TY - JOUR
T1 - Hunting, herding, and people in the rock art of Mongolia
T2 - New discoveries in the Gobi-Altai Mountains
AU - Vanwezer, Nils
AU - Timothy Treal Taylor, William
AU - Bayarsaikhan, Jamsranjav
AU - Breitenbach, Sebastian F.M.
AU - Amano, Noel
AU - Louys, Julien
AU - del Val, Miren
AU - Boivin, Nicole
AU - Petraglia, Michael
N1 - Funding information: Archaeological field work in the Gobi-Altai region was conducted with the permission of the Ministry of Education, Culture, and Science for Mongolia [Permit 18-6-2/2 (2018) & 79/B (2019)]. We thank our international field crews for assisting in the rock art surveys. We are grateful to Evgny Rybin and B. Byambadorj for providing key references, and the two anonymous reviewers for their comments. This research was funded by the Max Planck Society, Germany.
PY - 2021/6/1
Y1 - 2021/6/1
N2 - Despite its harsh and arid conditions, the Gobi Desert has played an important role in shaping Holocene populations, including the transition from hunting to herding lifeways. Here we present three newly documented rock art sites in the Gobi-Altai Mountains of south-central Mongolia, a cave (Gazar Agui 1), a rock shelter (Gazar Agui 13) and an open-air landscape site overlooking a palaeolake (Unegt Uul). In addition, we re-examine the preservation of the rock art cave site of Saalit Agui some 20 years after its original documentation, using digital technology not available at that time. Comparisons of rock art at Gazar Agui 1 and Saalit Agui with previously documented rock art in Mongolia suggest links with Mesolithic and Neolithic anthropomorphic iconography. Unegt Uul and Gazar Agui 13 show Early Bronze Age to Iron Age symbols, suggesting two distinct periods of production, by hunter-gatherers during the Early Holocene and by later hunter-pastoralists during the Late Holocene. Our findings suggest that wet periods in mountainous basins of the Gobi-Altai were likely key to early human habitation, with pastoralism dominating during arid periods. Our observations further indicate that preservation of rock art sites in the region is currently under threat due to human activity and climate change.
AB - Despite its harsh and arid conditions, the Gobi Desert has played an important role in shaping Holocene populations, including the transition from hunting to herding lifeways. Here we present three newly documented rock art sites in the Gobi-Altai Mountains of south-central Mongolia, a cave (Gazar Agui 1), a rock shelter (Gazar Agui 13) and an open-air landscape site overlooking a palaeolake (Unegt Uul). In addition, we re-examine the preservation of the rock art cave site of Saalit Agui some 20 years after its original documentation, using digital technology not available at that time. Comparisons of rock art at Gazar Agui 1 and Saalit Agui with previously documented rock art in Mongolia suggest links with Mesolithic and Neolithic anthropomorphic iconography. Unegt Uul and Gazar Agui 13 show Early Bronze Age to Iron Age symbols, suggesting two distinct periods of production, by hunter-gatherers during the Early Holocene and by later hunter-pastoralists during the Late Holocene. Our findings suggest that wet periods in mountainous basins of the Gobi-Altai were likely key to early human habitation, with pastoralism dominating during arid periods. Our observations further indicate that preservation of rock art sites in the region is currently under threat due to human activity and climate change.
KW - Hunter-gatherer
KW - Hunter-pastoralist
KW - Ochre
KW - Paleoclimate
KW - Petroglyphs
KW - Preservation
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85102651168&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.ara.2021.100267
DO - 10.1016/j.ara.2021.100267
M3 - Article
SN - 2352-2267
VL - 26
JO - Archaeological Research in Asia
JF - Archaeological Research in Asia
M1 - 100267
ER -
