Abstract
Given the high level of technological sophistication involved in iron smelting, a common assumption held is that small mobile communities of the Mongolian steppe relied on trade with larger, settled, manufacturing centers for the acquisition of iron objects. Recent archaeological investigations in Mongolia suggest, however, that mobile pastoralist households and communities maintained a very active iron production industry. Although mounting evidence clearly points to the presence of household and community-based production, less is known about the level of technology employed by cottage industry scale manufacturers. In this paper we present the findings from excavations of mobile pastoralist dwellings and furnaces from sites in the Tarvagatai Valley of north-central Mongolia dating between 400 BC –AD 1300 that include a small assemblage of iron and iron-related objects bearing evidence of bloomery production. This material not only helps further substantiate that mobile communities in Mongolia had their own means of metal production but also indicates the innovative implementation of an existing technique at a scale previously deemed too small to be practical except in marginal steppe environments.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Binford, Lewis. 1990. Mobility, housing, and environment: A comparative study. Journal of Anthropological Research 46 (2): 119–152.
Bentlry, Jerry H. 1998. Hemispheric integration, 500-1500 C.E. Journal of World History 9 (2): 237–254.
Chunag, Amartuvshin. 2018. МОНГОЛ-ЯПОНЫ ХАМТАРСАН “ЭРТНИЙ МОНГОЛЧУУДЫН ҮЙЛДВЭРЛЭЛИЙН ТҮҮХ” ТӨСӨЛ (history of ancient Mongolian craft production). Ulaanbaatar: Mongolian Institute of History and Archaeology Field Report.
Gamble, Clive S. 1991. An introduction to the living spaces of mobile peoples. In Ethnoarchaeological approaches to Mobile campsites, ed. Clive S. Gamble and William A. Boismier, 1–23. Ann Arbor, MI: International Monographs in Prehistory.
Gardner, William Ralston Murl, and Jargalan Burentogtokh. 2018. Mobile domiciles of the Eurasian steppe: Archaeological evidence of possible dwelling space during the early Iron age. Journal of Field Archaeology 43 (1): 345–361.
Gardner, William Ralston Murl, Jargalan Burentogtokh Gardner, and Jang-Sik Park. Forthcoming. Adaptive households: Evidence of technological flexibility in early Iron age and Mongol period mobile dwellings. American Antiquity.
Honeychurch, William. 2015. Inner Asia and the spatial politics of empire: Archaeology, mobility, and cultural contact. New York: Springer.
Kroll, Ellen M., and T. Douglas Price, eds. 1991. The Interpretation of Archaeological Spatial Patterning. Interdisciplinary contributions to archaeology. Boston: Springer.
Larreina-Garcia, David, Yanxiang Li, Yaxiong Liu, and Marcos Martinon-Torres. 2018. Bloomery iron smelting in the Daye County (Hubei): Technological traditions in Qing China. Archaeological Research in Asia 16: 148–165.
Mei, Jianjun, Pu Wang, Kunlong Chen, Wang Lu, Yingchen Wang, and Yaxiong Liu. 2015. Archaeometallurgical studies in China: Some recent developments and challenging issues. Journal of Archaeological Science 56: 221–232.
McNeill, William H. 1963. The rise of the west; a history of the human community. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Ostericher, Ian. 2016. Environmental survey fieldwork report Tarvagatai Valley, Bulgan Aimag. In Tarvagatai Valley project 2016 field report, ed. Jargalan Burentogtokh. Mongolian Institute of History and Archaeology Field Report: Ulaanbaatar.
Park, Jang-Sik, Amartuvshin Chunag, and Eregzen Gelegdorj. 2008. A technological transition in Mongolia evident in microstructure, chemical composition and radiocarbon age of cast iron artifacts. Journal of Archaeological Science 35: 2465–2470.
Park, Jang-Sik, Erdenebaatar Diimaajav, and Eregzen Gelegdor. 2017. Evolution of Mongolian bronze technology with the rise of the Xiongnu state. Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences 9: 789–798. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12520-015-0304-x.
Park, Jang-Sik, Erdenebaatar Diimaajav, and Eregzen Gelegdor. 2018. The implication of the metallurgical traditions associated with Chinese style wagons from the royal Xiongnu tomb at Golmod 2 in Mongolia. Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences 10: 1535–1546. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12520-017-0476-7.
Park, Jang-Sik, Eregzen Gelogdorj, and Yeruul-Erdene Chimidorj. 2010. Technological traditions inferred from iron artefacts of the Xiongnu empire in Mongolia. Journal of Archaeological Science 37: 2689–2697.
Park, Jang-Sik, and Susanne Reichert. 2015. Technological tradition of the Mongol empire as inferred from bloomery and cast iron objects excavated in Karakorum. Journal of Archaeological Science 53: 49–60.
Park, Jang-Sik, William Honeychurch, and Amartuvshin Chunag. 2011. Ancient bronze technology and nomadic communities of the middle Gobi Desert, Mongolia. Journal of Archaeological Science 38: 805–817.
Park, Jang-Sik, William Honeychurch, and Amartuvshin Chunag. 2019a. Novel micro-scale steelmaking from molten cast iron practiced in medieval nomadic communities of East Mongolia. Archaeometry 61 (1): 83–98.
Park, Jang-Sik, William Honeychurch, and Amartuvshin Chunag. 2019b. Iron technology and medieval nomadic communities of East Mongolia. Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences 11: 555–565.
Park, Jang-Sik, William Honeychurch, and Amartuvshin Chunag. 2019c. The technological and chronological implication of 14C concentrations in carbon samples extracted from Mongolian cast iron artifacts. Radiocarbon 61 (3): 831–843.
Park, Jang-Sik, William Honeychurch, and Amartuvshin Chunag. 2020. Technologies and complexities as reflected in small cast iron fragments recovered from medieval sites in eastern Mongolia. Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences 12 (75): 1–13. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12520-020-01030-4.
Ramsey, Christopher C. 2009. Bayesian analysis of radiocarbon dates. Radiocarbon 51 (1): 337–360.
Scott, David A. and Schwab, Roland. 2019. Metallography in archaeology and art (cultural heritage science). Springer.
Wagner, Donald B. 1996. Iron and steel in ancient China. Leiden: E.J. Brill.
Wagner, Donald B. 1999. The earliest use of iron in China. In M.M. young, a.M. pollard, P. Budd, and R.a. Ixer (eds.), Metals in Antiquity, pp. 1-9. BAR International Series 792. Oxford: Archaeopress.
Wagner, Donald B. 2008. Science and Civilization in China, volume 5, part 11: Ferrous Metallurgy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Acknowledgements
The field work, analyses, and research presented here were financially supported by grants from the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF- 2017R1A2B4002082) and the National Science Foundation of the USA (NSF-173768 and 1822559).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Park, JS., Gardner, W. & Burentogtokh, J. Micro-Scale Iron Smelting in Early Iron Age to Mongol Period Steppe Communities of North-Central Mongolia and its Implications. asian archaeol 3, 75–82 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s41826-020-00031-5
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s41826-020-00031-5