Neolithic Pathways in East Mongolian Plateau: Early Sedentism and Subsistence Strategy

Although the harsh environment of the Mongolian Plateau was once assumed to be unable to support a fully sedentary lifestyle, sedentism can be spotted across regions within the Eastern Mongolian Plateau during the Holocene Climatic Optimum. This talk will focus on both new and existing data from Early Neolithic sites on the East Mongolian Plateau to reveal a simultaneous shift towards increasing intensity and stability of site use, with distinct variation in the organization of settlement and subsistence across biogeographic zones. Here, the development of sedentary communities emphasizes the importance of climatic amelioration in the attempt towards sedentism in Mongolia Plateau, and demonstrates how differences in ecological and cultural contexts can encourage various responses to the same environmental stimuli.