Melting Mongolian ice patches may threaten reindeer pastoralism, archaeological artefacts

By: Thomas Schmitt Attorney on November 20, 2019 / comment : 0 Climate Change, Ecosystems, Heritage, Indigenous Cultures, Mongolia, Natural Heritage

Northern Mongolian "eternal ice" is melting for the first time in memory, threatening the traditional reindeer-herding lifestyle and exposing fragile cultural artifacts to the elements, according to a study published in the open-access journal PLOS ONE by William Taylor from the Max Planck Institute, Germany, and the University of Colorado-Boulder, USA, and colleagues.

This is a domestic reindeer saddled for riding outside a Tsaatan summer camp in Khuvsgul province,  northern Mongolia [Credit: Julia Clark]

The mountainous tundra of the northern Mongolian steppes features "munkh mus" or "eternal ice", ice patches which remain intact even in the summer. For the reindeer-herding Tsaatan people, they provide a place for heat-stressed reindeer to cool down, as well as fresh water, useful plants, and a reprieve from summer insects for herders and reindeer alike.

The authors of the present study visited the Ulaan Taiga Special Protected Area of Mongolia to investigate the potential for cultural artifacts in the ice. They conducted an archaeological survey on foot and on horseback, and also held ethnographic interviews with eight local families over 2018.

(Left): Image of a persistent snow and ice patch in Mengebulag taken in 2006, showing domestic reindeer using the  patch, and (right): the same patch in 2018, which local residents indicated had melted for the very first time [Credit: Taylor et al, 2019]

The families interviewed described how many ice patches had melted for the first time in memory between 2016 and 2018, while stressing the importance of eternal ice for reindeer and herding families alike. Many herders complained that recent declines in pasture quality had led to reindeer sickness and death.

The archaeological survey revealed a number of wooden artifacts at one melted ice patch site which dated from the 1960s, when herders moved into the area - the first discovered artifacts from this region. Organic materials are preserved in ice but degrade rapidly upon exposure to the elements, meaning that melting ice could affect the archaeological record.

A domesticated reindeer from northern Mongolia [Credit: O. Batchuluun]

As Mongolia continues to warm at a higher rate than the global average, the authors note that the eternal ice appears to be melting due to the increasing summer temperatures--and stress this puts both cultural heritage and traditional reindeer herding at extreme risk in the years to come.

The authors add: "This study shows us that global climate change is an urgent threat in Inner Asia - melting ice is threatening both reindeer herding as a way of life, and the region's cultural heritage."

Source: Public Library of Science [November 20, 2019]

Archaeological site in Inner Mongolia formed 9,000 years ago

By: Thomas Schmitt Attorney on September 19, 2019 / comment : 0 Archaeology, Asia, China, East Asia, Mongolia

A recent analysis has validated the exact age of a prehistoric settlement in northern China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, local experts said Friday.

Aerial view of the Simagou site in Huade county, Northwest China's Inner Mongolia autonomous region [Credit: China News Service]

The carbon-14 test conducted by a U.S. laboratory showed the Simagou ruins in Huade County could date back to 9,000 years ago in the Neolithic period, according to the regional institute of cultural relics and archaeology.

View of the excavations at the Simagou site in Huade county, Northwest China's Inner Mongolia autonomous region [Credit: China National Daily]

Bao Qingchuan, a researcher with the institute, said the ruins were believed to be the earliest site of the Neolithic period ever found in vast steppes of northern China, and the discovery is of great significance to Chinese archaeology.

Bao Qingchuan, a researcher with the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region Institute of Archaeology, said the remains have been radiocarbon dated to approximately 7000-9000 years ago [Credit: Weibo]

From 2017 to 2019, archaeologists discovered 19 houses and 19 outdoor cooking ranges covering an area of over 2,200 square meters on the Simagou site. The houses are of different shapes, including circle and rectangle.

Stone tools discovered at the Simagou site in Huade county, Northwest China's Inner Mongolia autonomous region [Credit: China Times]

So far, over 4,000 items such as stone tools, bone artifacts and pottery shards have been unearthed from the Simagou ruins.

Stone pestles and querns discovered at the Simagou site in Huade county, Northwest China's Inner Mongolia autonomous region [Credit: China National Daily]

Archaeologists said the ruins might be related to the Yumin ruins, another prehistoric settlement found in the same county. They are likely to have belonged to the same clan, which migrated to the Simagou settlement in spring and summer and moved to the Yumin ruins when temperatures dropped.

View of the Simagou site in Huade county, Northwest China's Inner Mongolia autonomous region [Credit: China National Daily]

"The discovery can provide clues for archaeologists to probe into the origin of the culture of the Neolithic age and the advent of primitive agriculture and animal husbandry in northern China," Bao said.

Source: Xinhua News Agency [September 20, 2019]

Gilded silver dragons among treasures found in Mongolian tomb

By: Thomas Schmitt Attorney on September 10, 2019 / comment : 0 Archaeology, Asia, China, East Asia, Mongolia

Among a trove of gold, silver, bronze, jade and wood artifacts, two gilded silver dragons attracted the eyes of Chinese archaeologists taking part in a joint field excavation project in Mongolia.

The two gilded silver dragons unearthed from the tombs of Xiongnu aristocrats in north-central Mongolia [Credit: Henan Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology]

The work on the tombs of Xiongnu aristocrats in north-central Mongolia has entered its third year. In July, the Sino-Mongolian joint team completed the excavation of one of the 400 tombs, numbered M189, in which the gilded silver dragons were unearthed.

"The dragons, each 8 cm in length and with a gesture looking back to its vertical tail, bear obvious characteristics of the Western Han Dynasty (206 B.C.-A.D. 25)," said Dr. Lan Wanli, head of the Chinese archaeological team.

The two gilded silver dragons as they were found in the M189 tomb [Credit: Henan Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology]

Details of the dragons' horns, eyes, teeth and feathers were exquisitely carved. Experts suspect they were ornaments attached to a decorative vessel.

Lan said the two gilded silver dragons not only testify to the cultural exchange and interaction between the prairie in the north and central China, but also indicate that the owner of the tomb had a high status in Mongol society.

Gold ornaments retrieved from the M189 tomb [Credit: Henan Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology]

Turquoise and jade ornaments retrieved from the M189 tomb [Credit: Henan Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology]

Remains of bronzeware retrieved from the M189 tomb [Credit: Henan Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology]

The Xiongnu people were an alliance of nomadic tribes also known as the Huns that emerged around the end of the third century B.C. and had a huge impact on Chinese and world history. During the Han Dynasty, the Xiongnu and the Chinese imperial court clashed several times.

"The tomb in Mongolia predates most of the previously discovered Xiongnu aristocratic tombs in Russia and Mongolia," said Lan.

The excavation site of the tombs of Xiongnu aristocrats in north-central Mongolia [Credit: Henan Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology]

He said the archaeological team also unearthed a jade belt hook, wooden cups, leather horse harness and other household utensils, chariots and weapons from the tomb.

"The bottom of the coffin is covered with a layer of fabric, followed by a layer of unhusked millet, with a small amount of chenopodium, covered with fabric, followed by a layer of unhusked millet and a large amount of sawdust, mixed with small pieces of charcoal and chenopodium, and another layer of fabric," he said.

This kind of arrangement was found for the first time in the tombs of Xiongnu aristocrats, Lan said.

Source: Xinhua News Agency [September 10, 2019]

Humans migrated to Mongolia much earlier than previously believed

By: Thomas Schmitt Attorney on August 16, 2019 / comment : 0 Archaeology, Asia, Early Humans, East Asia, Mongolia

Stone tools uncovered in Mongolia by an international team of archaeologists indicate that modern humans traveled across the Eurasian steppe about 45,000 years ago, according to a new University of California, Davis, study. The date is about 10,000 years earlier than archaeologists previously believed.

Ancient tools were found in a site in the western flank of the Tolbor Valley [Credit: UC Davis]

The site also points to a new location for where modern humans may have first encountered their mysterious cousins, the now extinct Denisovans, said Nicolas Zwyns, an associate professor of anthropology and lead author of the study. Zwyns led excavations from 2011 to 2016 at the Tolbor-16 site along the Tolbor River in the Northern Hangai Mountains between Siberia and northern Mongolia.

The excavations yielded thousands of stone artifacts, with 826 stone artifacts associated with the oldest human occupation at the site. With long and regular blades, the tools resemble those found at other sites in Siberia and Northwest China -- indicating a large-scale dispersal of humans across the region, Zwyns said.

"These objects existed before, in Siberia, but not to such a degree of standardization," Zwyns said. "The most intriguing (aspect) is that they are produced in a complicated yet systematic way -- and that seems to be the signature of a human group that shares a common technical and cultural background."

That technology, known in the region as the Initial Upper Palaeolithic, led the researchers to rule out Neanderthals or Denisovans as the site's occupants. "Although we found no human remains at the site, the dates we obtained match the age of the earliest Homo sapiens found in Siberia," Zwyns said. "After carefully considering other options, we suggest that this change in technology illustrates movements of Homo sapiens in the region."

A sampling of stone tools uncovered at the Tolbor-16 site in Mongolia, with examples of long triangular (bottom row, left) and double-edged blades (bottom row, middle) that resemble those found at other sites in Siberia and Northwest China. The discovery suggests a dispersal through the region of early modern humans who shared a cultural and technological background. The shorter blades, top row, are examples of tool technology  known before to researchers [Credit: UC Davis]

The age of the site -- determined by luminescence dating on the sediment and radiocarbon dating of animal bones found near the tools -- is about 10,000 years earlier than the fossil of a human skullcap from Mongolia, and roughly 15,000 years after modern humans left Africa.

Evidence of soil development (grass and other organic matter) associated with the stone tools suggests that the climate for a period became warmer and wetter, making the normally cold and dry region more hospitable to grazing animals and humans.

Preliminary analysis identifies bone fragments at the site as large (wild cattle or bison) and medium size bovids (wild sheep, goat) and horses, which frequented the open steppe, forests and tundra during the Pleistocene -- another sign of human occupation at the site. The dates for the stone tools also match the age estimates obtained from genetic data for the earliest encounter between Homo sapiens and the Denisovans.

"Although we don't know yet where the meeting happened, it seems that the Denisovans passed along genes that will later help Homo sapiens settling down in high altitude and to survive hypoxia on the Tibetan Plateau," Zwyns said. "From this point of view, the site of Tolbor-16 is an important archaeological link connecting Siberia with Northwest China on a route where Homo sapiens had multiple possibilities to meet local populations such as the Denisovans."

The findings were published online in an article in Scientific Reports.

Author: Kathleen Holder | Source: UC Davis [August 16, 2019]

Winter monsoons became stronger during geomagnetic reversal

By: Thomas Schmitt Attorney on July 03, 2019 / comment : 0 Asia, China, Climate Change, Earth Science, Geology, Mongolia, Palaeoclimate, Palaeontology

New evidence suggests that high-energy particles from space known as galactic cosmic rays affect the Earth's climate by increasing cloud cover, causing an "umbrella effect."

Credit: Kobe University

When galactic cosmic rays increased during the Earth's last geomagnetic reversal transition 780,000 years ago, the umbrella effect of low-cloud cover led to high atmospheric pressure in Siberia, causing the East Asian winter monsoon to become stronger. This is evidence that galactic cosmic rays influence changes in the Earth's climate. The findings were made by a research team led by Professor Masayuki Hyodo (Research Center for Inland Seas, Kobe University) and published in the online edition of Scientific Reports.

The Svensmark Effect is a hypothesis that galactic cosmic rays induce low cloud formation and influence the Earth's climate. Tests based on recent meteorological observation data only show minute changes in the amounts of galactic cosmic rays and cloud cover, making it hard to prove this theory. However, during the last geomagnetic reversal transition, when the amount of galactic cosmic rays increased dramatically, there was also a large increase in cloud cover, so it should be possible to detect the impact of cosmic rays on climate at a higher sensitivity.

Map of the East Asian monsoon area and survey locations: The shaded area shows the Chinese Loess Plateau. The star marks are the locations surveyed: Lingtai (35.04°N, 107.39°E) and Xifeng (35.45°N, 107.49°E) (a) Summer monsoon (b) Winter monsoon. The blue region shows the area of the Siberian High. The red and blue arrows indicate the summer and winter monsoon directions, respectively [Credit: Kobe University]

In the Chinese Loess Plateau, just south of the Gobi Desert near the border of Mongolia, dust has been transported for 2.6 million years to form loess layers -- sediment created by the accumulation of wind-blown silt -- that can reach up to 200 meters in thickness. If the wind gets stronger, the coarse particles are carried further, and larger amounts are transported. Focusing on this phenomenon, the research team proposed that winter monsoons became stronger under the umbrella effect of increased cloud cover during the geomagnetic reversal. They investigated changes in particle size and accumulation speed of loess layer dust in two Loess Plateau locations.

In both locations, for about 5000 years during the geomagnetic reversal 780,000 years ago, they discovered evidence of stronger winter monsoons: particles became coarser, and accumulation speeds were up to > 3 times faster. These strong winter monsoons coincide with the period during the geomagnetic reversal when the Earth's magnetic strength fell to less than ¼, and galactic cosmic rays increased by over 50%.

Comparison of Loess Plateau monsoons with the paleoclimate and paleoenvironment changes from other regions: (a) North Atlantic paleoceanic environment. (b) Northwest Pacific (Chiba Section) paleoceanic environment.  (c) Lingtai summer rainfall. (d) Xifeng summer rainfall. (e) Osaka Bay sea levels. (f) Osaka Bay mean temperature  of the warmest month (MTWA), mean temperature of the coldest month (MTCO). (g) Lingtai winter monsoon strength. (h) Xifeng winter monsoon strength. (i) Magnetic dipole strength. (j) Cosmic ray flux. (k) Winter  insolation at 45 degrees north. The blue bar shows the period of the intensified winter monsoon in the Loess Plateau and the cooling event in Osaka Bay [Credit: Kobe University]

This suggests that the increase in cosmic rays was accompanied by an increase in low-cloud cover, the umbrella effect of the clouds cooled the continent, and Siberian high atmospheric pressure became stronger. Added to other phenomena during the geomagnetic reversal -- evidence of an annual average temperature drop of 2-3 degrees Celsius, and an increase in annual temperature ranges from the sediment in Osaka Bay -- this new discovery about winter monsoons provides further proof that the climate changes are caused by the cloud umbrella effect.

"The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has discussed the impact of cloud cover on climate in their evaluations, but this phenomenon has never been considered in climate predictions due to the insufficient physical understanding of it," comments Professor Hyodo. "This study provides an opportunity to rethink the impact of clouds on climate. When galactic cosmic rays increase, so do low clouds, and when cosmic rays decrease clouds do as well, so climate warming may be caused by an opposite-umbrella effect. The umbrella effect caused by galactic cosmic rays is important when thinking about current global warming as well as the warm period of the medieval era."

Source: Kobe University [July 03, 2019]

Tooth enamel analyses offer insights into the diet and habitat of T. rex relative tarbosaurus

By: Thomas Schmitt Attorney on June 26, 2019 / comment : 0 Dinosaurs, Fossils, Mongolia, Palaeontology

Together with an international team, Senckenberg scientist Herve Bocherens studied the fossilized teeth of the carnivorous dinosaur Tarbosaurus bataar. Based on stable isotopes, the researchers were able to draw inferences regarding the habitat and feeding habits of this relative of T. rex, who lived around 70 million years ago. According to the results, the carnivores were not very picky in their prey selection.

Fragment of Tarbosaurus lower jaw with teeth sampled (white stripes on tooth enamel) [Credit: Senckenberg]

The Gobi Desert in southern Mongolia is a well-known discovery site of fossil dinosaurs. “These fossils from the Cretaceous also include Tarbosaurus bataar, a representative of the Tyrannosaurids and relative of the famous Tyrannosaurus rex,” explains Prof. Dr. Herve Bocherens of the Senckenberg Centre for Human Evolution and Palaeoenvironment at the University of Tubingen.

Bocherens and his team of scientists examined the fossilized teeth of this up to twelve-meter-long dinosaur, using oxygen and carbon isotopes in the tooth enamel to draw inferences regarding the dinosaurs’ feeding habits and the environmental conditions at the time.

“It is amazing how much information is revealed by this approximately 70-million-year-old tooth enamel,” explains a delighted Bocherens, and he continues, “Our analyses show that the environment of these carnivorous reptiles was about 10 degrees Centigrade warmer than today and the amount of precipitation was subject to strong seasonal fluctuations. We assume that the dinosaurs inhabited closed forests – in a climate characterized by monsoons with cold, dry winters and hot, rainy summers.”

In addition, the researchers were able to reconstruct the Tarbosaurs’ diet based on the teeth from five differently aged individuals. According to the results, the carnivores were not very picky in their prey selection: their menu included both the Hadrosauridae, commonly known as “duck-billed dinosaurs,” as well as different species of vegetarian sauropods. “Our isotope studies therefore confirm the fossil discoveries and show that Tarbosaurus took up a position at the top of the food pyramid,” adds Bocherens in summary.

The study is published recently in the scientific journal Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology.

Source: Senckenberg Research Institute and Natural History Museum [June 26, 2019]

Dramatic change in ancient nomad diets coincides with expansion of networks across Eurasia

By: Thomas Schmitt Attorney on June 10, 2019 / comment : 0 Archaeology, Central Asia, Eurasia, Kazakhstan, Mongolia

A meta-analysis of dietary information recorded in the bones of ancient animals and humans recovered from sites scattered across the Eurasian steppe, from the Caucasus region to Mongolia, demonstrates that pastoralists spread domesticated crops across the steppe through their trade and social networks.

Millet cultivation in Central Asia [Credit: © Spengler 2014]

Researchers from Kiel University sifted through previously published stable isotopic data and applied new quantitative analyses that calibrate human dietary intake against environmental inputs. The results have allowed them to better isolate the timing of the incorporation of agricultural products into the diets of pastoral nomads and, crucially, link burgeoning socio-political networks to this dietary transformation.

Through a big data project that explored over a thousand stable isotope data points, researchers were able to find evidence for an early transition to agriculture - based on dietary intake across Eurasia.

"Our understanding of the pace of crop transmission across the Eurasian steppe has been surprisingly unclear due in part to a focus on the excavation of cemeteries, rather than settlements where people threw out their food," says Alicia Ventresca Miller, lead author, formerly of Kiel University and currently at the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History.

"Even when settlement sites are excavated, the preservation of carbonized seed remains is often poor. This is what makes stable isotope analyses of human remains from this region so valuable - it provides direct insights into the dietary dynamics of ancient pastoralists who inhabited diverse environments."

Millet spreads across the Eurasian steppe

Millet, originally domesticated in China, appears to have been occasionally consumed at low levels by pastoralists inhabiting the far-flung regions of Siberia and southeastern Kazakhstan, possibly as early as the late third millennium. This initial uptake of millet coincided with the expansion of trans-regional networks across the steppe, when objects and ideas were first regularly exchanged over long-distances.

Map of millet and wheat/barley consumption over time: a) 1000-500 cal BC, b) 500-200 cal BC, and c) 200 BC-AD 400 [Credit: I. Reese & A. R. Ventresca Miller, 2017]

However, it was not until a thousand years later that millet became a regular feature of pastoralist diets. This timing coincides with the intensification of complex political structures at the transition to the Iron Age. Burgeoning socio-political confederations drove a marked increase in the exchange of costly prestige goods, which strengthened political networks - and facilitated the transfer of cultigens.

Wheat and Barley in the Trans-Urals

Despite taking part in these political networks, groups in the Trans-Urals invested in wheat and barley farming rather than millet. A dietary focus on wheat and barley may have been due to different farming techniques, greater water availability, or a higher value on these cultigens.

"Our research suggests that cultigens were converted from a rare luxury during the Bronze Age to a medium demarcating elite participation in political networks during the Iron Age," states Cheryl Makarewicz of Kiel University.

Regional variation in millet consumption

While herding of livestock was widespread, not all regions adopted millet. In southwest Siberia, dietary intake was focused on pastoral animal products and locally available wild plants and fish. In contrast, the delayed adoption of millet by populations in Mongolia during the Late Iron Age coincides with the rise of the Xiongnu nomadic empire.

"This is particularly interesting because it suggests that communities in Mongolia and Siberia opted out of the transition to millet agriculture, while continuing to engage with neighboring groups," explains Ventresca Miller.

This study shows the great potential of using the available isotope record to provide evidence for human dietary intake in areas where paleobotany is understudied. Further research should clarify the exact type of grains, for example broomcorn or foxtail millet, were fundamental to the shift in dietary intake and how networks of exchange linked different regions.

The findings are published in Scientific Reports.

Source: Kiel University [June 10, 2019]

Humans used northern migration routes to reach eastern Asia

By: Thomas Schmitt Attorney on May 29, 2019 / comment : 0 Archaeology, Asia, China, Early Humans, Earth Science, Mongolia, Palaeoclimate, Tibet

Northern and Central Asia have been neglected in studies of early human migration, with deserts and mountains being considered uncompromising barriers. However, a new study by an international team argues that humans may have moved through these extreme settings in the past under wetter conditions. We must now reconsider where we look for the earliest traces of our species in northern Asia, as well as the zones of potential interaction with other hominins such as Neanderthals and Denisovans.

The sand dunes of Mongol Els jutting out of the steppe in Mongolia. Many of these desert barriers only appeared after the Last Glacial Maximum (~20,000 years ago) [Credit: Nils Vanwezer]

Archaeologists and palaeoanthropologists are increasingly interested in discovering the environments facing the earliest members of our species, Homo sapiens, as it moved into new parts of Eurasia in the Late Pleistocene (125,000-12,000 years ago). Much attention has focused on a 'southern' route around the Indian Ocean, with Northern and Central Asia being somewhat neglected.

However, in a paper published in PLOS ONE, scientists of the Max Planck Institute for the History of Human Science in Jena, Germany, and colleagues at the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology in Beijing, China, argue that climate change may have made this a particularly dynamic region of hominin dispersal, interaction, and adaptation, and a crucial corridor for movement.

'Heading North' Out of Africa and into Asia

"Archaeological discussions of the migration routes of Pleistocene Homo sapiens have often focused on a 'coastal' route from Africa to Australia, skirting around India and Southeast Asia," says Professor Michael Petraglia of the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, a co-author of the new study. "In the context of northern Asia, a route into Siberia has been preferred, avoiding deserts such as the Gobi."

Yet over the past ten years, a variety of evidence has emerged that has suggested that areas considered inhospitable today might not have always been so in the past. "Our previous work in Saudi Arabia, and work in the Thar Desert of India, has been key in highlighting that survey work in previously neglected regions can yield new insights into human routes and adaptations," says Petraglia.

Ancient lake landforms around Biger Nuur, Mongolia, which is evidence of larger lake sizes in the past [Credit: Nils Vanwezer]

Indeed, if Homo sapiens could cross what is now the Arabian Deserts then what would have stopped it crossing other currently arid regions such as the Gobi Desert, the Junggar Basin, and the Taklamakan Desert at different points in the past? Similarly, the Altai Mountains, the Tien Shan and the Tibetan Plateau represent a potentially new high altitude window into human evolution, especially given the recent Denisovan findings from Denisova Cave in Russia and at the Baishiya Karst Cave in China.

Nevertheless, traditional research areas, a density of archaeological sites, and assumptions about the persistence of environmental 'extremes' in the past has led to a focus on Siberia, rather than the potential for interior routes of human movement across northern Asia.

A "Green Gobi"?

Indeed, palaeoclimatic research in Central Asia has increasingly accumulated evidence of past lake extents, past records of changing precipitation amounts, and changing glacial extents in mountain regions, which suggest that environments could have varied dramatically in this part of the world over the course of the Pleistocene. However, the dating of many of these environmental transitions has remained broad in scale, and these records have not yet been incorporated into archaeological discussions of human arrival in northern and Central Asia.

Illustrated dispersal routes from the results of the Least Cost Path analysis. The three routes  from the "wet" simulations and the single route from the "dry" simulation are presented together in conjunction with palaeoclimatic extents (glaciers and palaeolakes) [Credit: Nils Vanwezer and Hans Sell]

"We factored in climate records and geographical features into GIS models for glacials (periods during which the polar ice caps were at their greatest extent) and interstadials (periods during the retreat of these ice caps) to test whether the direction of past human movement would vary, based on the presence of these environmental barriers," says Nils Vanwezer, PhD student at the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History and a joint lead-author of the study.

"We found that while during 'glacial' conditions humans would indeed likely have been forced to travel via a northern arc through southern Siberia, during wetter conditions a number of alternative pathways would have been possible, including across a 'green' Gobi Desert," he continues. Comparisons with the available palaeoenvironmental records confirm that local and regional conditions would have been very different in these parts of Asia in the past, making these 'route' models a definite possibility for human movement.

Where did you come from, where did you go?

"We should emphasize that these routes are not 'real', definite pathways of Pleistocene human movement. However, they do suggest that we should look for human presence, migration, and interaction with other hominins in new parts of Asia that have been neglected as static voids of archaeology," says Dr. Patrick Roberts also of the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, co-author of the study. "Given what we are increasingly discovering about the flexibility of our species, it would be of no surprise if we were to find early Homo sapiens in the middle of modern deserts or mountainous glacial sheets."

"These models will stimulate new survey and fieldwork in previously forgotten regions of northern and Central Asia," says Professor Nicole Boivin, Director of the Department of Archaeology at the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, and co-author of the study. "Our next task is to undertake this work, which we will be doing in the next few years with an aim to test these new potential models of human arrival in these parts of Asia."

Source: Max Planck Society [May 29, 2019]

Details of the history of inner Eurasia revealed by new study

By: Thomas Schmitt Attorney on April 29, 2019 / comment : 0 Archaeology, Eurasia, Genetics, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan

An international team of researchers has combined archaeological, historical and linguistic data with genetic information from over 700 newly analyzed individuals to construct a more detailed picture of the history of inner Eurasia than ever before available. In a study published in Nature Ecology & Evolution, they found that the indigenous populations of inner Eurasia are very diverse in their genes, culture and languages, but divide into three groups that stretch across the area in east-west geographic bands.

Children from one of the Tajikistan communities included in the study [Credit: Elena Balanovska]

Inner Eurasia, including areas of modern-day Armenia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Moldova, Mongolia, Russia, Tajikistan, Ukraine and Uzbekistan, was once the cross-roads connecting Asia and Europe, and a major intersection for the exchange of culture, trade goods and genes in prehistory and historical periods, including the era of the famous Silk Road.

This vast area can also be divided into several distinct ecological regions that stretch in largely east-west bands across Inner Eurasia, consisting of the deserts at the southern edge of the region, the steppe in the central part, taiga forests further north, and tundra towards the Arctic region. The subsistence strategies used by indigenous groups in these regions largely correlate with the ecological zones, for example reindeer herding and hunting in the tundra region and nomadic pastoralism on the steppe.

Despite the long and important history of inner Eurasia, details about past migrations and interactions between groups are not always clear, especially in prehistory. "Inner Eurasia is a perfect place to investigate the relationship between environmental conditions and the pattern of human migration and mixture, as well as changes driven by cultural innovations such as the introduction of dairy pastoralism into the steppe," states Choongwon Jeong of the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, co-first and senior author of the paper.

In order to clarify our understanding of some of the nuances of the history of the region, an international team of researchers undertook an ambitious project to use modern and ancient DNA from a broad geographic range and time period, in concert with archaeological, linguistic and historical information, to clarify the relationships between the different populations. "A few ethnic groups were studied previously," comments Oleg Balanovsky from the Vavilov Institute of General Genetics in Moscow, also co-first author, "but we conducted more than a hundred field trips to study this vast region systematically, and reached communities speaking almost all of the Inner Eurasian languages".

Three distinct east-west groupings

For this study, the researchers analyzed DNA from 763 individuals from across the region as well as reanalyzed the genome-wide data from two ancient individuals from the Botai culture, and compared those results with previously published data from modern and ancient individuals. They found three distinct genetic groupings, which geographically are arranged in east-west bands stretching across the region and correlating generally to ecological zones, where populations within each band share a distinct combination of ancestries in varying proportions.

Geographic locations of the Eneolithic Botai, groups including newly sampled individuals, and nearby groups with published data. The map is overlayed with ecoregional information, divided into 14 biomes downloaded from ecoregions2017.appspot.com/ (credited to Ecoregions 2017 © Resolve) [Credit: Jeong & Balanovsky et. al. 2019]

The northernmost grouping, which they term "forest-tundra", includes Russians, all Uralic language-speakers, which includes Hungarian, Finnish and Estonian, and Yeniseian-language speakers, of which only one remains today and is spoken in central Siberia. The middle grouping, which they term "steppe-forest", includes Turkic- and Mongolic-speaking populations from the Volga and the region around the Altai and Sayan mountains, near to where Russia, China, Mongolia and Kazakhstan meet. The southernmost grouping, "southern-steppe", includes the rest of Turkic- and Mongolic-speaking populations living further south, such as Kazakhs, Kyrgyzs and Uzbeks, as well as Indo-European-speaking Tajiks.

Previously unknown genetic connections revealed

Because the study includes data from a broad time period, it is able to show shifts in ancestry in the past that reveal previously unknown interactions. For example, the researchers found that the southern-steppe populations had a larger genetic component from West and South Asia than the other two groupings. This component is also widespread in the ancient populations of the region since the second half of the first millennium BC, but not found in Central Kazakhstan in earlier periods. This hints at a population movement from the southern-steppe region to the steppe-forest region that was previously unknown.

"Inner Eurasia has functioned as a conduit for human migration and cultural transfer since the first appearance of modern humans in this region. As a result, we observe deep sharing of genes between Western and Eastern Eurasian populations in multiple layers," explains Jeong. "The opportunity to find direct evidence for the hidden old layers of admixture, which is often difficult to appreciate from present-day populations, is very exciting."

"We found not only corridors, but also barriers for migrations," adds Balanovsky. "Some of them separate the historical groups of populations, while others, like the distinct barrier following the Great Caucasus mountain ridge, were obviously shaped by the geographic landscape."

Two ancient individuals resequenced in this study originated from the Botai culture in Kazakhstan where the horse was initially domesticated. Analysis of the Y-chromosome (inherited along the paternal genealogical lines) revealed a genetic lineage which is typical in the Kazakh steppe up to the present day. But analysis of the autosomes, which both parents contribute to their children, show no trace of Botai ancestry left in present-day people, likely due to repeated migrations into the region both from the west and the east since the Bronze Age.

The researchers emphasize that their model of three groupings does not perfectly explain all known populations and that there are examples of both outliers and intermediate groups. "It is important to organize a future study for further sampling of sparsely populated regions between the clines, for example, Central Kazakhstan or East Siberia," states Johannes Krause, also of the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, and senior author of the paper.

Source: Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History [April 29, 2019]

Meet Gobihadros, a new species of Mongolian hadrosaur

By: Thomas Schmitt Attorney on April 17, 2019 / comment : 0 Dinosaurs, Fossils, Mongolia, Palaeontology

The complete skeletal remains of a new species of Mongolian dinosaur fill in a gap in the evolution of hadrosaurs, according to a study published in the open-access journal PLOS ONE by Khishigjav Tsogtbataaar of the Mongolian Academy of Science, David Evans of the Royal Ontario Museum, and colleagues.

These are skeletal reconstructions of Gobihadros mongoliensis [Credit: Tsogtbaatar et al, 2019]

Dinosaurs of the family Hadrosauridae were widespread and ecologically important large herbivores during the Late Cretaceous Period, but little is known about their early evolution. In recent years, many new species closely related to Hadrosauridae have been filling in this picture, but few complete remains are known from the early part of the Late Cretaceous, which is when the group originated.

In this study, Tsongbataar and colleagues describe a new species closely related to Hadrosauridae, Gobihadros mongoliensis. The species is represented by numerous specimens, including one virtually complete skeleton measuring almost three meters long.

The new dinosaur was discovered in the Bayshin Tsav region of the Gobi Desert in Mongolia from rocks dating to the early part of the Late Cretaceous. Anatomical analysis reveals that this species doesn't quite fit into the family Hadrosauridae, but is a very close cousin, making it the first such dinosaur known from complete remains from the Late Cretaceous of central Asia.

Comparing Gobihadros to Asian species within Hadrosauridae, the researchers conclude that Gobihadros did not directly give rise to later Asian hadrosaurs. Instead, those Asian hadrosaurs appear to have migrated over from North America during the Late Cretaceous.

Gobihadros and its close Asian relatives seem to disappear as these new hadrosaurs enter Asia, suggesting that the invaders might have ultimately outcompeted species like Gobihadros. However, the authors caution that more fossil data is still needed to properly resolve the ages and locations of these dinosaurs during this important transition period.

The authors add: "The article describes, for the first time, extraordinary well-preserved fossil material of hadrosauroid dinosaur as a new genus and species from the early Late Cretaceous in Mongolia. We hope that it will be very useful material for further study of the evolution of hadrosauroids, iguanodintians and ornithopods as well. However, the relationships of other taxa are well-resolved, and in combination with biostratigraphic data, suggest that hadrosaurids from the Maastricthian of Asia migrated from North America across Beringia in the Campanian, and replaced non-hadrosaurids such as Gobihadros."

Source: PLOS [April 17, 2019]

4,000-year-old petroglyphs discovered in Inner Mongolia

By: Thomas Schmitt Attorney on April 02, 2019 / comment : 0 Archaeology, Asia, China, East Asia, Mongolia

Several 4,000-year-old petroglyphs depicting the celebration of birth in a tribe have been discovered in north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, archaeologists said.

Credit: Xinhua

The petroglyphs were found on two sides of a giant rock in Mandela township in Alxa Right Banner. Many human figures dancing hand in hand are carved on one side, while three people in a row, a female in the middle, are on the other side, according to the local cultural relics bureau.

"These well-preserved petroglyphs depict a tribe celebrating the birth of a child," said Wu Yi from the bureau. "They record the ancient tribes' reverence for the prosperity and circle of life."

Credit: Xinhua

Wu said the petroglyphs' unique content can offer precious materials for Chinese archaeological and anthropological research.

More than 2,000 petroglyphs have been found in Mandela township. Local authorities have hired local herders to patrol on the sites for better protection of the petroglyphs.

Credit: Xinhua

More than 1,200 petroglyphs, scattered in over 100 counties in 28 provinces and regions, have been found and recorded across China, according to statistics released by the Chinese Rock Art Association in 2017.

Source: Xinhua News Agency [April 02, 2019]

New oviraptorosaur species discovered in Mongolia

By: Thomas Schmitt Attorney on February 06, 2019 / comment : 0 China, Dinosaurs, Fossils, Mongolia, Palaeontology

A new oviraptorosaur species from the Late Cretaceous was discovered in Mongolia, according to a study published in in the open-access journal PLOS ONE by Yuong-Nam Lee from Seoul National University, South Korea, and colleagues.

Gobiraptor reconstruction [Credit: Do Yoon Kim, 2019]

Oviraptorosaurs were a diverse group of feathered, bird-like dinosaurs from the Cretaceous of Asia and North America. Despite the abundance of nearly complete oviraptorosaur skeletons discovered in southern China and Mongolia, the diet and feeding strategies of these toothless dinosaurs are still unclear. In this study, Lee and colleagues described an incomplete skeleton of an oviraptorosaur found in the Nemegt Formation of the Gobi desert of Mongolia.

The new species, named Gobiraptor minutus, can be distinguished from other oviraptorosaurs in having unusual thickened jaws. This unique morphology suggests that Gobiraptor used a crushing feeding strategy, supporting previous hypotheses that oviraptorosaurs probably fed on hard food items such as eggs, seeds or hard-shell mollusks. Histological analyses of the femur revealed that the specimen likely belonged to a very young individual.

Cranial elements of the holotype specimen (MPC-D 102/111) of Gobiraptor minutus gen. et sp. nov. [Credit: S. Lee et al. 2019]

The finding of a new oviraptorosaur species in the Nemegt Formation, which consists mostly of river and lake deposits, confirms that these dinosaurs were extremely well adapted to wet environments. The authors propose that different dietary strategies may explain the wide taxonomic diversity and evolutionary success of this group in the region.

The authors add: "A new oviraptorid dinosaur Gobiraptor minutus gen. et sp. nov. from the Upper Cretaceous Nemegt Formation is described here based on a single holotype specimen that includes incomplete cranial and postcranial elements. The unique morphology of the mandible and the accordingly inferred specialized diet of Gobiraptor also indicate that different dietary strategies may be one of important factors linked with the remarkably high diversity of oviraptorids in the Nemegt Basin."

Source: Public Library of Science [February 06, 2019]