Late Bronze Age women of the steppe frontier: a bioarchaeological analysis of multiple sites in northern China

Summary

The late Bronze Age in the Inner Asian steppe was a transitional period, with the adoption of mobile herding, as well as increasing sociopolitical interaction and complexity among groups in this region. Although archaeological studies have indicated that many steppe groups engaged in a variety of subsistence practices, pastoralism in general has been characterized as a rather uniform lifestyle; and nomadic pastoralism in particular has been associated more often with the role of males, i.e., as mounted warriors. The bioarchaeological study of ancient female "pastoralists" and their lived experiences, however, offer a broader perspective on life among these steppe communities, including potential variations in health, stress, and activity markers. This study focuses on the remains of adult females from four sites in northern China (from east to west): Jinggouzi (n=35, 1000-600 BC) in Inner Mongolia; Xiaohandi (n=33, 1500-1000 BC) in Qinghai; and Tianshan Beilu (n=33, 1800-1200 BC) and Yanghai (n=24, 1000-600 BC) in Xinjiang. The geographic diversity of these sites contributes to our understanding of how environmental variation, as well as temporal and culturally contingent factors may have led to differential frequencies of dental disease, stress in childhood and adulthood, and markers of activity among the women of these samples.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Bio-cultural Approach to the Osteoarchaeological Inquiries in China   •
• Society for American Archaeology 82nd Annual Meeting, Vancouver, BC (2017)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 16343