The tyranny of nomadic ethnography: Re-approaching Late Bronze Age (2100–1300 BCE) mobility in the central Eurasian steppes

IF 2 1区 社会学 Q1 ANTHROPOLOGY
Denis V. Sharapov
{"title":"The tyranny of nomadic ethnography: Re-approaching Late Bronze Age (2100–1300 BCE) mobility in the central Eurasian steppes","authors":"Denis V. Sharapov","doi":"10.1016/j.jaa.2024.101634","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>For a number of years, researchers have associated Late Bronze Age (LBA) (2100 – 1300 BCE) settlements in the Trans-Ural steppe with nomadic pastoralism. This would have involved entire populations making periodic movements between pastures. To test this claim, I have synthesized eight lines of data from more than 40 archaeological sites. The analysis of settlement architecture, material culture accumulation rates, herd composition, osteological seasonality markers, stable isotopes, the degree of transportability of artifacts, haymaking activities, and symbolic behavior has allowed me to conclude the following. First, the settlements of the Sintashta, Petrovka, Alakul, and Srubnaya-Alakul cultural types were sedentary, i.e., occupied year-round by at least a portion of the population. If herder groups left their respective communities for extended periods of time, these moves were localized (within a 15 km radius). Furthermore, if separate nomadic pastoralist sub-groups were present, they were not numerous (∼10 % of the total population). The long-term tendency to see LBA communities as nomadic is rooted in the strong influence of ethnography on Eurasian steppe scholars. Based on these findings, I argue that LBA societies of the central steppes require no special approaches to account for community-level seasonal mobility in the context of settlement pattern studies. This opens up the possibility of focusing on the previously understudied theme of regional demography. Finally, this paper adds the Trans-Urals to the list of world regions where crop cultivation was not a necessary prerequisite for large-scale sedentism.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47957,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Anthropological Archaeology","volume":"77 ","pages":"Article 101634"},"PeriodicalIF":2.0000,"publicationDate":"2024-11-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Journal of Anthropological Archaeology","FirstCategoryId":"90","ListUrlMain":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0278416524000655","RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"ANTHROPOLOGY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0

Abstract

For a number of years, researchers have associated Late Bronze Age (LBA) (2100 – 1300 BCE) settlements in the Trans-Ural steppe with nomadic pastoralism. This would have involved entire populations making periodic movements between pastures. To test this claim, I have synthesized eight lines of data from more than 40 archaeological sites. The analysis of settlement architecture, material culture accumulation rates, herd composition, osteological seasonality markers, stable isotopes, the degree of transportability of artifacts, haymaking activities, and symbolic behavior has allowed me to conclude the following. First, the settlements of the Sintashta, Petrovka, Alakul, and Srubnaya-Alakul cultural types were sedentary, i.e., occupied year-round by at least a portion of the population. If herder groups left their respective communities for extended periods of time, these moves were localized (within a 15 km radius). Furthermore, if separate nomadic pastoralist sub-groups were present, they were not numerous (∼10 % of the total population). The long-term tendency to see LBA communities as nomadic is rooted in the strong influence of ethnography on Eurasian steppe scholars. Based on these findings, I argue that LBA societies of the central steppes require no special approaches to account for community-level seasonal mobility in the context of settlement pattern studies. This opens up the possibility of focusing on the previously understudied theme of regional demography. Finally, this paper adds the Trans-Urals to the list of world regions where crop cultivation was not a necessary prerequisite for large-scale sedentism.
游牧民族学的暴政:重新认识青铜时代晚期(公元前 2100-1300 年)欧亚大草原中部的流动性
多年来,研究人员一直将外乌拉尔草原青铜时代晚期(公元前 2100 年至公元前 1300 年)的定居点与游牧生活联系在一起。这涉及整个人口在牧场之间的定期迁移。为了验证这一说法,我综合了来自 40 多个考古遗址的八组数据。通过对聚落建筑、物质文化积累率、畜群构成、骨学季节性标记、稳定同位素、文物可运输程度、打草活动和象征行为的分析,我得出了以下结论。首先,辛塔什塔、彼得罗夫卡、阿拉库尔和斯鲁布纳亚-阿拉库尔文化类型的聚落是定居型的,即至少有一部分人全年居住。如果牧民群体长期离开各自的社区,这些迁移都是局部性的(半径 15 公里以内)。此外,如果存在单独的游牧亚群,其数量也不多(占总人口的 10%)。将 LBA 社区视为游牧社区的长期趋势源于民族学对欧亚草原学者的强烈影响。基于这些发现,我认为,在聚落模式研究的背景下,中部草原的 LBA 社会不需要特别的方法来解释社区层面的季节性流动。这就为关注以前未得到充分研究的区域人口学主题提供了可能性。最后,本文将外乌拉尔地区列入世界上农作物种植并非大规模定居的必要先决条件的地区名单。
本文章由计算机程序翻译,如有差异,请以英文原文为准。
求助全文
约1分钟内获得全文 求助全文
来源期刊
CiteScore
4.00
自引率
11.10%
发文量
64
期刊介绍: An innovative, international publication, the Journal of Anthropological Archaeology is devoted to the development of theory and, in a broad sense, methodology for the systematic and rigorous understanding of the organization, operation, and evolution of human societies. The discipline served by the journal is characterized by its goals and approach, not by geographical or temporal bounds. The data utilized or treated range from the earliest archaeological evidence for the emergence of human culture to historically documented societies and the contemporary observations of the ethnographer, ethnoarchaeologist, sociologist, or geographer. These subjects appear in the journal as examples of cultural organization, operation, and evolution, not as specific historical phenomena.
×
引用
GB/T 7714-2015
复制
MLA
复制
APA
复制
导出至
BibTeX EndNote RefMan NoteFirst NoteExpress
×
提示
您的信息不完整,为了账户安全,请先补充。
现在去补充
×
提示
您因"违规操作"
具体请查看互助需知
我知道了
×
提示
确定
请完成安全验证×
copy
已复制链接
快去分享给好友吧!
我知道了
右上角分享
点击右上角分享
0
联系我们:info@booksci.cn Book学术提供免费学术资源搜索服务,方便国内外学者检索中英文文献。致力于提供最便捷和优质的服务体验。 Copyright © 2023 布克学术 All rights reserved.
京ICP备2023020795号-1
ghs 京公网安备 11010802042870号
Book学术文献互助
Book学术文献互助群
群 号:481959085
Book学术官方微信