Archaeological and Ethnographic Plant Use in Mongolia

Summary

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2023: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

The history and prehistory of Mongolia and Central Asia is sometimes characterized as static nomadic pastoralism, with little to no change in resource use over hundreds of years. Many scholars have debunked this unnuanced image by showing the complexities of pastoral lifeways, as well as the adoption of other subistence strategies in areas traditionally thought to be ‘purely’ pastoralist. One line of evidence helpful in this argument is the pastoralist use of plants, both wild and domestic. The increasing prevalence of taking flotation samples and identifying macrobotanical remains at archaeolgical excavations in Central Asia provides a broad timescale and geographic spread of domesticate plant use, particularly free-threshing wheat (Tricticum aestivum) and broomcorn millet (Panicum miliaceum). In addition to the domesticated food crops, there is ample ethnographic evidence of wild plant use in modern-day Mongolia. Wild plants are used for food, medicine, animal fodder and construction materials, all uses that could potentially be found in the past. This poster compares the archaeolgical analysis and spread of macrobotanical remains in Central Asia broadly and Mongolia specifically to the ethnographic uses of plants in modern Mongolia to elucidate the similarities and differences over time, as well as potential areas for future paleoethnobotanical research.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• SAA 2023: Individual Abstracts   •
• Society for American Archaeology 88th Annual Meeting, Portland, OR (2023)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 36202.0