Periodic Reporting for period 1 - Horsepower (Horse Power: Interactions between China, Mongolia and the steppe 2000-0 BCE)
Reporting period: 2023-06-01 to 2024-11-30
From at least the third millennium BCE two dynamical systems came into being: that of the pastoralist societies of the steppe and that of the urban, agricultural groups of the Central Plains of China. These were differently organized, with the former more mobile, the latter more settled, and they also developed different concepts of the universe and its powers, as well as varying modes of material culture. The worlds of the steppe and the Central Plains had their own modes of historical change and dynamism, but were also in long-term interaction with each other. In the third century BCE both the Xiongnu empire in present-day Mongolia and the Qin state in China crystallized out rapidly due to a combination of long-lasting local dynamics and connections between the two. The new forms of organization among the Xiongnu and the Qin had millennia-long historical consequences.
We will use the latest science to create a mass of new empirical data on horse genetics and biology, metallurgical analyses and from the results of our fieldwork, all set within the first consistent chronological scheme for the region from the Chinese Central Plains to the Mongolian, Siberian and Kazakh steppe. We have focused on the horse and metalwork as crucial elements of the interaction between the steppe and the plains, but also elements important to local modes of power and organization. Broadly speaking horses move south from the steppe to the Central Plains and metal travels north. We will focus on some extremely striking archaeological sites, including the First Emperor’s Mausoleum, known for its terracotta warriors, and also large monumental forms of burial in Mongolia and the steppe.
We will use the latest science to create a mass of new empirical data on horse genetics and biology, metallurgical analyses and from the results of our fieldwork, all set within the first consistent chronological scheme for the region from the Chinese Central Plains to the Mongolian, Siberian and Kazakh steppe. We have focused on the horse and metalwork as crucial elements of the interaction between the steppe and the plains, but also elements important to local modes of power and organization. Broadly speaking horses move south from the steppe to the Central Plains and metal travels north. We will focus on some extremely striking archaeological sites, including the First Emperor’s Mausoleum, known for its terracotta warriors, and also large monumental forms of burial in Mongolia and the steppe.
There are now 20 members of the project spanning 10 nationalities and a great range of specialisms, including academia, creative work and public engagement. We have set up a project website - https://www.horsepowerproject.org/ - to provide broad dissemination of our work.
We carried out two field seasons. In 2023, the first season of excavations in Mongolia was of satellite structures of a large khirgisuurs, site OOR-396, in the Upper Orkhon Valley in Central Mongolia. Ursula BROSSEDER returned to Mongolia for a fieldtrip to Western Mongolia together with the Horsepower team between August 29 and September 6, 2023. The trip had the goal to familiarize our team with the important sites in western Mongolia that are the target of our fieldwork and discuss priorities, procedures and synergies for the team, to get to know our Mongol collaborator Ts. TURBAT and allow for developing mutual understanding and discussion of new ideas. BROSSEDER also continued the trip into China to Xi’an from 6th of September to 12th of September 2023 where the Horsepower Team met the Chinese collaborator the representatives of the Qin Shi Huangdi Mausoleum. Ursula BROSSEDER started the second field season in 2024, in the western Altai. Together with Bayarkhuu NOOST we worked at the site Daltyn Am in northwestern Mongolia. We realized that this site plays a key role in understanding the chronological sequence from the earliest Bronze Age (or Neolithic) to potentially to the Late Bronze Age. These periods are crucial for understanding how communities experimented and worked with the horse until horse-borne nomadism was fully established in the Late Bronze Age (ca. 1500 BCE). We excavated three burials. We then moved on to the Türgen gol valley where we mapped the sites. The team then continued in Khovd Province and was led by Bayarkhuu NOOST.
Ludovic ORLANDO has performed preliminary analyses on ancient horse genomes sequenced within this 18 months-period, including from the OOR-396 site excavated by Ursula BROSSEDER. These analyses confirm: (1) breeding practices almost devoid of inbreeding, (2) Deer Stone-Khirigsur sacrificial practices not focused on a single bloodline sharing similar coat-coloration phenotypes, (3) the nearly absence of genetic relatedness within members of the same archaeological site, excepting multiple burials often involving first- or second-degree relatives, (4) a change in the genetic makeup of Asian horse populations after the end of the Bronze Age.
For case studies, HUAN worked with Ursula BROSSEDER on the Yuhuangmiao group in northeast China, revealing both external cultural connections and internal social dynamics of this regional group. HUAN was also engaged with other team members on holistic approaches to archaeological materials, especially on three topics: archaeometallurgy, objects and material cultural studies, and settlement archaeology. Bayarkhuu NOOST advanced the project’s understanding of ancient metallurgy. He authored a review article on the technological and cultural evolution of metallurgy within the broader Eurasian context.
Dame Professor Jessica Rawson is one of the premier specialists of Chinese archaeology in the west and provides expert advice and direction for the project mainly in China, but also in the broader region of Mongolia and the steppe. Elizabeth Allen administers the Horsepower project as a whole.
Xuizhen Li has been vital in setting up and maintaining links with the First Emperor’s Mausoleum Museum. She has also been pulling together archaeological material from the First Emperor’s Mausoleum, much of which is not available in English, in addition to broader archaeological evidence from across northern China from the first millennium BCE. She and Gosden are also preparing an article on the cosmology of the Qin period, the manner in which this underpinned political power and lay behind the spatial ordering of major sites, such as the First Emperor’s Mausoleum complex. Samples of horse bones were taken from the First Emperor’s Mausoleum complex. Akari Goda-Maurezutt has started to sample horse gear, belt plaques and knives from the collections of the British Museum, the results of which will be available shortly.
Ruiliang Liu of the British Museum (funded by UKRI) has supervised and spearheaded three major tasks in this phase, including (1) scientific analysis of bronze objects, (2) radiocarbon dating of related horse-skeletons and archaeological sites and (3) negotiation with Chinese collaborators for new samples, publications and fieldworks. Ruiliang Liu has audited all the early Chinese bronzes stored at the British Museum and have identified approximately 500 objects are related to Horsepower, all of which have been documented with images and measurement and have not been published in any previous literature.
We carried out two field seasons. In 2023, the first season of excavations in Mongolia was of satellite structures of a large khirgisuurs, site OOR-396, in the Upper Orkhon Valley in Central Mongolia. Ursula BROSSEDER returned to Mongolia for a fieldtrip to Western Mongolia together with the Horsepower team between August 29 and September 6, 2023. The trip had the goal to familiarize our team with the important sites in western Mongolia that are the target of our fieldwork and discuss priorities, procedures and synergies for the team, to get to know our Mongol collaborator Ts. TURBAT and allow for developing mutual understanding and discussion of new ideas. BROSSEDER also continued the trip into China to Xi’an from 6th of September to 12th of September 2023 where the Horsepower Team met the Chinese collaborator the representatives of the Qin Shi Huangdi Mausoleum. Ursula BROSSEDER started the second field season in 2024, in the western Altai. Together with Bayarkhuu NOOST we worked at the site Daltyn Am in northwestern Mongolia. We realized that this site plays a key role in understanding the chronological sequence from the earliest Bronze Age (or Neolithic) to potentially to the Late Bronze Age. These periods are crucial for understanding how communities experimented and worked with the horse until horse-borne nomadism was fully established in the Late Bronze Age (ca. 1500 BCE). We excavated three burials. We then moved on to the Türgen gol valley where we mapped the sites. The team then continued in Khovd Province and was led by Bayarkhuu NOOST.
Ludovic ORLANDO has performed preliminary analyses on ancient horse genomes sequenced within this 18 months-period, including from the OOR-396 site excavated by Ursula BROSSEDER. These analyses confirm: (1) breeding practices almost devoid of inbreeding, (2) Deer Stone-Khirigsur sacrificial practices not focused on a single bloodline sharing similar coat-coloration phenotypes, (3) the nearly absence of genetic relatedness within members of the same archaeological site, excepting multiple burials often involving first- or second-degree relatives, (4) a change in the genetic makeup of Asian horse populations after the end of the Bronze Age.
For case studies, HUAN worked with Ursula BROSSEDER on the Yuhuangmiao group in northeast China, revealing both external cultural connections and internal social dynamics of this regional group. HUAN was also engaged with other team members on holistic approaches to archaeological materials, especially on three topics: archaeometallurgy, objects and material cultural studies, and settlement archaeology. Bayarkhuu NOOST advanced the project’s understanding of ancient metallurgy. He authored a review article on the technological and cultural evolution of metallurgy within the broader Eurasian context.
Dame Professor Jessica Rawson is one of the premier specialists of Chinese archaeology in the west and provides expert advice and direction for the project mainly in China, but also in the broader region of Mongolia and the steppe. Elizabeth Allen administers the Horsepower project as a whole.
Xuizhen Li has been vital in setting up and maintaining links with the First Emperor’s Mausoleum Museum. She has also been pulling together archaeological material from the First Emperor’s Mausoleum, much of which is not available in English, in addition to broader archaeological evidence from across northern China from the first millennium BCE. She and Gosden are also preparing an article on the cosmology of the Qin period, the manner in which this underpinned political power and lay behind the spatial ordering of major sites, such as the First Emperor’s Mausoleum complex. Samples of horse bones were taken from the First Emperor’s Mausoleum complex. Akari Goda-Maurezutt has started to sample horse gear, belt plaques and knives from the collections of the British Museum, the results of which will be available shortly.
Ruiliang Liu of the British Museum (funded by UKRI) has supervised and spearheaded three major tasks in this phase, including (1) scientific analysis of bronze objects, (2) radiocarbon dating of related horse-skeletons and archaeological sites and (3) negotiation with Chinese collaborators for new samples, publications and fieldworks. Ruiliang Liu has audited all the early Chinese bronzes stored at the British Museum and have identified approximately 500 objects are related to Horsepower, all of which have been documented with images and measurement and have not been published in any previous literature.
Three other consultants - David Shukman, Rory Carnegie and Miranda Creswell - are carrying out engagement with a broader public. David Shukman is coordinating the public engagement element of the project, making films and blogs on site and following the results of the project as they emerge. Shukman has worked with photographer and film maker Rory Carnegie to create the project website - https://www.horsepowerproject.org/(opens in new window) which provides overall information on the project as well as the latest results. Carnegie has also produced a series of images both in the field in Mongolia and China for the website and for future exhibitions, blogs and social media posts. Miranda Creswell is an artist creating paintings and drawings, helping also to engage with schools and the general public in the UK, France, Mongolia and China. Carnegie and Creswell are aiming also to make contact with local artists in both Mongolia and China.