The earliest Bronze Age culture of the south-eastern Gobi Desert, Mongolia

Wright, Joshua; Ganbaatar, Galdan; Honeychurch, William; Byambatseren, Batdalai; Rosen, Aaron

doi:10.15184/aqy.2018.174

Cited by 19 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 33 publications

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“…Work included small-scale excavation of two Upper Palaeolithic habitation sites (Otson Tsokhio and Zuun Shovkh) and we excavated six Bronze Age burials, but the primary focus was Neolithic habitation. These Neolithic habitation sites are in close proximity to Bronze Age burial structures first used during the Ulaanzuukh period [ 26 – 28 ]. Many burial structures were recorded stretching across the eastern face of the mountain range, but most evidence for habitation relates to Oasis 2 of the Neolithic period [ 22 ].…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Zaraa Uul: An archaeological record of Pleistocene-Holocene palaeoecology in the Gobi Desert

et al. 2021

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Environmentally-based archaeological research at Zaraa Uul, including zooarchaeology, phytolith analysis, and radiocarbon dating, is the first of its kind in Mongolia and presents critical new insight on the relationship between periods of occupational intensity and climatic amelioration from the earliest anatomically modern humans to the adoption of pastoralism. The palaeoenvironmental and faunal record of Zaraa Uul show that Early-Middle Holocene hydrology and species distributions were distinct from all other periods of human occupation. Holocene hunter-gatherers inhabited an ecosystem characterized by extensive marshes, riparian shrub and arboreal vegetation along the hill slopes and drainages. The exploitation of species associated with riparian and wetland settings supports the hypothesis of, but suggests an earlier timing for, oasis-based logistical foraging during the Early-Middle Holocene of arid Northeast Asia. The onset of wetter conditions at 8500 cal BP agrees with other regional studies, but multiple lines of evidence present the first integrated field- and laboratory-based record of human-environment relationships in arid East Asia during the Holocene Climatic Optimum. We compare it to Late Pleistocene climatic amelioration, and highlight specific responses of the hydrological, vegetative and faunal communities to climate change in arid Northeast Asia.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Zaraa Uul: An archaeological record of Pleistocene-Holocene palaeoecology in the Gobi Desert

et al. 2021

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“…In the later Holocene the Gobi Desert experienced weakened East Asian Monsoons, which led to the disappearance of the lakes, marshlands, and small perennial streams in this region. It is also a period in which the inhabitants of the eastern Gobi adopted animal husbandry and a nomadic pastoral lifestyle (Honeychurch and Makarewicz 2016;Honeychurch 2017;Wright et al 2019).…”

Section: Basin Wetlandsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Resilience at the Edge: Strategies of Small-Scale Societies for Long-Term Sustainable Living in Dryland Environments

Rosen

2022

Risk, Systems and Decisions

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Modern Western communities have much to learn from the ways in which small-scale societies have survived and even thrived while cycling through phases of profoundly shifting moist to dry environmental conditions. In doing so, these small communities display a resilience developed from thousands of years of being rooted in what Western Society considers ‘marginal’ environments. The most important of the solutions they developed are sustainably rooted in deep-time and identifiable in archaeological records. The ability to live sustainably in these kinds of challenging environments emerges from a profound and long-term reservoir of ‘Traditional Ecological Knowledge’ that includes a keen awareness of the interface between human needs and natural processes. Although these traditional solutions may not apply to massive complex systems that drive the survival of large cities as a whole, we can benefit a great deal from the study of these past societies to help generate ideas for smaller segments and sub-systems of larger cities, such as neighborhood collectives, urban gardening, water conservation methods, and others that will lead us towards a more sustainable existence on our planet through the use ground-up solutions.

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“…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.…”

Section: Environmental Archeological Studies At Zaraa Uulmentioning

confidence: 99%

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

et al. 2022

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Dryland regions are particularly challenging for human survival over the course of deep time. This is true for institutionally complex communities as well as small-scale societies that have existed in semi-arid regions throughout the Holocene. This paper examines some of the successful strategies employed by small-scale mobile communities which enhanced their ability to thrive in drylands over the course of thousands of years. Small-scale societies living in drylands must rely on the transmission of Traditional Ecological Knowledge across generations. Some of this knowledge relates to the availability and use of wetlands and other more ephemeral water sources, the exploitation of a diverse range of resources, and the potential for natural storage of food resources as a buffer against regularly occurring drought years in these regions. We compare this understanding with our environmental archeological findings at the Mid-Holocene site of Zaraa Uul in the eastern Gobi Desert of Mongolia. At the site of Zaraa Uul, we show how hunter-gatherer groups returned to a campsite near the edge of a wetland environment over the course of at least two phases during the Mid-Holocene. Here they took advantage of a greater diversity of animal species and plants, including small-grained-grasses and sedges, which could enhance their caloric intake and increase the potential for storable commodities which could be collected as needed from their natural habitat.

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The earliest Bronze Age culture of the south-eastern Gobi Desert, Mongolia

Abstract: Abstract

Cited by 19 publications

References 33 publications

Zaraa Uul: An archaeological record of Pleistocene-Holocene palaeoecology in the Gobi Desert

Zaraa Uul: An archaeological record of Pleistocene-Holocene palaeoecology in the Gobi Desert

Resilience at the Edge: Strategies of Small-Scale Societies for Long-Term Sustainable Living in Dryland Environments

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

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