In 2016, during systematic pedestrian surveys around Delgerkhaan Uul highlands in southeastern Mongolia’s Gobi Desert, archaeologists with the Dornod Mongol Survey encountered, among > 9000 medieval ceramic sherds, two blue-green glazed sherds at two artifact surface scatters that reflect small seasonal camps of the local nomadic people. Based on appearance, these two sherds were provisionally identified as Early Islamic glazeware, dating to the Abbasid (ca. 750–1258 CE) dynasty, given that their associated sherds were typical of the medieval Kitan-Liao and Mongol Empires (ca. 10th–14th centuries CE). Their small sizes, however, precluded traditional diagnostic methods, so the geographic origins had to be tested by scientific means. Our approach focused on technological aspects of the glazes, not sourcing sensu stricto, using scanning electron microscopy with energy-dispersive spectrometry (SEM-EDS) and portable X-ray fluorescence (pXRF). The composition of the glazes, specifically the presence of key fluxing agents, is consistent with Persian, including Abbasid, technologies. Our comparative analysis with hundreds of Persian and Chinese ceramics, spanning several centuries, emphasizes the distinctive characteristics of their glazes, supporting their origins in the Middle East. Given the associated medieval Kitan-Liao and Mongol sherds, we contend that the two blue-green glazed sherds also date to this period, consistent with the appearance of exotic materials and novel trade goods at other sites throughout the region. This result suggests that rare ceramic artifacts, like Persian glazeware, reached – at least occasionally – even the remote nomadic communities along the Gobi Desert’s edges, attesting to a web of interactions and exchanges that spanned vast regions of Asia. Such an outcome also highlights the project’s objectives of exploring the intertwined growth of political communities and long-distance trade within the region.
扫码关注我们
求助内容：
应助结果提醒方式：
京公网安备 11010802042870号