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

这一试点项目旨在准备在蒙古中部上鄂尔沁河谷的Maikhan Tolgoi墓地进行大规模挖掘项目。墓地在青铜和铁器时代的研究中发挥着突出的作用，因为这个时代的所有特征(khirigsuur，鹿石，石板墓)都在这里。墓地的特点不仅是各种墓葬形式的异常多样化和大量未分类的结构，而且特征的密度也非常高。最新的研究在命名纪念碑的年代测定方面取得了进展，而它们的功能和部分同时代存在的问题绝对不清楚。它们传统上被认为是不同的考古文化，这是苏联科学传统的一个不令人满意但被广泛使用的概念。随着对蒙古一座墓地的系统研究--显然是在青铜时代晚期和铁器时代早期使用的--应该建立新的解释基础，以便研究这些所谓文化之间的真实文化、功能和年代关系。除了考古分析外，生物考古学的方法与人类学和古动物学的现代方法经典相结合。这种跨学科的方法是广泛解决不同类型古迹同时存在的问题，并理解建立这些古迹的社区成员之间可能由于不同的生存策略、不同的饮食或社会分化而造成的差异的唯一途径。由于在这段时间内没有永久定居点，解决上述研究问题的唯一办法是对墓地进行全面和系统的研究。所要求的试点项目的目标是在2012年9月的一次实地活动过程中测试骨骼遗骸的预期出现情况是否符合研究状况的预期，以及骨骼材料的保存是否足以满足计划的研究项目。因此，选定的不同形式的特征将被挖掘、确定日期，人类遗骸将被人类学分析。

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.