SUMMER ARCHAEOLOGY IN MONGOLIA

Summer 2007 Report

Human remains representing ten individuals were recovered over the course of excavating 26 features during the 2007 field season. The condition of these remains ranges from nearly complete with very good preservation, to fragmentary, incomplete, and very poorly preserved. Individuals ranged in age from 3 years to over 50, with the majority of individuals for whom age could be assessed falling into the adult range.

Temporal contexts from the Bronze Age (2nd Millennium BC) to the Medieval Period (7th to 13th Century AD, approximately) were explored to produce this assemblage, with Xiongnu recoveries (4/10) being the most abundantly represented.    

The skeletal assemblage from the 2007 season carries a high level of traumatic remodeling, pathological or anomalous skeletal features. Of the 10 individuals represented, 5 have some skeletal anomaly, trauma, long term pathology or other age related joint issue. Perhaps significantly, of the remaining 5, 1 is a 3 year old subadult, one is represented by the cranium only, 2 are very badly degraded long bone shaft fragments, and the last is an individual represented only by limb bone fragments, which are noted to be slightly anomalous, though much of the unusual appearance of these tibiae was ascribed to preservation vagaries and probable individual  variation.

If the subadult, the Xiongnu skull and the two EIA Slab recovery fragments are stricken from consideration because of age and/or lack of observable diagnostic material, the proportions of traumatically or pathologically afflicted individuals across the temporal boundaries surveyed this season rises dramatically to over 80%. While this level of skeletal damage and accommodation provides general evidence of overall rough living conditions in the past at BGC and the local environs from which these people came, we are still studying available riding and non-riding groups for evidence of consistent horse use that will allow inferences to be made regarding riding in its earliest expressions on the Steppe.

From June through July 2005, American and Mongolian archaeologists continued a full-coverage pedestrian survey of a remote section of the desert-steppe zone of Middle Gobi province in Mongolia. The research site of Baga Gazaryn Chuluu is famous for its majestic granite peaks, wildlife, and labyrinthine desert canyons. Gobi horse herds and camels are common sites among the peaks as are the Mongolian nomads who inhabit this area today. Baga Gazaryn Chuluu is set in the harsh environment of the Mongolian desert-steppe but will appeal to those who enjoy a real challenge.

2002 wase the second field season of the Baga Gazaryn Chuluu survey project. We hope to survey approximately 130 sq km of land on the north and northeast side of the ridge formation, extending outward into the desert-steppe. The 2003 season provided evidence for a large number of stone features dated to the 2nd and 1st millenniums BC as well as Neolithic, Bronze and Iron Age and Medieval habitation sites. Ancient petroglyphs can be discovered on the granite outcrops at Baga Gazaryn Chuluu and stone steles, erected by early Turkic nomads, have been located in the main valley running between the towering peaks.

We are in search of a group of volunteers who will assist archaeologists from U.S. and Mongolian research institutions in conducting mid-scale excavations at local cemeteries dating to the first millennium B.C. with an analytical emphasis on bioarchaeology and skeletal analysis. Data collection at Baga Gazaryn Chuluu will help archaeologists evaluate anthropological models for the development of regional nomadic confederations on the northern steppe by 300/200 BC.

Our project is supported by the Mongolian Institute of Archaeology in Ulaanbaatar and we will be joined by Mongolian archaeologists and students who will collaborate in the excavations. The Baga Gazaryn Chuluu region contains a wealth of archaeological sites. The previous reseearch programs have helped us and other researchers better understand the extraordinary nomadic culture of Mongolia that gave rise to some of the most powerful land empires on earth.

Volunteers with a variety of backgrounds are invited to work with us at Baga Gazaryn Chuluu and will have opportunities to learn and practice a wide range of field skills.We will take time to visit local nomadic families, search the granite peaks for wild Mongolian sheep, and attempt to ride Bactrian camels. We also expect to make several jeep trips into the true sand Gobi of Mongolia to the south in order to visit archaeological sites known from Mongolian research reports.

There are two volunteer sessions available and a moderate tax deductible donation is requested to help us meet the expenses of the expedition.

Please join us this coming summer at Baga Gazaryn Chuluu! More information and applications are available on the web-pages at the Center for the Study of Eurasian Nomads (CSEN). We welcome any questions regarding the summer 2004 expedition. All applications must be submitted to CSEN by April 1, 2007 for those wishing to participate in either of the three week sessions offered for next summer. We look forward to seeing you in Mongolia!

William Honeychurch, Project Director
National Museum of Natural History
Smithsonian Institution

Participant Application