Expanding frontier and building the Sphere in arid East Asia

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

“…It is clear from the sequence at ZK513 that this is not the case. The pattern and timing for the introduction of different domestic animal species in Züünkhangai is also quite different from what has been found in the Khanuy Valley region of central Mongolia (Houle, 2010), the Altai region (Houle, 2016;Kovalev and Erdenebaatar, 2010), and the Gobi Desert (Janz et al, 2017;Janz et al, 2020). Accordingly, it is becoming increasingly clear that the answer to these questions will not come from a single region of Mongolia and certainly not from monuments alone.…”

“…For example, one widespread archaeological theory put forth by Anatoly Khazanov (1994:95) argues that more sedentary herders developed horseback riding and seasonal migration patterns as a response to prolonged drought during the late second millennium BCE. While not seeing climate change as the impetus, both Janz et al (2020) and Honeychurch et al (2021) indicate that the shift toward more intensive pastoralism correlates respectively with aridification in the Gobi and variable sub-regional climate regimes in central Mongolia after ca. 2000 BCE.…”

“…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). Based mostly on this mortuary record, but also museum collections and surface materials from the Gobi Desert (Janz, 2006(Janz, , 2012, and a few settlements in the Russian Altai and the Minusinsk region of Southern Siberia (Kosintsev and Stepanova, 2010;Vadetskaia et al, 2014), two main models have recently been proposed for the introduction and spread of pastoralism in Mongolia, both of them originating with the arrival of Afanasievo groups in the Altai around the 3rd millennium BCE and then spreading east along a southern route (Honeychurch et al, 2021;Janz et al, 2020). However, Janz et al (2020:162) see little to no evidence of herding in the Gobi until the mid-second millennium BCE with what they call a 'second wave of advance in the spread of a pastoralist economy', a period when local hunter-gatherers might have been motivated to adopt herd animals (sheep/goat, cattle) as items of value following enhanced opportunities to engage in expanding trade networks in luxury goods (stone beads in particular).…”

Holocene desertification, traditional ecological knowledge, and human resilience in the eastern Gobi Desert, Mongolia

“…Many fewer studies have concentrated on the transition from primarily foraging societies to early pastoralists (Hermes et al, 2021;McCorriston and Martin, 2010;Rosen, 2021;Rosen et al, 2019). This is especially true of research areas in East Asia (Honeychurch, 2017;Janz et al, 2017Janz et al, , 2020Wright, 2006;Wright et al, 2019). The eastern Gobi Desert of Mongolia provides a good laboratory for studying how transitions from foraging to mobile pastoralism occurred, the role of climate changes in this process, and the story of the unique and varied ways human societies reacted to these major climate changes using resilient strategies of food procurement, exploitation of the mosaic of wetland patches, and management of habitats in this region.…”

Neolithic pathways in East Asia: early sedentism on the Mongolian Plateau

“…Furthermore, the adoption of exotic domesticates occurred long after they were adopted in neighbouring regions (e.g. Ames 1998;Crawford 2011;Popov et al 2019;Janz et al 2020). Hence, in contrast to the situation in Western Eurasia, in North-east Asia, the 'Neolithic' was characterised by a series of shifts that did not always result in long-term sedentism or domestication.…”