Micro-Scale Iron Smelting in Early Iron Age to Mongol Period Steppe Communities of North-Central Mongolia and its Implications
Micro-Scale Iron Smelting in Early Iron Age to Mongol Period Steppe Communities of North-Central Mongolia and its Implications
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DOI：
10.1007/s41826-020-00031-5
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发表时间：
2020-07
期刊：
影响因子：
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通讯作者：
J. Park;W. Gardner;Jargalan Burentogtokh
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
J. Park;W. Gardner;Jargalan Burentogtokh
鉴于炼铁技术的高度复杂性，人们普遍假设，蒙古草原上的小型移动的社区依靠与较大的定居制造中心进行贸易来获得铁制品。然而，最近在蒙古进行的考古调查表明，移动的牧民家庭和社区保持着非常活跃的铁生产业。虽然越来越多的证据清楚地表明家庭和社区生产的存在，但对家庭手工业规模的制造商所采用的技术水平却知之甚少。在本文中，我们介绍了从蒙古中北部Tarvagatai山谷遗址中发掘的移动的牧民住所和熔炉的发现，这些遗址的年代可以追溯到公元前400年至公元1300年，其中包括一小批铁和铁相关物品，这些物品具有花卉生产的证据。这一材料不仅有助于进一步证实蒙古的移动的社区拥有自己的金属生产手段，而且还表明，以创新的方式实施了一项现有技术，其规模以前被认为太小，除了在边缘草原环境中之外，是不切实际的。
Given the high level of technological sophistication involved in iron smelting, a common assumption held is that small mobile communities of the Mongolian steppe relied on trade with larger, settled, manufacturing centers for the acquisition of iron objects. Recent archaeological investigations in Mongolia suggest, however, that mobile pastoralist households and communities maintained a very active iron production industry. Although mounting evidence clearly points to the presence of household and community-based production, less is known about the level of technology employed by cottage industry scale manufacturers. In this paper we present the findings from excavations of mobile pastoralist dwellings and furnaces from sites in the Tarvagatai Valley of north-central Mongolia dating between 400 BC –AD 1300 that include a small assemblage of iron and iron-related objects bearing evidence of bloomery production. This material not only helps further substantiate that mobile communities in Mongolia had their own means of metal production but also indicates the innovative implementation of an existing technique at a scale previously deemed too small to be practical except in marginal steppe environments.