Deer Stones and the Bronze to Iron Age Transition in Mongolia

Summary

This is an abstract from the "From the Altai to the Arctic: New Results and New Directions in the Archaeology of North and Inner Asia" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

The Late Bronze Age Mongolian culture known for its memorial deer stones and khirigsuur burials (DSK complex), dating to 1300–700 BCE, persists over several hundred years with little change in ritual art and architecture. Deer stones are memorials to deceased leaders that display distinctive features of personal identification within the unifying framework of an overarching religious iconography. Despite continuity, the DSK complex is not monolithic. This paper presents evidence for regional cultural and chronological variation in deer stone art and ceremonial activity based on research at the Khyadag and Zunii Gol sites in north-central Mongolia. Khyadag displays a new class of miniature deer stones and evidence of copper smelting, and at Zunii Gol, an unusual khirigsuur is associated with a deer stone carrying elements of Scytho-Saka animal style art. These sites show geographic and chronological overlap in the later period of the DSK complex and suggest avenues for exploring links with ancient cultures of the Bering Sea.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• From the Altai to the Arctic: New Results and New Directions in the Archaeology of North and Inner Asia   •
• Society for American Archaeology 88th Annual Meeting, Portland, OR (2023)

Keywords

Spatial Coverage

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 36961.0