Abstract
Pastoral nomadic peoples are not usually thought of as architects of complex political organization . Most anthropological and historical literature on nomads repeats a common theme when it comes to their organizational potential—due to their mobility, lack of economic surplus, and fierce independence, herders tend not to organize politically, or do so only on a small-scale or temporary basis. Not surprisingly, such theories have difficulty accounting for the empires of Mongolia which were large, complex, powerful, and numerous. Yet, the dominant explanations for polities of the Asian steppe suggest that they must have been dependent on sedentary neighbors for critical resources and models of organization. This historically embedded concept of nomadic raiders along the frontiers depending on and appropriating the resources of neighboring states is still alive and well in twenty-first century scholarship. Archaeological approaches, however, are changing these stereotypical ideas about nomadic societies in many parts of the Old World and have generated new conceptions of nomads and their complexity . The material record left behind by ancient herding peoples in Mongolia tells a very different story of their lifeways and organization. I review recent archaeological research in Mongolia beginning with the earliest adoption of herd animals and ending with the rise of the first nomadic state. During this time span of more than 3000 years, archaeology has documented sophisticated cultures, advanced technologies, and experiments with many kinds of political formations. These early precedents produced the organizational foundations that underwrote the subsequent empires of Mongolia.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
References
Allard, F., Erdenebaatar, D., Olsen, S., Cavalla, A., & Maggiore, E. (2007). Ritual and horses in Bronze Age and present-day Mongolia: Some preliminary observations from Khanuy Valley. In L. Popova, C. Hartley, & A. Smith (Eds.), Social orders and social landscapes (pp. 151–162). Newcastle: Cambridge Scholars.
Amartuvshin, C., & Galdan, G. (2013). Mongol-Amerikiin khamtarsan ‘Dornod Mongol: Arkheologiin khaiguul sudalgaa’ tosliin 2013 ony kheeriin shinjilgeenii tailan. Report on file. Ulaanbaatar: Institute of Archaeology.
Amartuvshin, C., & Jargalan, B. (2010). Khurel zevsgiin ueiin bulshny sudalgaa. In Ch. Amartuvshin & W. Honeychurch (Eds.), Dundgov’ aimagt khiisen arkheologiin sudalgaa: Baga Gazryn Chuluu (pp. 152–201). Ulaanbaatar: Academy of Sciences.
Amartuvshin, C., & Khatanbaatar, P. (2010). Khunnu bulshny sudalgaa. In Ch. Amartuvshin & W. Honeychurch (Eds.), Dundgov’ aimagt khiisen arkheologiin sudalgaa: Baga Gazryn Chuluu (pp. 202–296). Ulaanbaatar: Academy of Sciences.
Amartuvshin, C., Sasada, T., Eregzen, G., Usuki, I., & Ishtseren, L. (2012). Khustyn Bulgiin dursgalt gazart ilersen tomoriin khuder khailuulakh bolon vaar shataakh zuukhny on tsagiin asuudald. Arkheologiin sudlal, 32, 213–228.
Anthony, D. (2007). The horse, the wheel, and language. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
Anthony, D., & Brown, D. (2011). The secondary products revolution, horse-riding, and mounted warfare. Journal of World Prehistory, 24, 131–160.
Barfield, T. (2001). The shadow empires: Imperial state formation along the Chinese-nomad frontier. In S. Alcock, T. D’Altroy, K. Morrison, & C. Sinopoli (Eds.), Empires: Perspectives from archaeology and history (pp. 10–41). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Batsaikhan, Z. (2003). Khunnu: Arkheologi, ugsaatny zui, tuukh. Ulaanbaatar: Mongolian National University.
Blanton, R., & Fargher, L. (2008). Collective action in the formation of pre-modern states. New York: Springer.
Chapman, R. (2003). Archaeologies of complexity. London: Routledge.
Clark, J. (2015). Modeling late prehistoric and early historic pastoral adaptations in Northern Mongolia’s Darkhad depression (Ph.D. dissertation). Department of Anthropology, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA.
Danilov, S. V. (2011). Typology of ancient settlement complexes of the Xiongnu in Mongolia and Transbaikalia. In U. Brosseder & B. Miller (Eds.), Xiongnu archaeology: Multidisciplinary perspectives of the first steppe empire in Inner Asia (pp. 129–136). Bonn: Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität.
Davydova, A. V. (1995). Ivolginskii arkheologicheskii kompleks: Ivolginskoe gorodishche. Saint Petersburg: AziatIKA.
Derevianko, A. P., & Dorj, D. (1992). Neolithic tribes in northern parts of Central Asia. In A. Dani &V. Masson (Eds.), History of civilizations of Central Asia: The dawn of civilization, earliest times to 700 B.C. (pp. 169–189). Paris: UNESCO Publishing.
Di Cosmo, N. (2002). Ancient China and its enemies: The rise of nomadic power in East Asian history. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Dikov, N. N. (1958). Bronzovyi vek Zabaikal’ia. Ulan-Ude: Siberian Division of the Academy of Sciences.
Dorj, D. (1971). Neolit vostochnoi Mongolii. Ulaanbaatar: Institute of History, Mongolian Academy of Sciences.
Erdenebaatar, D. (2002). Mongol nutgiin dorvoljin bulsh, khirigsuuriin soel. Ulaanbaatar: Academy of Sciences.
Erdenebaatar, D., & Kovalev, A. A. (2008). Tevshiin soel. Niigmiin shinjlekh ukhaany erdem shinjilgeenii bichig, 3, 4–38.
Eregzen, G. (2011). A comparative analysis of Xiongnu noble tombs and burials in adjacent regions. In U. Brosseder & B. Miller (Eds.), Xiongnu archaeology: Multidisciplinary perspectives of the first steppe empire in Inner Asia (pp. 275–284). Bonn: Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität.
Fitzhugh, W. (2009). Pre-Scythian ceremonialism, deer stone art, and cultural intensification in northern Mongolia. In B. Hanks & K. Linduff (Eds.), Social complexity in prehistoric Eurasia: Monuments, metals, and mobility (pp. 378–411). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Fitzhugh, W., & Bayarsaikhan, J. (2011). Mapping ritual landscapes in Bronze Age Mongolia and beyond: Unraveling the deer stone–khirigsuur enigma. In P. Sabloff (Ed.), Mapping Mongolia: Situating Mongolia in the world from geologic time to the present (pp. 166–192). Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.
Frachetti, M. (2012). Multiregional emergence of mobile pastoralism and nonuniform institutional complexity across Eurasia. Current Anthropology, 53, 2–38.
Frachetti, M., Spengler, R., Fritz, G., & Mar’yashev, A. (2010). Earliest direct evidence for broomcorn millet and wheat in the Central Eurasian steppe region. Antiquity, 84(993–1), 010.
Frohlich, B., Amgalantogs, T., Littleton, J., Hunt, D., Hinton, J., & Goler, K. (2009). Bronze Age burial mounds (khirigsuurs) in Hovsgol aimag, Mongolia: A reconstruction of biological and social histories. In J. Bemmann, H. Parzinger, E. Pohl, & D. Tseveendorj (Eds.), Current archaeological research in Mongolia (pp. 99–115). Bonn: Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität.
Hall, M., & Minaiev, S. S. (2002). Chemical analyses of Xiong-nu pottery: A preliminary study of exchange and trade on the Inner Asian Steppes. Journal of Archaeological Science, 29, 135–144.
Hall, M., Honeychurch, W., Wright, J., Batsaikhan, Z., & Bilegt, L. (1999). Chemical analysis of prehistoric Mongolian pottery. Arctic Anthropology, 36, 133–150.
Hanks, B. (2010). Archaeology of the Eurasian steppes and Mongolia. Annual Review of Anthropology, 39, 469–486.
Hanks, B., & Linduff, K. (Eds.). (2009). Social complexity in prehistoric Eurasia: Monuments, metals, and mobility. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Honeychurch, W. (2015). Inner Asia and the spatial politics of empire. New York: Springer.
Honeychurch, W., & Amartuvshin, C. (2006). States on horseback: The rise of Inner Asian confederations and empires. In M. Stark (Ed.), Archaeology of Asia (pp. 255–278). Malden: Blackwell.
Honeychurch, W., & Amartuvshin, C. (2007). Hinterlands, urban centers, and mobile settings: The ‘new’ Old World archaeology from the Eurasian Steppe. Asian Perspectives, 46, 36–64.
Honeychurch, W., & Amartuvshin, C. (2011). Timescapes from the past: An archaeogeography of Mongolia. In P. Sabloff (Ed.), Mapping Mongolia: Situating Mongolia in the world from geologic time to the present (pp. 195–219). Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.
Honeychurch, W., & Makarewicz, C. (2016). The Archaeology of pastoral nomadism. Annual Review of Anthropology, 45.
Honeychurch, W., Wright, J., & Amartuvshin, C. (2007). A nested approach to survey in the Egiin Gol valley, Mongolia. Journal of Field Archaeology, 32, 339–352.
Honeychurch, W., Wright, J., & Amartuvshin, C. (2009). Re-writing monumental landscapes as Inner Asian political process. In B. Hanks & K. Linduff (Eds.), Social complexity in prehistoric Eurasia: Monuments, metals, and mobility (pp. 330–357). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Houle, J.-L. (2010). Emergent complexity on the Mongolian steppe: Mobility, territoriality, and the development of early nomadic polities (Ph.D. dissertation). Department of Anthropology, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA.
Houle, J.-L., & Broderick, L. (2011). Settlement patterns and domestic economy of the Xiongnu in Khanui Valley, Mongolia. In U. Brosseder & B. Miller (Eds.), Xiongnu archaeology: Multidisciplinary perspectives of the first steppe empire in Inner Asia (pp. 137–152). Bonn: Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität.
Jacobson, E. (1993). The deer goddess of ancient Siberia: A study in the ecology of belief. Leiden: E.J. Brill.
Janz, L. (2012). Chronology of post-glacial settlement in the Gobi Desert and the neolithization of arid Mongolia and China (Ph.D. dissertation). School of Anthropology, University of Arizona, Tuscon, AZ.
Jia, P., & Betts, A. (2010). A re-analysis of the Qiemu’erqieke (Shamirshak) cemeteries, Xinjiang, China. The Journal of Indo-European Studies, 38, 275–317.
Jordana, X., Galtes, I., Turbat, T., Batsukh, D., Garcia, C., Isidro, A., et al. (2009). The warriors of the steppes: Osteological evidence for warfare and violence from Pazyryk tumuli in the Mongolian Altai. Journal of Archaeological Science, 36, 1319–1327.
Keyser-Tracqui, C., Crubezy, E., & Ludes, B. (2003). Nuclear and mitochondrial DNA analysis of a 2000-year-old necropolis in the Egyin Gol valley of Mongolia. American Journal of Human Genetics, 73, 247–260.
Khatanbaatar, P., Jargalan, B., Honeychurch, W., & Amartuvshin, C. (2007). Khunnugiin bulshnaas ilersen khar’ garaltai oldvoruud. Arkheologiin sudlal, 24, 305–322.
Khudiakov, I. S., & Erdene-Ochir, N.-O. (2010). Bronze helmet recently discovered in Mongolia. Archaeology, Ethnology, and Anthropology of Eurasia, 38, 53–60.
Kovalev, A. A. (2014). Drevneishie evropeitsy v serdtse Azii: Chemurchekskii kul’turnyi fenomen.
Kovalev, A. A., & Erdenebaatar, D. (2009). Discovery of new cultures of the Bronze Age in Mongolia according to data obtained by the International Central Asian Archaeological Expedition. In J. Bemmann, H. Parzinger, E. Pohl, & D. Tseveendorj (Eds.), Current archaeological research in Mongolia (pp. 149–170). Bonn: Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität.
Kradin, N. N. (2008). Structure of power in nomadic empires of Inner Asia: An anthropological approach. In L. Grinin, D. Beliaev, & A. Korotayev (Eds.), Hierarchy and power in the history of civilizations: Ancient and medieval cultures (pp. 98–124). Moscow: KomKniga.
Kradin, N. N., Danilov, S. V., & Konovalov, P. B. (2004). Sotsial’naia struktura khunnu Zabaikal’ia. Vladivostok: Dal’nauka.
Lankton, J., Amartuvshin, C., Gratuze, B., & Honeychurch, W. (2012). Glass and faience beads and pendants from Middle Gobi Xiongnu burials: New insight from LA-ICP-MS chemical analyses. In D. Tumen, M. Erdene, & E. Mijiddorj (Eds.), Ancient cultures of Mongolia and Baikalian Siberia (pp. 683–694). The materials of the Third International Scientific Conference. Ulaanbaatar: National University of Mongolia.
Littleton, J., Floyd, B., Frohlich, B., Dickson, M., Amgalantogs, T., Karstens, S., et al. (2012). Taphonomic analysis of Bronze Age burials in Mongolian khirigsuurs. Journal of Archaeological Science, 39, 3361–3370.
Machicek, M. (2011). Reconstructing diet, health, and activity patterns in early nomadic pastoralist communities of Inner Asia (Ph.D. dissertation). Department of Archaeology, University of Sheffield, Sheffield.
Machicek, M., & Zubova, A. (2012). Dental wear patterns and subsistence activities in early nomadic pastoralist communities of the Central Asian steppes. Archaeology, Ethnology, and Anthropology of Eurasia, 40, 149–157.
Makarewicz, C. (2011). Xiongnu pastoral systems: Integrating economies of subsistence and scale. In U. Brosseder & B. Miller (Eds.), Xiongnu archaeology: Multidisciplinary perspectives of the first steppe empire in Inner Asia (pp. 181–192). Bonn: Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität.
McGuire, R. (1983). Breaking down cultural complexity: Inequality and heterogeneity. Advances in Archaeological Method and Theory, 6, 91–142.
Miller, B., Bayarsaikhan, J., Egiimaa, T., Konovalov, P. B., Logan, J. (2009). Elite Xiongnu burials at the periphery: Tomb complexes at Takhiltyn Khotgor, Mongolian Altai. In J. Bemmann, H. Parzinger, E. Pohl, & D. Tseveendorj (Eds.), Current archaeological research in Mongolia (pp. 301–314). Bonn: Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität.
Miniaev, S. S., & Sakharovskaia, L. (2007). Elitnyi kompleks zakhoronenii siunnu v padi Tsaram. Rossiiskaia arkheologiia, 1, 194–210.
Murphy, E., Gokhman, I., Chistov, Y., & Barkova, L. (2002). Prehistoric old world scalping: New cases from the cemetery of Aymyrlyg, South Siberia. American Journal of Archaeology, 106, 1–10.
Murphy, E., Schulting, R., Beer, N., Chistov, Y., Kasparov, A., & Pshenitsyna, M. (2013). Iron Age pastoral nomadism and agriculture in the eastern Eurasian steppe: Implications from dental palaeopathology and stable carbon and nitrogen isotopes. Journal of Archaeological Science, 40, 2547–2560.
Navaan, D. (1975). Dornod Mongolyn khurliin ue. Ulaanbaatar: Academy of Sciences.
Nelson, R. (2010). Paleoantropologiin sudalgaa. In C. Amartuvshin & W. Honeychurch (Eds.), Dundgov’ aimagt khiisen arkheologiin sudalgaa: Baga Gazryn Chuluu (pp. 396–407). Ulaanbaatar: Academy of Sciences.
Nelson, R., Amartuvshin, C., & Honeychurch, W. (2009). A Gobi mortuary site through time: Bioarchaeology at Baga Mongol, Baga Gazaryn Chuluu. In J. Bemmann, H. Parzinger, E. Pohl, & D. Tseveendorj (Eds.), Current archaeological research in Mongolia (pp. 565–578). Bonn: Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität.
Novgorodova, E. A. (1989). Drevniaia Mongoliia. Moscow: Nauka.
Orton, D. (2010). Both subject and object: Herding, inalienability and sentient property in prehistory. World Archaeology, 42, 188–200.
Park, J.-S., Eregzen, G., & Yeruul-Erdene, C. (2010). Technological traditions inferred from iron artifacts of the Xiongnu empire in Mongolia. Journal of Archaeological Science, 37, 2689–2697.
Pousaz, N., Ramseyer, D., & Turbat, T. (2007). Mission Archéologique Helvético-Mongole à Boroo Gol, Mongolie: Campagne de fouilles. SLSA Jahresbericht, 2007, 219–232.
Redman, C. (2005). Resilience theory in archaeology. American Anthropologist, 107, 70–77.
Rogers, D. (2012). Inner Asian states and empires: Theories, data, and synthesis. Journal of Archaeological Research, 20, 205–256.
Rogers, D., Erdenebat, U., & Gallon, M. (2005). The organization of urban centers in central Mongolia. Antiquity, 79, 801–818.
Shelach, G. (2009). Prehistoric societies on the northern frontiers of China: Archaeological perspectives on identity formation and economic change during the first millennium BC. London: Equinox.
Svyatko, S., Schulting, R., Mallory, J., Murphy, E., Reimer, P., Khartanovich, V., et al. (2013). Stable isotope dietary analysis of prehistoric populations from the Minusinsk Basin, southern Siberia, Russia: A new chronological framework for the introduction of millet to the eastern Eurasian steppe. Journal of Archaeological Science, 40, 3936–3945.
Svyatko, S., Mallory, J., Murphy, E., Polyakov, A., Reimer, P., & Schulting, R. (2009). New radiocarbon dates and a review of the chronology of prehistoric populations from the Minusinsk Basin, southern Siberia, Russia. Radiocarbon, 51, 243–273.
Taylor, W., Bayarsaikhan, J., & Tuvshinjargal, T. (2015). Equine cranial morphology and the identification of riding and chariotry in late Bronze Age Mongolia. Antiquity, 89, 854–871.
Torbat, T. (2004). Khunnugiin jiriin irgediin bulsh. Ulaanbaatar: Mongolian State Educational University.
Tseveendorj, D. (1985). Novye dannye po arkheologii khunnu. In R. Vasil’evskii (Ed.), Drevnie kul’tury Mongolii (pp. 51–87). Novosibirsk: Nauka.
Tseveendorj, D., Bayar, D., Tserendagva, Y., & Ochirkhuyag, T. (2003). Mongolyn arkheologi. Ulaanbaatar: Institute of Archaeology.
Tsybiktarov, A. D. (1998). Kul’tura plitochnykh mogil Mongolii i Zabaikal’ia. Ulan-Ude: Nauka.
Tsybiktarov, A. D. (2002). Eastern Central Asia at the dawn of the Bronze Age: Issues in ethnocultural history of Mongolia and the southern Trans-Baikal region in the late third-early second millennium BC. Archaeology, Ethnology & Anthropology of Eurasia, 11, 107–123.
Tsybiktarov, Alexandar Dondopovich. (2006). Tsentral’naia Aziia na zare bronzovogo veka. Ulan-Ude: Buriat State University Press.
Volkov, V. V. (1967). Bronzovyi i rannii zheleznyi vek Severnoi Mongolii. Ulaanbaatar: Academy of Sciences.
Volkov, V. V. (1981). Olennye kamni Mongolii. Ulaanbaatar: Academy of Sciences.
Volkov, V. V. (1995). Early nomads of Mongolia. In J. Davis-Kimball, V. Bashilov, & L. Yablonsky (Eds.), Nomads of the Eurasian steppes in the Early Iron Age (pp. 318–333). Berkeley, CA: Zinat Press.
Watson, B. (1993). Records of the grand historian of China: Han dynasty II. New York: Columbia University Press.
Wright, J. (2007). Organizational principles of khirigsuur monuments in the lower Egiin Gol valley, Mongolia. Journal of Anthropological Archaeology, 26, 350–365.
Wright, J. (2014). Landscapes of inequality? A critique of monumental hierarchy in the Mongolian Bronze Age. Asian Perspectives, 51, 139–163.
Wright, J., Honeychurch, W., & Amartuvshin, C. (2009). The Xiongnu settlements of Egiin Gol, Mongolia. Antiquity, 83, 372–387.
Wu, H.-Y. (2013). Chariots in Early China: Origins, cultural interaction, and identity. Oxford: BAR International Series.
Yerool-Erdene, C. (2010). Khunnugiin yazguurtny orshuulgyn dursgalyn sudalgaa (Ph.D. dissertation). Department of Archaeology and Anthropology, National University of Mongolia, Ulaanbaatar.
Yerool-Erdene, C. (2011). Khunnugiin bulshny tarkhatsiig zasag zakhirgaany khuvaar’tai khar’tsuulan nyagtlakh n’. Arkheologiin sudlal, 31, 71–80.
Yerool-Erdene, C., & Gantulga, J.-O. (2007). Khunnugiin ueiin suikh tereg. Arkheologiin sudlal, 22, 258–279.
Yun, H.-W. (2009). The Xiongnu tombs at Khudgiin Tolgoi in Mongolia. In J. Bemmann, H. Parzinger, E. Pohl, & D. Tseveendorj (Eds.), Current archaeological research in Mongolia (pp. 281–300). Bonn: Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2017 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Honeychurch, W. (2017). The Development of Cultural and Social Complexity in Mongolia. In: Habu, J., Lape, P., Olsen, J. (eds) Handbook of East and Southeast Asian Archaeology. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-6521-2_31
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-6521-2_31
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY
Print ISBN: 978-1-4939-6519-9
Online ISBN: 978-1-4939-6521-2
eBook Packages: Social SciencesSocial Sciences (R0)