Ethnoarchaeology, Human-Animal Relationships, and Participatory Research in Mongolia

Summary

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

In Mongolia, ethnoarchaeological methods have been applied to questions of mobility, spatial organization, site formation, and animal husbandry practices, among others. An area that remains to be explored is the application of ethnoarchaeological methods to the study of craft production, particularly as out relates to distinctive local resources, ecologies, and mobile lifeways. In this paper, I present the results of ethnoarchaeology fieldwork focused on craft production in organic materials, especially materials of animal origin. By studying contemporary craft practices and their material manifestations, I aim to construct an interpretive framework for the organic archaeological record in Mongolia and surrounding regions. By placing craft objects in their social and environmental contexts, their relevance to larger social and environmental questions becomes apparent. This is demonstrated through case studies that bring historical and archaeological material into conversation with ethnoarchaeological findings. This paper will also discuss the outcomes of an online participatory research and cultural heritage initiative that was undertaken in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Building off of research questions and community concerns identified in the course of the presented ethnoarchaeological field research, this project provides a model for remote participatory heritage documentation with potential applications beyond the pandemic.

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): 33563