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

该试点项目旨在为蒙古中部上鄂尔浑河谷Maikhan Tolgoi墓地的大规模挖掘项目做准备。该墓地在青铜器和铁器时代的研究中发挥了突出的作用，因为这个时代的所有特征（khirigsuurs，鹿石，石板坟墓）都在这个地方。该墓地的特点不仅是各种各样的坟墓形式和大量的未分类结构，而且还具有非常高的特征密度。最新的研究在命名古迹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却绝对不清楚。他们传统上被认为是不同的考古学文化，这是苏联科学传统中一个不令人满意但被广泛使用的概念。随着首次对蒙古的一个墓地进行系统研究，显然在青铜时代晚期和铁器时代早期使用，应该建立一个新的解释基础，以研究这些所谓的文化之间真正的文化，功能和时间关系。除了考古学分析之外，生物考古学的方法与人类学和古动物学的现代标准方法相结合。这种跨学科的方法是广泛解决同时存在不同类型纪念碑的问题和理解差异的唯一途径，这些差异可能是由不同的生存战略、不同的饮食或建造这些纪念碑的社区成员之间的社会分化造成的。由于这一时期没有永久定居点，解决上述研究问题的唯一方法是对墓地进行全面和系统的研究，要求开展的试点项目的目标是在2012年9月的一次实地活动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，以及骨骼的保存情况是否符合研究状况的预期。材料对于计划的研究项目来说是足够的。因此，不同形式的选定特征将被挖掘，确定年代，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.