Creator(s)

William Timothy Treal Taylor, University of Colorado Museum of Natural History
Julia Clark, Flinders University
Jamsranjav Bayarsaikhan, National Center of Mental Health of Mongolia
Tumurbaatar Tuvshinjargal, Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel
Jessica Thompson Jobe, Colorado School of Mines
William Fitzhugh, Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History
Richard Kortum, East Tennessee State UniversityFollow
Robert N. Spengler, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History
Svetlana Shnaider, Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences
Frederik Valeur Seersholm, Curtin University
Isaac Hart, The University of Utah
Nicholas Case, University of Wyoming
Shevan Wilkin, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History
Jessica Hendy, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History
Ulrike Thuering, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History
Bryan Miller, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History
Alicia R.Ventresca Miller, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History
Andrea Picin, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History
Nils Vanwezer, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History
Franziska Irmer, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History
Samantha Brown, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History
Aida Abdykanova, American University of Central Asia
Daniel R. Shultz, Université McGill
Victoria Pham, The University of Sydney
Michael Bunce, Curtin University
Katerina Douka, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History
Emily Lena Jones, The University of New Mexico
Nicole Boivin, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

12-1-2020

Description

While classic models for the emergence of pastoral groups in Inner Asia describe mounted, horse-borne herders sweeping across the Eurasian Steppes during the Early or Middle Bronze Age (ca. 3000–1500 BCE), the actual economic basis of many early pastoral societies in the region is poorly characterized. In this paper, we use collagen mass fingerprinting and ancient DNA analysis of some of the first stratified and directly dated archaeofaunal assemblages from Mongolia’s early pastoral cultures to undertake species identifications of this rare and highly fragmented material. Our results provide evidence for livestock-based, herding subsistence in Mongolia during the late 3rd and early 2nd millennia BCE. We observe no evidence for dietary exploitation of horses prior to the late Bronze Age, ca. 1200 BCE – at which point horses come to dominate ritual assemblages, play a key role in pastoral diets, and greatly influence pastoral mobility. In combination with the broader archaeofaunal record of Inner Asia, our analysis supports models for widespread changes in herding ecology linked to the innovation of horseback riding in Central Asia in the final 2nd millennium BCE. Such a framework can explain key broad-scale patterns in the movement of people, ideas, and material culture in Eurasian prehistory.

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Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

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