Prehistoric Secrets: Bronze Age Cultures of Mongolia Revealed!

Prehistoric Secrets: Bronze Age Cultures of Mongolia Revealed!

The Bronze Age was a time full of changes and dynamic processes in human societies, especially in the vast Eurasian steppes. A new interdisciplinary study examines the prehistoric population dynamics of central Mongolia. This region, stretching from Central Asia to eastern China, was an important hub for migration and cultural exchange. Research shows that during this period there were two genetically and culturally different groups of cattle breeders who lived side by side for centuries until they were displaced by the slab grave culture in the early Iron Age uni-bonn.de reported.

The first group was located in the south and southeast of Mongolia, while the second lived from western to central Mongolia. These groups met in the Orkhon Valley, a ritual landscape that was of great cultural importance. Their burial practices show impressive differences: While the western group built stone burial mounds, the eastern group preferred smaller, hourglass-shaped graves.

Cultural and genetic divisions

Analysis of the graves reveals that the western group buried their dead to the northwest and the eastern group to the southeast. Human genetic analyzes suggest that the two groups had little genetic mixing for over 500 years. With the transition to the Early Iron Age, approximately between 1,000 and 300 BC. A new burial culture with stone slabs began, which completely replaced the earlier rituals of the Western group. This slab grave culture meant that the genetic profiles of those buried no longer showed any connection to Western groups. Eventually, a large group from the east completely displaced the western population, so that no trace of the western group can be found during the Xiongnu Empire period (200 BC to 100 AD).

The genetic origins of the western population can partly be traced back to early Afanasievo and Khemtseg cultures. The results of the study make it clear that cultural coexistence does not necessarily lead to genetic mixing. These findings expand our understanding of early human societies and their social processes.

The role of the Caucasus region

In addition to the research work in Mongolia, a study by the German Archaeological Institute (DAI) and the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology has shed light on the important role of the Caucasus region during the Bronze Age. Here the region was a melting pot, home to the steppe's earliest pastoralists. Over 6,000 years of genetic and archaeological data are covered in this new study, including more than a hundred newly analyzed individuals to trace trajectories of cultural and demographic change. This research shows that the mobile pastoral economy emerged around 3500 BC. BC originated in the steppes north of the Caucasus.

A central aspect of the study is the genetic demarcation of groups, including during the spread of cultural innovations in the 4th millennium BC. New archaeogenetic methods are used to research biological relationships and social relationships, providing important insights into the social structures of the time. Loud derStandard.de human resilience and innovation in the face of ecological and social challenges is remarkable.

The mobility of people and goods in the Bronze Age is also analyzed at conferences such as Genes, Isotopes and Artefacts, which aim to advance research on the period. The exchange of knowledge between different disciplines has shown that people three to four thousand years ago were more mobile than often assumed. With modern archaeological analysis methods, kinship patterns and genetic origins can now be reconstructed more precisely.