Animals, Households, and Communities in Bronze and Iron Age Central Eurasia

Abstract

AbstractThis chapter presents a synthesis of current research on mobility and subsistence practices in the Bronze and Iron Ages of Semirech’ye, Kazakhstan, and explores the implications of this research for understanding social and political organization during those time periods. Previously, Bronze Age society in the region had been understood as egalitarian and organized around mobile pastoralism, while the Iron Age was thought to be more hierarchical and organized around sedentary agro-pastoralism. However, new faunal and botanical data demonstrate that people in the Bronze Age were more sedentary than expected and were engaged in agro-pastoral production. The long-term continuity in mobility and subsistence practices requires us to reevaluate social and political structures as well. I evaluate the possibility that the Iron Age was more egalitarian than previous models suggest, and discuss what a sustainable egalitarian society would have meant for people and their animals. I also evaluate the likelihood that the Bronze Age was more hierarchical than previous models suggest, and discuss the implications of extending hierarchy in the region back in time. Ultimately, we do not yet have the archaeological data to resolve questions of social and political structure for either time period in Semirech’ye. Thus, I end with a call for future research that focuses on investigating relationships within and between households during the Bronze and Iron Ages.KeywordsCentral AsiaPastoralismBronze AgeIron AgeHouseholds