The Role of Pastoralists and ‘Operational Complexity’ in Shaping the Materiality of Trans-Eurasian Exchange

Summary

For decades, descriptions of prehistoric Eurasian pastoral societies would present ceramic typologies as material evidence for macro scale economic, social, and ideological cohesion – and trans-Eurasian interaction. However, recent investigations that focus more on human-environment interactions and domestic economies reveal a more dynamic and varied past in micro-regions of Eurasia. Pastoral strategies dating to the 3rd-2nd millennium BCE were regionally diverse, and societies were engaged in contacts that extended beyond the steppe world confines. These new discoveries bring material assemblages back into focus with the fresh purpose of scientifically examining the spectrum of technologies and social dynamics that generated the materiality of Eurasian pastoralism. Through a focus on mountain campsites in Kazakhstan, this paper proposes that ‘operational complexity’, a new theoretical term to describe the varied technological behaviors and learning contexts behind the production of household and ritual items, was a central factor in shaping the materiality of Eurasian pastoralism and trans-Eurasian exchange.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 83rd Annual Meeting, Washington, DC (2018)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 21334