Addendum # 1

The Tarvagatai Valley Project seeks to understand the combination of productive systems, climate, and political organization by studying a lifestyle that has proven highly resilient and sustainable over thousands of years. That way of living is pastoralism which involves herding and pasturing animal usually with an investment in periodic mobility or nomadism. This way of life can be found on every continent: From the American West to South Africa to the Arctic Circle and it has been practiced by human communities for millennia. Because mobile herding communities have developed traditions, knowledge, and systems of organization that readily adapt to changing environments while preserving the sustaining resources available in these environments, such communities are good examples to study in order to develop ideas for how to address and adapt to global climate change. Our research has focused on one of the best known pastoralist societies in the world – that of Mongolian nomads. Not only has Mongolian nomadic pastoralism proven to be a successful adaptation for 5000 years, it has formed the productive and organizational foundations for some of the largest empires ever built. The herding lifestyle is adaptable to changing environments, but it also adapts to large-scale human organizational systems like states and empires.

How nomadic communities manage this adaptation process, especially when environmental and political changes co-occur, would be useful information for us to understand - not only for the nation of Mongolia but for many parts of the globe in which pastoralists and ranchers are primary producers. We are particularly interested in learning about these adaptations to address declines in traditional pastoralism in northern latitudes ranging from forested grasslands, to the boreal forests, to northern tundra. These regions are particularly susceptible to rapid climate warming and changing resource environments and our study is intended to provide historical, archaeological, and climatic analysis to better understand how northern populations might best adapt to these transformations - especially with respect to traditional subsistence practices. Our research proposes new models for the coupling of productive systems, climate, and human organization by analyzing and cross-comparing four different records, over 1200 years, assembled from a forest-steppe valley in northern Mongolia (Tarvagatai valley). This valley has supported mobile pastoralism in varying forms for at least 4000 years and experienced dramatic shifts in climate, local environment, and political contexts due to its integration into several Mongolian states and empires. Our focus begins in 800 AD during the late Turkic Empire and continues through the period of the Mongolian Empire, the Manchu Empire, and the rise of the Soviet Union’s influence in Mongolia. The four records we have developed to compare through this research include: Archaeology, history and ethnography; lake-core sequences for long-term climate change, and tree-ring coring for high resolution climate change. By cross-sequencing these fours records of local human and environmental changes we are able to better understand why and how community adaptations were sustainable and how pastoral and other forms of production were managed within changing political settings.

 Using archaeological survey methods, our project documented a landscape of 92 km² with a total of 123 habitation sites and 241 burials, stone monuments, ceremonial areas, and stele stones. Our most important discovery and excavation project has been a large settlement of pit-houses occupied during the Mongolian Empire where pastoralism, the farming of wheat and barley, and expert iron and bronze metallurgy was carried out. In addition to our archaeological accomplishments, we documented the past 300 years of production, organization, religion, and taxation in the Tarvagatai valley using archival documents. Together with ethnographic observations from today’s nomadic households living in the valley with their herds of sheep, goat, cow and horse, our work has assembled a human timeline of activity from 800 AD to the present. Our lake coring project has produced a sequence of climatic change form 11,500 years ago up to the present and our tree ring project has produced a collection of 30+ tree-ring cores. This research has so far contributed to two book publications, over 20 articles, 10 field reports, one MA thesis, one doctoral dissertation and two more doctoral dissertations due in 2026. 

 The project is built upon close research collaboration between a number of US and international scholars all of whom bring students and volunteers having a wide range of ages and backgrounds to Mongolia. All participants received exposure to anthropology-based research and STEM applications for fieldwork and for most of these young participants, this was their first experience doiing international scientific fieldwork. Our project has trained American graduate students, undergraduates, and two US high school students. Our Mongolian collaborators likewise invited their undergraduate and graduate students to work with our American team. This international mix and diverse backgrounds of our participants became a major component of the cross-cultural education that became a standard part of our fieldwork.

Added: 03/27/2025
Submitted by: Nicole K Davi