Archaeological Research in Asia最新文献

In this article, we introduce the excavation of an iron smelting site at Chadiping, Pengshui County, southeast Chongqing, China. Archaeological survey and excavation were carried out in 2012 and 2014, which a total of 21 furnaces were surveyed and recorded in 2012 and five were excavated in 2014. The Chadiping site is dated to the 15th–17th centuries according to the radiocarbon dating analysis and the local pottery assemblage. According to the furnace and site structures and the results of preliminary analysis of collected ores and slags, the iron ore used was possibly hematite and fueled by charcoal, the function of the site was possibly only to produce pig iron ingots, and the iron ingots were likely to be sold or transported to other areas to make different objects. The discovery at the Chadiping site is the first archaeological evidence of iron smelting in Chongqing, and would provide great contribution to the study of iron smelting and production in Chongqing, and the history of local economic and social structure.

Human adaptations post-Pleistocene, especially during the early Holocene in ecotonal regions, are vital for understanding the mechanisms of evolutionary trajectories of domestication in human history. Unfortunately, human subsistence in the ecotonal zones in North China, which is one of the earliest domestication centers in the world, has not yet been fully understood. Here, we present zooarchaeological data from the early Holocene site of Xinglong in the southeastern Inner Mongolian Plateau to uncover human adaptive subsistence strategies at the beginning of domestication. Our results reveal that dogs have been domesticated at the site since the early Holocene. While the ratios of large ungulates (e.g., aurochs, cervids, and equids) began to increase in the Neolithic Phase 3 period, there have been few fluctuations for wild boars over that time, suggesting a limited role that wild boars might have been playing in human subsistence. Moreover, a wide range of other faunal (e.g., small game prey) and floral taxa were also exploited, indicating a long practice of a successful broad-spectrum subsistence economy prior to the origins and development of agriculture. These findings provide valuable insights into early human-animal-environment interactions and the adaptive evolution of human societies in the early Holocene.

The spread of domesticated crops has commonly occurred alongside broad patterns of long- and short-distance human movements and culture contact across regions. While exchange across Eurasia along the so-called Silk Road has been much discussed, recent work has revealed increasingly more evidence for early north-south contact along the eastern rim of the Tibetan Plateau. Main points of debate concern the timing and direction of the spread of agriculture and domesticated crops. This paper contributes to these discussions by presenting new data from macrobotanical remains and phytoliths from Houzidong in southwest Sichuan, a Neolithic site on the eastern rim of the Tibetan Plateau. The results show that the main crops during the late Neolithic (4200–4000 cal. BP) were foxtail millet (Setaria italica) and broomcorn millet (Panicum miliaceum), with a small amount of rice (Oryza sativa), but that agriculture was overall not a major focus. Rather, the subsistence at Houzidong like at other sites in the region was highly diverse, relying on gathering, hunting, and small-scale cultivation with considerable crop diversity aimed at minimizing the impact of potential crop failure. This paper shows that subsistence practices differed markedly between sites, local populations exploiting the rich natural resources in the respective ecological niches in various ways. We argue that the wide variety of food sources available in southwest China allowed people to mitigate risk but also made them more receptive to new food sources such as plant crops, experimenting with them and adding them to their portfolio. Similar patterns can be seen in the adoption and adaptation of other outside influences with each community picking and choosing what suited them best, thus creating the rich and varied patchwork of highly localized cultural phenomena that came to characterize southwest China.

Archaeological research in the Kyrghyz Tian Shan Mountains using state-of-the-art technology such as geophysical investigations and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) is still in its early stages. The current investigations have shed light on the complexity of burial grounds in the Suusamyr Plateau, where over 951 structures have withstood the test of time and now serve as a silent expression of ancient civilizations. This study utilized an integrative approach that combined UAV data and geophysical prospection to map surface and subsurface features. Of the identified structures, 68.2% are burial mounds, 93% of which are simple mounds and 7% of which are complex collared mounds. The typological diversity of the burial mounds suggests that they were constructed starting with the Late Bronze Age up to the Turkic period. Subsurface investigations at four sites supplemented surface information, revealing a complex pattern of outer rings of stone circles surrounding the large burial mounds. The combined approach consisting of aerial, ground level and subsurface investigations proved invaluable for gaining an integrative perspective of the Suusamyr Plateau burial grounds. Although excavation is needed for absolute chronology, this research offers insights into prehistoric cultures and underscores the importance of continued conservation efforts, given current anthropic threats.

Opening of series of sites of Loess Palaeolithic in Central Asia, found within a different levels of loess-palaeosol sequences of Tajikistan, was a great step in understanding history of hominin dispersal in Eurasia. The highest density of Loessic Palaeolithic sites is recorded in the Khovaling Loess Plateau. In 2021 a Russian-Tajik geoarchaeological expedition carried out an archaeological survey and discovered an area rich in stone artefacts,  concentrated in pedocomplexes 5, which was excavated and called Lakhuti-IV. All archaeological material at the Lakhuti-IV site was associated with pedocomplex 5, consisting of two well developed palaeosols reflecting different climatic phases of the interglacial period. The stratigraphic occurrence and the typological characteristics of the assemblage indicate a single industry. Several knapping technologies are recorded in the primary knapping: radial, slice and simple parallel. From the existing geochronological data for the Khovaling Loess Plateau, cultural layer of Lakhuti-IV is correlated with MIS 13 (∼0.5 Ma). A distinctive feature of Lakhuti-IV, and one which distinguishes it from the entire assemblages of the Palaeolithic sites in the Khovaling Loess Plateau, is the high concentration of artefacts. Another unique feature of the site is that here, for the first time in the Loessic Palaeolithic of Central Asia artefacts are found in several distinct cultural horizons within the same pedocomplex, i.e., within the same climatic warm period.

Stratified Middle Paleolithic industries in Mongolia are mostly known from final Middle Paleolithic complexes in the Orkhon and Kharganyn Gol valleys in the north-central part of the country, while Middle Paleolithic sites in the Gobi Desert have not attracted as much attention. Re-analysis of archaeological collections made during excavations of Tsagaan Agui Cave in 1987–1989 have made it possible to define transitional specific tool types as well as the systems of primary flaking employed through different lithic complexes. Recent excavations of Tsagaan Agui in 2021 and 2022 place the lithic complexes first identified there in the 1980s into a more refined chronological sequence. Preliminary technological and typological analyses reveal the non-Levallois Mousterian character of the Middle Paleolithic industry at Tsagaan Agui Cave. Here, we attempt to identify analogs of this industry in Siberia and eastern Asia.

The identification of camp sites of Iron Age cultures on the Eurasian steppes has long been a problem as the traces of seasonal settlements are faint and often destroyed by agricultural activities. Recent research has found increasing evidence for less mobility and a larger role farming played in the mixed and locally adapted economies of peoples on the steppes. Here we present the results of the investigation of a settlement from the Uyuk Valley and contextualize it with data for seasonal camp sites and settlements in Iron Age South Siberia. Contrary to the long-held beliefs that Iron Age herding societies were truly nomadic and did not establish permanent settlements, archaeological research in South Siberia is gradually starting to reveal a different picture. Remote sensing and on-ground surveys uncovered six Scythian-period settlement sites in Tuva occupying southern hill slopes in sheltered topographic settings. Excavations at Zhelvak 5 revealed a stratified site with materials from the Bronze Age to the Late Iron Age and beyond. The archaeological material speaks towards continuity of economic exploitation of this landscape and the establishment of seasonal camp sites in the same place over a prolonged period of time.

The peopling process of North and South America started in Northeast Asia and was a cultural evolutionary event. An evolutionary approach to archaeology, however, begins with detailed description of assemblages. The Uptar site, Russia, played a prominent role in debates about New World colonization, due to the presence of a “fluted” bifacially flaked stone lanceolate. However, in recent years, Uptar has received less attention. We were given the opportunity to study a sample of the Uptar lithic assemblage, and here we compiled descriptions based on thin-sections for mineralogical and textural analyses; X-ray diffraction (XRD) for mineralogical identification; X-ray fluorescence (XRF) for geochemical analysis; computerized axial micro-tomography (MicroCT) for micro-textural analysis; technological descriptions; morphometric analysis of its bifaces; and microwear. At a very basic level, our reexamination of this Uptar lithic sample suggests that the site was potentially a re-tooling site, whereby used or broken tools were discarded and new tools were manufactured. We found little evidence of microblade technology in our sample. Our results also suggest that fluted-point technology continues to be absent in Northeast Asia, and that the precise relationship of Uptar to North American Late Pleistocene and Early Holocene cultures remains unknown. Most importantly, our report provides descriptive data that can be used by others in future comparative and meta analyses.

The invention of the saddle substantially improved horseback-riding, which not only revolutionized warfare, but also eased long-distance speedy movement across Eurasia. Here we present the first detailed construction analysis and absolute age determination of a well-preserved soft leather saddle recovered from the tomb of a female deceased at the Yanghai cemetery site in the Turfan Basin at the eastern end of the Tian Shan mountains. Compared with the oldest known saddle from the Scythian Pazyryk culture site Tuekta barrow no. 1 (430–420 BCE) in north-western Altai, the Yanghai specimen radiocarbon dated to 727–396 BCE (95.4% probability range) is contemporaneous or possibly older. The saddle features the basic elements of soft saddle construction that are still used today: two stuffed, wing-shaped hides sewn together along the outer edges and separated by a central gullet-like spacer and lens-shaped support elements, resembling knee and thigh rolls of modern saddles. Being a masterful piece of leather- and needlework, it is, however, less complex compared to Scythian saddles from the 5th–3rd centuries BCE. Another specimen from nearby Subeixi site, which is also described in detail for the first time in the present study, much closer resembles the Pazyryk saddles in shape, size and structure. In Yanghai, equestrian paraphernalia appear in the grave assemblages during the entire burial period (ca. 1300 BCE to 200 CE), although in higher numbers only from ca. 300 BCE. In the same way, the burial of horses was not common until then. Despite the generally very good preservation of leather, only two saddles were discovered in Yanghai which makes them an exception rather than the norm and raises the question of whether these saddles were acquired from more specialized horse breeders, riders, and saddlers in the North.

Recent archaeological excavations in the Boncuklu Tarla, Çemka Höyük, and Körtik Tepe settlements in the Upper Tigris Basin have provided a number of finds from the pre-PPNA Period, the Younger Dryas. The new data also opens up the concept of the Proto-Neolithic Period to discussion again, which has been controversial for a long time in the East Jazeera and Northwest Zagros Region. In this context, architectural remains and other small finds discovered in the Boncuklu Tarla settlement area make it possible to re-examine the transition to sedentary life in the Upper Tigris Basin during the Late Epipalaeolithic/Proto-Neolithic Period and the PPNA Period. These archaeological finds show that there were some semi-sedentary or sedentary communities in the Upper Tigris Basin, which exhibits unique geographical and climatic features, starting with the Younger Dryas Period. This is different from the Natufian culture that is thought to have emerged in the Mediterranean temperate climate zone and is known only in the Southern Levant Region.