Eurasian pastoralists and their shifting regional interactions at the steppe margin

Settlement history at Mukri, Kazakhstan

Dados Bibliográficos

ID3919302
AutoresMichael Frachetti (0000-0001-6906-4334, Washington University in St. Louis), Michael D Frachetti, Norbert Benecke (0000-0003-2388-8594, Deutsches Archäologisches Institut, Abteilung Rom), Alexei N Mar''Yashev, Alexei N Mar'Yashev, Alexei Mar'Yashev, Paula N Doumani (Washington University in St. Louis)
Ano2010
Volume42
Fascículo4
Páginas622-646
Data de publicação2010-12-01
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessNão
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoWorld Archaeology (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 0043-8243 • E-ISSN: 1470-1375
EditoraInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/00438240903371270
OpenAlexW2045065138
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas37
Referências citadas25

Recent excavations at the prehistoric and historic encampment at Mukri, in the foothills of the Dzhungar Mountains of eastern Kazakhstan, challenge the view that it was a small, isolated pastoralist camp situated in an ecologically marginal territory. When viewed as a strategically situated node within a dynamic ecology of pastoralist activity, the site's archaeology reveals shifting patterns of land use and networks of interaction that contributed to socio-political change and material diffusion over millennia. This article draws on the granular archaeological evidence of continuity and change at Mukri to understand how pastoralist societies, in local contexts, resonated broader trends in the documentary history of Inner Eurasia. We highlight the effectiveness of pastoralists' strategies in order to reconsider common paradigms of extensive nomadic migrations and episodic conquest as appropriate explanatory models for Eurasian pastoralists throughout antiquity. Keywords: EurasiapastoralismBronze AgeIron AgeMedieval Agesettlement Acknowledgements Funding for this research was provided by the National Science Foundation (USA), grant #0535341. AMS dating was conducted by the National Ocean Sciences Accelerator Mass Spectrometry Facility (NOSAMS). Special thanks to Professor Karl Baipakov of the Institute of Archaeology in Almaty Kazakhstan and to Tamara Trifonova for artifact drawings. Additional thanks to two anonymous reviewers for helpful comments. The authors are responsible for errors and omissions. Michael D. Frachetti and Paula N. Doumani Washington University in St. Louis Norbert Benecke Deutsches Archäologisches Institut, Berlin Alexei N. Mar'yashev Institute of Archaeology, Almaty Kazakhstan Notes 1 Palaeoethnobotanical analysis of the Mukri samples is currently under way as part of the PhD dissertation of Robert Spengler at Washington University in St. Louis

Archaeology · Cartography · Ethnology · Foothills · Geography · Human settlement · Livestock · Niche construction · Pastoralism · Politics · Prehistory · Settlement (finance · Steppe · Archaeology and ancient environmental studies · Ecology · Eurasian Exchange Networks · History · Rangeland Management and Livestock Ecology