The Emergence of New Urban Nodes in Qing Period Mongolia (Seventeenth to Early Twentieth Century): Contrasting Roles and Histories of Monastic and Military Sites

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Archaeology of Medieval Eurasian Steppe Urbanism" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

In Mongolia, the relation between sedentary urban and mobile herder lifeways has constituted a key socioeconomic and political factor for more than a millennium. This history is most prominently present in the Orkhon valley, preserving traces of various urban centers including the Medieval capital of Karakorum. Much less is known about the Qing dynasty period (1636–1911), when Mongolia had fallen under Manchurian dominance. In this era, most modern cities are rooted, but subsequent political developments have led to the abandonment or destruction of many of these urban sites. Within Gerda Henkel’s “Lost Cities” program, a Mongolian-German project explores the emergence and perception of permanent settlement structures that evolved during this period, employing a multidisciplinary program of archaeological fieldwork, historical studies, and ethnographic work. Previously enigmatic pit formations in secluded valleys of the Khangai Mountains are now identified as garrisons connected to long-term military activities. Work at Baruun Khüree monastery, a formerly mobile Buddhist institution that became permanently sited in the seventeenth century, has revealed a wealth of new data on settlement layout, daily life activities, and the historical significance of this monastic node for the development of Mongolia’s early urban network in the buffer zone between China and Russia.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Archaeology of Medieval Eurasian Steppe Urbanism   •
• Society for American Archaeology 88th Annual Meeting, Portland, OR (2023)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 36558.0