Under the supervision of Dr. Bryan Hanks, Julia K. Clark will investigate pastoral adaptations, inter-regional interaction and settlement patterns diachronically in northern Mongolia's Darkhad Depression. This will be done to elucidate the ways in which this area contributed to broader social, political and economic change in the late prehistoric period. Using a combination of survey and excavation as well as ethnoarchaeological interviews the project will generate empirical data to address the following objectives: 1) correlation between current and late prehistoric/early historic land use practices, 2) correlations between prehistoric ritual monuments and areas of human activity, 3) inter-regional interaction, 4) nature of subsistence practices and their change over time, 5) diachronic shifts in habitation location, organization and/or intensity associated with large scale political formations (Xiongnu). Numerous models have been proposed to explain the transition from an agricultural economy to an agro-pastoral or fully pastoral economy. However, there are far fewer explanatory models for the incorporation or adoption of pastoral strategies into existing hunting, gathering and/or fishing economies.
Archaeologists in Mongolia have long relied upon ritual monuments to inform their interpretations of prehistoric behavior. In the early historic period, ritual monuments and written documents from ancient China have supplied the bulk of the information on this period. Only recently have some archaeologists turned their attention toward habitation sites in central Mongolia. Recent archaeological research in the Darkhad Depression has investigated the ritual landscape, and has concluded that the monuments in this region, while not particularly large, are the oldest of their kind known in Mongolia. If these monuments were underwritten by a new pastoral economy and hierarchical social organization, as many have suggested, this could be an important region in understanding the introduction of pastoralism into Mongolia.
The intellectual merit of this research is twofold. First, this research aims to use comparative case studies both within and beyond Mongolia in order to model early pastoralist adaptations, early social complexity, and diachronic regional demographic shifts. Secondly, this project will speak to more regionally specific issues such as the impact of both the adoption of pastoralism in regions that had long supported hunter-gatherer-fisher economies as well as the emergence of the Xiongnu Empire upon peripheral regions.
Broader impacts include: the operation of long-term, collaborative ties with international colleagues, training opportunities for archaeology students (Mongolian, American and foreign), and the dissemination of the results in journals and volumes.
The co-PI’s doctoral research and field project designed to investigate pastoral adaptations, interregional interaction and settlement patterns diachronically in the Darkhad Depression of northern Mongolia was funded by a Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant from the National Science Foundation. This project was done in order to elucidate the ways in which this area contributed to broader social, political and economic change in the Late Bronze Age, Early Iron Age, and Xiongnu period (1300 BC – AD 200). Using a combination of pedestrian surface survey, sub-surface shovel testing, test excavation in the 57 km2 project area, experimental clay acquisition and vessel production, and ethnoarchaeological interviews the project has generated empirical data to address the following objectives: 1) correlation between current and late prehistoric/early historic land use practices, 2) correlations between prehistoric ritual monuments and areas of human activity, 3) interregional interaction, 4) nature of subsistence practices and their change over time, 5) diachronic shifts in habitation location, organization and/or intensity associated with large scale political formations (Xiongnu). The intellectual merit of the doctoral research is twofold. First, the research program uses comparative case studies both within and beyond Mongolia in order to model early pastoralist adaptations, early social complexity, interregional interaction and diachronic regional demographic shifts. Secondly, this project speaks to more regionally specific issues such as the impact of both the adoption of pastoralism in regions that had long supported hunter-gatherer-fisher economies as well as the emergence of the Xiongnu Empire upon peripheral regions. Though the ritual landscape has been investigated by other archaeologists in the region, this project is the first to systematically study the settlement contexts of the Darkhad Depression. The wide range of methodologies employed has produced a range of material and spatial data that can be used to investigate the projects primary research questions. The data obtained during fieldwork has allowed for several conclusions to be made regarding the aims of the project. First, a wide resource base that included both wild and domestic resources is apparent as early as the Early Bronze Age (3500 BC-2500 BC) and this mixed economy continues into the present. Second, the emergence of elaborate and institutionalized monument forms, often though to signal increasing social complexity and new economic forms, in the Late Bronze Age (1500 BC-300 BC) found throughout large areas of Mongolia may be related to a change in economic organization, but it is not the result of the introduction of pastoralism. Third, though the demands of daily life could have been met by local resources in the Darkhad Depression, interregional interaction did occur as evidenced by tools made from stones not fond locally as well as pottery designs and monumental forms found in regions beyond the Depression. Finally, the Depression was occupied throughout late prehistory and early prehistory. Based on comparisons with other projects in Mongolia, the intensity of pastoralist or mixed economy occupation during the Bronze and Iron Ages seems to be less than in more central regions of Mongolia while the intensity of earlier primarily hunter-gatherer occupation seems to be similar or greater. The broader contributions of this research include: the operation of long-term, collaborative ties with international colleagues and institutions, training opportunities for archaeology students (Mongolian, American and foreign), and the dissemination of the project results in journals and volumes. The results of the NSF Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant will be disseminated first through the PhD dissertation, but also through joint publications. A preliminary report of the research activities has already been submitted to both local and national officials in Mongolia in accordance with that countries laws and regulations. Data from the project will be made available through the University of Pittsburgh’s Center for Comparative Archaeology Database website (www.comparch.pitt.edu), which will ensure open access to the results of this project. This dissertation research project has provided a new and important case study in the early pastoral adaptations, early social complexity, interregional interaction and the diachronic settlement patterns of a region that connects the steppe, taiga and mountain regions of eastern Eurasia. The findings of this research project, once disseminated through the dissertation will contribute to the larger body of anthropological study of economic adaptation and demographic organization and interaction, and will help to inform future research in the area.
