Bioarchaeological Research on the bronze and Iron Age cemetery of Maikhan Tolgoi, Upper Orkhon Valley, Central Mongolia. Pilot project.

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This pilot project is intended to prepare an extensive excavation project in the cemetery Maikhan Tolgoi in the Upper Orkhon Valley in Central Mongolia. The necropolis plays an outstanding part in the research of the Bronze and Iron Age, since all characteristic features of this epoch (khirigsuurs, deer stones, slab graves) are present on this place. The necropolis is not only characterized by an exceptional variety of various grave forms and a high number of unclassified structures but also by an extraordinary high density of features. Latest research brought advances in the dating of the named monuments, while the question of their function and of their partly contemporaneous existence are absolutely unclear. They are traditionally perceived as different archaeological cultures, an unsatisfactory but widely used concept of the Soviet scientific tradition.With - for the first time -ä systematic research of a cemetery in Mongolia, apparently used during the Late Bronze and Early Iron Age, a new basis for interpretation should be established in order to research the true cultural, functional and chronological relationship between these so-called cultures. Besides the archaeological analysis a bioarchaeological approach is placed with the modern canon of methods from anthropology and paleozoology. This interdisciplinary approach is the only way to solve extensively the problem of the simultaneous existence of different types of monuments and to comprehend the differences, possibly caused by different subsistence strategies, different diets or societal differentiation among the community members that erected these monuments. Because of the absence of permanent settlements in this time period the only approach to solve the outlined research questions lies in the comprehensive and systematic study of a cemetery.It is the goal of the requested pilot project to test in the course of one field campaign in September 2012 if the expected occurrence of skeletal remains is in line with the expectations by the state of research and if the preservation of bone materials is sufficient for the planned research project. Therefore selected features of different forms are intended to be excavated, dated and the human remains are intended to be analyzed anthropologically.