Zazzo Antoine, Le Corre Maël, Lazzerini Nicolas, Marchina Charlotte, Bayarkhuu Noost, Bernard Vincent, Cervel Mathilde, Fiorillo Denis, Joly Dominique, Lemoine Michel, Telouk Philippe, Thil François, Turbat Tsagaan, Balter Vincent, Coulon Aurélie, Lepetz Sébastien
Bioarchéologie, Interactions Sociétés Environnements (BioArch, UMR 7209), Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Sorbonne Université, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Paris, France.
Laboratoire de Géologie de Lyon, Terre, Planètes, Environnement (LGLTPE, UMR 5276), École Normale Supérieure Lyon, Université Lyon 1, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Lyon France.
PLoS One. 2025 May 7;20(5):e0322431. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0322431. eCollection 2025.
Pastoral nomadism is of great cultural and economic importance in several regions of the world today. However, documenting ancient patterns of mobility in societies where pastoralism was central is challenging and requires tailored approaches and methodologies. Here we use strontium, oxygen and carbon isotopic analyses of dental enamel, together with a local strontium isoscape, to reconstruct the mobility patterns of seven domestic horses deposited in a Late Bronze Age grave from western Mongolia. Radiocarbon indicates that the animals were deposited within a short period of time, 3000 years ago. The isotope time series obtained from tooth enamel shows that four of the seven horses exhibited a common pattern characterized by a high frequency of mobility, suggesting that in this area (1) cyclical pastoral mobility dates back at least to the Late Bronze Age and (2) the animals belonged to the same herding family, implying that only a small community was involved in the funerary rite of this structure. The data show that the other three horse individuals had a distinct mobility pattern and that one was not from the local area, pointing to flexibility in mobility patterns over time or circulation of animals between herding groups. These results illustrate the power of the isotopic approach to reconstruct animal biographies and effectively address the archaeology of pastoral nomadism and mobility.
如今，游牧畜牧业在世界上几个地区具有重大的文化和经济意义。然而，记录以畜牧业为核心的社会中古代的迁徙模式具有挑战性，需要采用量身定制的方法和手段。在此，我们利用牙釉质的锶、氧和碳同位素分析，结合当地的锶等值线图，来重建七匹家马的迁徙模式，这些马被埋葬于蒙古西部一座青铜时代晚期的墓葬中。放射性碳测定表明，这些动物是在3000年前的短时间内被埋葬的。从牙釉质获得的同位素时间序列显示，七匹马中的四匹呈现出一种共同模式，其特征是迁徙频率较高，这表明在该地区（1）周期性的游牧迁徙至少可追溯到青铜时代晚期，且（2）这些动物属于同一个放牧群体，这意味着只有一个小社区参与了这座墓葬的丧葬仪式。数据表明，其他三匹马个体具有独特的迁徙模式，其中一匹并非来自当地，这表明随着时间推移，迁徙模式具有灵活性，或者动物在放牧群体之间存在流动。这些结果说明了同位素方法在重建动物生活史以及有效解决游牧畜牧业和迁徙考古学问题方面的强大作用。
