Archaeology, Ethnology & Anthropology of Eurasia 46 (1) 2018   DOI: 10.17746/1563-0110.2018.46.1.066-075

Annotation:  Personal Ornament Production Technology in the Early Holocene Complexes of Western Central Asia: Ins Hadjoh-2: A Middle Paleolithic Workshop-Camp in Northwestern Caucasus The Late Chalcolithic Ceramics of the Volga Forest-Steppe On the Origin of Natural Bitumen at Yasnoye-8 (Sakhalin Island) Inskoy Dol: A New Early Bronze Age Site in Western Altai Decorated Birch-Bark Artifacts from the Ust-Polui Sanctuary (100 BC to 100 AD) An Old Turkic Statue from Borili, Ulytau Hills, Central Kazakhstan: Issues in Interpretation On Ancient Agriculture in Arid Regions of Central Asia: The Case of the Uvs Nuur Basin Geophysical Studies at the Kushmanskoye (Uchkakar) Fortifi ed Settlement, Kama Basin Pit-Grave (Yamnaya) and Pit-Grave-Maikop Burials at Levoyegorlyksky-3, Stavropol A Periodization of the Timber-Grave Culture in the Western Orenburg Region: Archaeological and Natur The Russian Pioneers’ Winter Camp on Karachinsky Island, the Lower Tobol River, Western Siberia An Experimental Assessment of the Cause of Mummification in the Joseon Period Burials, Republic of K Celestial Bodies on the Ob Ugrian Ritual Artifacts (Based on Archaeological and Ethnographic Sources Craniotomy as a Prehistoric Medical Practice: A Case of Antemortem Cranial Trepanation in Southern Secular and Age-Related Dynamics of Biological Characteristics in the Rural Population of Mongolia:   

On Ancient Agriculture in Arid Regions of Central Asia:
The Case of the Uvs Nuur Basin

T.N. Prudnikova

Ubsunur International Center for Biosphere Research, Internatsionalnaya 117a, Kyzyl, 667007, Russia

The Uvs Nuur Basin is one of the largest arid basins in southern Siberia and Central Asia. The local economy is based on pastoralism. Small-scale irrigation farming is practiced in river valleys. Satellite images of the basin reveal traces of ancient farming, which was much more extensive than that practiced at present. In the central part of the basin, in the Tes-Khem valley, dense irrigation networks are observed, along with numerous associated and hitherto unknown ancient settlements. Presumable remains of an ancient city, surrounded by a network of irrigation canals, were discovered on the west coast of Lake Uvs Nuur. Field studies confirmed the results of image analysis. Parts of ancient irrigation systems, and the ruins of the city and separate settlements, were documented on the ground. For the first time, paleobotanical studies of buried soils and peatlands on ancient fields in the central Uvs Nuur Basin revealed seeds of Triticum sp. Remains of trees and grasses found in the same associations suggest that parts of the basin that are now deserted were covered by forest-steppe landscapes, and the climate was milder at the time when agriculture was practiced. Tentative results of radiocarbon dating suggest that the city existed during the High Middle Ages. Our results point to a greater role of agriculture at that time as compared to the present.

Keywords: Tuva, Uvs Nuur Basin, satellite images, ancient agriculture, irrigation, paleobotany, Triticum sp., wheat