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High-precision dating of ceremonial activity around a large ritual complex in Late Bronze Age Mongolia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 February 2019

Antoine Zazzo ,
Sébastien Lepetz ,
Jérôme Magail  and
Jamyian-Ombo Gantulga
Antoine Zazzo*
Affiliation:
UMR 7209, Archéozoologie, Archéobotanique: Sociétés, Pratiques et Environnements, CNRS, MNHN, Sorbonne Universités, CP 56, 55 Rue Buffon, F-75005 Paris, France
Sébastien Lepetz
Affiliation:
UMR 7209, Archéozoologie, Archéobotanique: Sociétés, Pratiques et Environnements, CNRS, MNHN, Sorbonne Universités, CP 56, 55 Rue Buffon, F-75005 Paris, France
Jérôme Magail
Affiliation:
Musée d'Anthropologie préhistorique de Monaco, 56 Bis, Boulevard du Jardin Exotique, MC 98 000, Monaco
Jamyian-Ombo Gantulga
Affiliation:
Institute of History and Archaeology, Mongolian Academy of Sciences, Jucov Street-77, Ulaanbaatar-13343, Mongolia
*
*Author for correspondence (Email: zazzo@mnhn.fr)
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Abstract

The deer stone and khirgisuur (DSK) monumental complexes are iconic elements of the Late Bronze Age (c. 1200–700 BC) ceremonial mortuary landscape of the Eastern Eurasian Steppe. A precise chronological framework of these monuments is crucial for understanding their ritual and funerary roles, as well as their wider social functions. The authors establish the first high-precision chronology for a large DSK complex in central Mongolia using 100 new radiocarbon dates. Their chronology suggests that the construction of this DSK complex extended over approximately 50 years, perhaps requiring only locally available human and animal resources, without the need to draw on those of wider regional networks.

Keywords

MongoliaLate Bronze Agedeer stonekhirgisuurchronologyBayesian modelling
Type
Research
Information
Antiquity , Volume 93 , Issue 367 , February 2019 , pp. 80 - 98
Copyright
Copyright © Antiquity Publications Ltd, 2019 

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