials from Mongolia fall into two regional groups, one in the Egiĭn Gol valley of northern Mongolia and one in eastern Mongolia; each group displays different burial customs and grave structures. Although it remains to be corroborated by further excavations, the pure earth mounds and their associationwithin a large burial ground atÖlziĭt Denzh seem to be unique aspects of a burial style otherwise unknown for this time and region, as the comparison with the other largely contemporary remains from Mongolia shows. This article therefore aims to draw attention to a potentially new formof burial that has not previously been recognized in the field.

This paper gives a state of the art report of an ongoing interdisciplinary project on bioarchaeological research on cemeteries in the Upper Orkhon valley, Central Mongolia, in particular at the Maikhan Tolgoi site. The archaeological focus is on the investigation of the development, use and transformation of a ritual landscape in the course of the Bronze and Iron Age. The contribution of physical anthropology is an osteological and archaeometric analysis of the human inhumations with regard to life-style and subsistence economy. A specific topic relates to the emergence of the first mounted nomads in the region. Macro- and microscopical inspection of the skeletons excavated to date reveal that males, females and children had been buried at this exceptional cemetery, and that many of the adults died at a conspicuously advanced age. Palaeodiet was reconstructed by stable carbon and nitrogen isotopes in bone collagen, followed by an isotopie sourcing. We show that freshwater fish was consumed on a regular basis, and that the demands of protein and carbohydrate were largely covered by secondary animal products. First analysis of stable strontium and oxygen isotopes in bone apatite suggests a considerable catchment area of the burial site.

The initial movement of herders and livestock into the eastern steppe is of great interest, as this region has long been home to pastoralist groups. Due to a paucity of faunal remains, however, it has been difficult to discern the timing of the adoption of domesticated ruminants and horses into the region, though recent research on ancient dairying has started to shed new light on this history. Here we present proteomic evidence for shifts in dairy consumption in the Altai Mountains, drawing on evidence from sites dating from the Early Bronze to the Late Iron Age. We compare these finds with evidence for the rise of social complexity in western Mongolia, as reflected in material remains signaling population growth, the establishment of structured cemeteries, and the erection of large monuments. Our results suggest that the subsistence basis for the development of complex societies began at the dawn of the Bronze Age, with the adoption of ruminant livestock. Investments in pastoralism intensified over time, enabling a food production system that sustained growing populations. While pronounced social changes and monumental constructions occurred in tandem with the first evidence for horse dairying, 1350 cal BCE, these shifts were fueled by a long-term economic dependence on ruminant livestock. Therefore, the spread into the Mongolian Altai of herds, and then horses, resulted in immediate dietary changes, with subsequent social and demographic transformations occurring later.

Den zugleich bewunderten und gefürchteten Reiterkriegern des 7.-14. Jhs. aus der Mongolei, die im Mittelalter aufgrund ihrer spezifischen Bewaffnung und taktischer Finessen ihren Nachbarn militärisch überlegen waren, widmet das LVR-LandesMuseum Bonn vom 26. Januar bis zum 29. April 2012 eine Sonderausstellung. Weltweit können erstmals einzigartige und sensationell gut erhaltene Objekte präsentiert werden, die Bewaffnung, Ausrüstung und Kleidung der Nomaden in ungeahntem Detailreichtum vor Auqen führen.