Email Jean-Luc Houle Here: jeh48@pitt.edu [jeh48@pitt.edu]



Thanks to everyone who participated in the 2008 Field Season! It was a great success and we had a great time meeting and working with all of you.

We will not be conducting a 2009 Field Season but will resume in 2010. Please check the site in September of 2009 for information concerning participation. ~Thank You, Jean-Luc, Mark and the rest of the staff.


Project Description

Through a settlement pattern study, the project aims to understand the nature of the social and economic organization of Late Bronze Age societies of central Mongolia, a region that many believe was occupied at the time by mobile pastoralists. Located in the grasslands of Central Mongolia, our research area is dotted with impressive stone built burial and ritual sites dating to the second and first millennia BCE, and continues to be inhabited by horse-riding nomadic pastoralists who have maintained much of their traditional lifestyle.

Senior Staff

Jean-Luc Houle, M.Sc., PhD candidate, Department of Anthropology, University of Pittsburgh

Diimaajav Erdenebatar, PhD, Mongolian Institute of History, Ulaanbaatar

Mark Billings, B.A. Anthropology, History, Youngstown State University

The Team

The project team will consist of our staff team, Mongolian students from local universities and the participants accepted in this program.

The 2008 field season will consist in a settlement pattern study aimed at the identification of archaeologically ephemeral habitation sites,and will include survey, excavation, ethnoarchaeological work and the mapping of burial and ritual sites. Participants will receive training in survey, proper methods of unearthing and documenting materials, use of GPS.


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