Issue 1 (62)

NOMADIC LIFE IN THE STEPPE ZONE OF EURASIA: ARCHAEOLOGISTS’ PERCEPTIONS
Year 2019 Number 1(62)
Pages 6-16 Type scientific article
UDC 903’15 BBK 63.4-6
Authors Ochir-Goryaeva Maria À.
Topic ARCHAEOLOGY OF LIFESTYLE
Summary The article provides a critical analysis of the most common clichés in archeologists’ notions about the nomads of the Eurasian steppes and the nomadic way of life. When interpreting archaeological monuments, scholars are keen on romantic, biased perception of nomadic lifestyle, focusing on certain “exotic” features. Among them is the postulate of a mound as a sure sign of nomadic life. The author presents the facts when barrows were constructed by sedentary population, not only in the steppes, but also in other landscape zones. Attention is drawn to the misconception of a consistent-joint grazing of livestock in extreme conditions as a regular phenomenon in the winter period. In the Eurasia steppe zone, highly specialized nomadism could exist only if there was a developed system of sedentariness centers that appeared only in the early Iron Age. Owing to this, in the Bronze Age the steppe population could have only a complex subsistence economy and sedentary lifestyle, as confirmed in recent years by the results of isotope analyses. The peasant colonization of Russia’s South steppes in the pre-industrial era is considered by the author as a vivid example of the fact that the natural and climatic conditions of the steppe make complex pastoral and agricultural economy and sedentary lifestyle possible.
Keywords Eurasian steppe, Bronze Age, Nomads, settlements, sedentary population, mounds, horses
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