Archaeology, Ethnology & Anthropology of Eurasia 39 (3) 2011

Annotation:  The Origin of Anatomically Modern Humans and their Behavior in Africa and Eurasia Newly Discovered Yarmukian and Wadi Rabah Sites in the Southern Jordan Valley and the Desert Fringe Periodization of Bronze Age Cultures in the Ob–Irtysh Forest-Steppe: The Stratigraphic Position of E Early Iron Age Burials in Southeastern Zhetysu: The Geoarchaeological Evidence Stratigraphy and Relative Chronology of the Neolithic Assemblages at the Koksharovsky Kholm Sanctua Pazyryk Burial at Khankarinsky Dol in the Northwestern Altai On the Origins of Nomadism in the Asian Steppes Medieval Sanctuary at Eshmess Cave in the Pechora Urals “Priest’s Staff” from Fort Nadym of the 16th–17th Centuries Wooden Pectoral Cross from a Burial at the Spassky Necropolis of the 18th Century in Irkutsk Latticed Petroglyphs of Mount Kalbak-Tash, Gorny Altai Food Symbolism in the Context of Komi (Zyrians) Wedding Rituals Zheltuga Republic: The Case of Social Development at the Chinese-Russian Border The Dentition of the Alakul People, with Reference to their Origin   

On the Origins of Nomadism in the Asian Steppes

S.S. Kalieva and V.N. Logvin.

The article summarizes the results of almost thirty years of research into issues surrounding the reconstruction of economic principles and lifestyle among the population of the steppe region of the Trans-Ural community representing the Chalcolithic cultures of geometric pottery. Rresearchers from Russia, Kazakhstan, and Western Europe have gathered diverse information suggesting that cattle and horse breeding constituted the foundation of the economy among this particular population, while hunting animals such as saiga antelopes and kulans (Asiatic wild ass) had only secondary importance in economic terms. Although settlements were of a seasonal nature, they were not shepherd’s camps, and had a considerable number of inhabitants; the level of tool development excluded the possibility of storing forage for animals in winter, and so herding animals was possible only under conditions of year-round grazing. Therefore, the communities which left Tersek and Botai antiquities as their heritage should be considered nomadic.

Keywords: Chalcolithic, nomadism, animal husbandry, domestication, Tersek, Botai, Surtandy.