Pastoralist Intensification and Dietary Dynamics in the Mongolian Steppe: Multi-isotope Analyses of Human and Faunal Collagen

Summary

This is an abstract from the "New Directions in Mongolian Archaeology" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

The initial spread of pastoralism into the Mongolian steppe during the third millennium cal BC marked a major transformation in human subsistence. Dairying was practiced by early pastoralist groups, evidenced by the identification of milk proteins preserved in human dental calculus. However, we have a poor understanding of how the focused exploitation of animal domesticates impacted the relative contribution of animal proteins to early pastoralist dietary intake. Similarly, the degree to which later intensification in pastoral production associated with the Xiongnu Empire and the emergence of transregional exchange systems, as well as new dietary modes involving millet consumption, influenced the protein intake of established pastoralists is also unknown. Here, we investigate the dietary dynamics of Neolithic hunter-gatherers, Bronze Age early pastoralists, and Xiongnu herders through bulk carbon and nitrogen isotope analyses of human and animal remains recovered from mortuary monuments situated across the diverse environments of the Mongolian steppe. In order to decouple environmental inputs known to influence bulk isotope values, including aridity, which influences the distribution of nitrogen isotopes at the floral base of the food web, and establish if fish contributed to hunter-gatherer and pastoralists diets, we also conduct compound-specific isotope analyses of amino acids.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 86th Annual Meeting, Online (2021)   •
• New Directions in Mongolian Archaeology

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 33507