Steppe Architecture: Structures within the Enclosures of the Medieval Wall System

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Divergent Paths, Shared Histories: Examining Archaeological Trends from the Caucasus to Mongolia" session, at the 90th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

The Mongolian steppe is often associated with pastoral nomadism and seasonal mobility. However, mobility does not necessarily mean transience; Architecture always served an important role not only in the adaptability of people in the steppe to the environment, but also as a demonstration of centralized power. This paper presents two newly discovered architectural features built within square, fortified enclosures each associated with different branches of the Medieval Wall System in eastern Mongolia. The sites were excavated as part of “The Wall” project. The first construction, dated to the Kitan-Liao period (916-1125 CE), incorporates wooden posts and rammed earth, creating an impressive gate to the enclosure and a large rectangular building located inside the enclosure. The second, dated to the following Jurchen-Jin period (1115-1234 CE), is semi-subterranean structure with a stone-slabs heating system (khanzan khaalalt in Mongolian and kang in Chinese). Through comparing the differences and similarities between those two structures, this paper aims to highlight the architectural choices employed in extra-urban Medieval Mongolia, in terms of technology, construction materials, planning and tradition. Those architectural features bring new perspectives to our understanding of human ecology and landscape adaptability within the empires of the steppe.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 90th Annual Meeting, Denver, CO (2025)   •
• Divergent Paths, Shared Histories: Examining Archaeological Trends from the Caucasus to Mongolia

Keywords

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 52256