The monumentality of ancient pastoral landscapes in Western Tian Shan (Xinjiang, China)

Summary

This paper examines the spatial configuration of stone structures built for ritual and funerary uses in the steppes of Western Tian Shan based on results of survey and excavation in the Bortala and Ili River Valleys in Xinjiang, China. Marked by clusters of structures attributed typologically to different epochs of human activity, these sites evince a recurring architectural expression of ritual and funerary customs spanning upwards of centuries. The additive process by which some of these structures came into existence, as previous field research in contiguous regions has noted, highlights the temporality of these locales and the perpetuation of pastoral landscapes. In dissecting monumentality, this paper contends that the influence of these structures on routes of movement among early pastoral societies manifests on a diachronic scale.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 82nd Annual Meeting, Vancouver, BC (2017)

Keywords

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 17579