Mobile Domiciles of the Eurasian Steppe: Archaeological Evidence of Possible Dwelling Space during the Early Iron Age

Complexity as Integration: Pastoral Mobility and Community Building in Ancient Mongolia

“…This, in and of itself, suggests a strong focus among the early communities of Mongolia on herd animal expertise, knowledge, and technologies not seen to the same extent in areas surrounding the eastern steppe (Honeychurch 2015;Chang 2018). The earliest indications so far of mobile habitation structures similar in layout and size to contemporary Mongolian gers (i.e., yurts) appeared during the Early Iron Age (Gardner and Burentogtokh 2018), indicating a cultural capacity for fully mobile lifeways.…”

“…One campsite in particular (TAS-77) yielded important evidence for a tent-like mobile structure, a hearth, and a great deal of domestic pottery fragments all dated to circa 500/400 BC (Gardner and Burentogtokh 2018). Using neutron activation analysis (NAA) the chemical composition of these sherds was compared to contemporaneous ceramics and clays from the Egiin Gol and Tarvagatai valley.…”

Detecting and mapping the ‘ephemeral’: magnetometric survey of a Pastoral Neolithic settlement at Luxmanda, Tanzania

“…Open-area excavations have illuminated the settlements of other mobile groups, including of foragers in South-west Asia and pastoralists in Central Asia (Maher et al 2012; Rouse & Cerasetti 2014; Gardner & Burentogtokh 2018). Extensive, lateral excavation, however, often must be limited to areas of high archaeological potential.…”

Resilient herders: A deeply stratified multiperiod habitation site in northwestern Mongolia

“…However, in recent years this situation has started to change as more and more researchers have acknowledged the importance of habitation sites and settlement patterns on a landscape level, largely starting with Houle's (2010) work in northcentral Mongolia. Other recent habitation siteoriented studies have been carried out, for instance, by Gardner and Burentogtokh (2018); Taylor et al (2020); Wright (2016). Despite this, most models for the introduction of domesticated herd animals and early forms of pastoralism in Mongolia still mostly rely on the more numerous data from burial sites (e.g., Erdenebaatar and Kovalev, 2007;Eregzen, 2016;Kovalev and Erdenebaatar, 2009;Volkov, 1980).…”

“…Most of the prehistoric open-air occupation sites in Mongolia have shallow, mixed archaeological deposits, and appear ephemeral in character (Clark, 2014:92;Gardner and Burentogtokh, 2018;Houle, 2010). Many sites appear to represent relatively short-term habitation events, whereas some appear as palimpsests of seasonally recurring and partly overlapping sites (e.g., Houle, 2010: Chapter 3;Seitsonen et al, 2018).…”