ACMS Speaker Series
Understanding Ancient Horse Use in the Mongolian Steppe | | Speaker: William Taylor
5:30 PM, Tuesday - September 15 th, 2015, American Corner, Ulaanbaatar public library
Although Mongolia is known the world over for its expert horsemanship and horse culture, little is known about how the domestic horse first arrived in the Eastern Steppe. The earliest archaeological evidence for equine herding in the region dates to the late Bronze Age (ca. 1300-700 BCE), when horses were buried in small mounds surrounding stone monuments known as deer stones and khirigsuurs. Some scholars have linked this period with the first Mongolian horse-riding societies and the beginnings of a mobile herding lifestyle. However, with few artifacts or written records to work from, the relationship between people and horses during this period has remained difficult to evaluate directly. Using techniques from archaeozoology (the study of animal bones from archaeological contexts), Mr. Taylor’s research investigates how these Bronze Age Mongolian horses were used and managed. His talk will summarize osteological and demographic data which suggest that horses were not only managed as livestock, but also harnessed and used for transport as early as 1200 BCE. As a result, late Bronze Age groups in Mongolia might have played a key role in the shift from chariots to mounted horseback riding, and could have facilitated the initial spread of domestic horses to other areas of East Asia.
Co-Sponsored by the American Cultural and Information Center, Ulaanbaatar
| | | | About the Speaker: William Taylor
Born and raised in western Montana, William Taylor has been conducting archaeological research on ancient horse use in Mongolia since 2011. Building up several summers as an ACMS Fellow, William was recently selected as a 2015-16 Fulbright Student Research Fellow to analyze archaeological horse collections at the National History Museum of Mongolia. William received his M.S. in Anthropology/Archaeology at the University of New Mexico in 2013, and is currently pursuing his doctorate in Archaeology at UNM. He graduated magna cum laude from Carleton College in 2011, where he studied International Relations with a concentration in Archaeology. Mr. Taylor’s research has been recognized and supported by the National Geographic Young Explorer’s Program, the National Science Foundation, the Society for Archaeological Sciences, the International Council for Archaezoology, and the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA).
| | For more information visit the ACMS website www.mongoliacenter.org
Thank you to the American Corner and the Natsagdorj Library for sponsoring this event.
THESE LECTURES ARE FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC
The American Center for Mongolian Studies is a non-profit organization dedicated to supporting scholarship in Mongolian Studies.
ACMS, Ulaanbaatar Public Library - East entrance, Seoul street-7, Sukhbaatar District
Phone: (976) 7711-0486, e-mail: info@mongoliacenter.org
website: http://www.mongoliacenter.org
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