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PloS one2025; 20(5); e0322431; doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0322431

3000 yr-old patterns of mobile pastoralism revealed by multiple isotopes and radiocarbon dating of ancient horses from the Mongolian Altai.

Abstract: 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.
Copyright: © 2025 Zazzo et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
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Publication Date: 2025-05-07 PubMed ID: 40333669PubMed Central: PMC12057990DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0322431Google Scholar: Lookup
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Summary

This research summary has been generated with artificial intelligence and may contain errors and omissions. Refer to the original study to confirm details provided. Submit correction.

Overview

  • This study used isotopic analysis and radiocarbon dating on ancient horse teeth to uncover mobility patterns of pastoral nomads in Mongolia from 3000 years ago.
  • The results reveal evidence of cyclical herding mobility and small community herding practices during the Late Bronze Age in the Mongolian Altai region.

Background and Objectives

  • Pastoral nomadism is economically and culturally significant in many parts of the world today.
  • Studying ancient pastoral mobility is difficult due to the lack of direct evidence and requires specialized methods.
  • The research aimed to reconstruct mobility patterns of ancient domestic horses to better understand pastoral nomadism in the Late Bronze Age western Mongolia.

Methodology

  • Seven domestic horses from a Late Bronze Age grave in western Mongolia were selected for study.
  • Multiple isotopic techniques were employed on horse tooth enamel:
    • Strontium isotopes – to trace geographical movements based on local geology.
    • Oxygen isotopes – to provide environmental and climatic mobility signals.
    • Carbon isotopes – to infer dietary changes related to grazing environments and movement.
  • A local strontium isoscape (map of strontium isotope variation) was used to determine which areas the horses came from.
  • Radiocarbon dating established that all horses were deposited roughly 3000 years ago and within a short timeframe.

Findings

  • Four of the seven horses showed similar isotopic signatures indicating frequent and cyclical mobility patterns.
  • The repeated mobility signals suggest these horses belonged to a single, small herding family participating in the burial ritual.
  • The other three horses had different mobility patterns, with one horse originating from outside the local area.
  • This indicates variability in mobility strategies over time and possible exchange or sharing of animals between herding groups.

Implications

  • The study provides direct evidence that cyclical pastoral mobility existed in the Mongolian Altai as far back as the Late Bronze Age.
  • It supports the idea that small communities practiced mobile pastoralism and managed animals over seasonal ranges.
  • The variability in horse origins demonstrates social flexibility and interactions between groups in terms of animal circulation or trade.
  • The combined isotopic approach proves highly effective for reconstructing the biographies of individual animals and understanding ancient pastoral life.
  • These findings offer important insights for archaeologists studying nomadic societies and past pastoral economies.

Conclusions

  • Through isotopic and radiocarbon analysis of ancient horse teeth, the researchers successfully reconstructed detailed patterns of mobility from the Late Bronze Age in Mongolia.
  • The research confirms that mobile, cyclical herding was a well-established practice 3000 years ago in this region, involving small-scale family herding units.
  • Evidence for animal exchange or non-local origins also points to complex social networks among ancient pastoral communities.
  • The study highlights the value of integrating multiple isotopes and local geological data to unlock new archaeological understandings of ancient nomadic lifeways.

Cite This Article

APA
Zazzo A, Le Corre M, Lazzerini N, Marchina C, Bayarkhuu N, Bernard V, Cervel M, Fiorillo D, Joly D, Lemoine M, Telouk P, Thil F, Turbat T, Balter V, Coulon A, Lepetz S. (2025). 3000 yr-old patterns of mobile pastoralism revealed by multiple isotopes and radiocarbon dating of ancient horses from the Mongolian Altai. PLoS One, 20(5), e0322431. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0322431

Publication

PloS one
ISSN: 1932-6203
NlmUniqueID: 101285081
Country: United States
Language: English
Volume: 20
Issue: 5
Pages: e0322431
PII: e0322431

Researcher Affiliations

Zazzo, Antoine
  • Bioarchéologie, Interactions Sociétés Environnements (BioArch, UMR 7209), Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Sorbonne Université, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Paris, France.
Le Corre, Maël
  • 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.
Lazzerini, Nicolas
  • Bioarchéologie, Interactions Sociétés Environnements (BioArch, UMR 7209), Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Sorbonne Université, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Paris, France.
Marchina, Charlotte
  • Institut Français de Recherche sur l'Asie de l'Est (IFRAE, UMR 8043), Institut National des Langues et Civilisations Orientales (Inalco), Université de Paris, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Lille, Paris, France.
  • Institut universitaire de France (IUF), Paris, France.
Bayarkhuu, Noost
  • Institute of Nomadic Archaeology and Department of Anthropology and Archaeology, National University of Mongolia, Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia.
  • Leibniz-Zentrum für Archäologie, Ludwig-Lindenschmit-Forum-1, Mainz, Germany.
Bernard, Vincent
  • Centre de Recherche en Archéologie, Archéosciences, Histoire (CReAAH, UMR 6566), Université Rennes 1, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Rennes, France.
Cervel, Mathilde
  • Archéologie & Philologie d'Orient et d'Occident (OOROC, UMR 8546), Université Paris Sciences & Lettres, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Paris, France.
Fiorillo, Denis
  • Bioarchéologie, Interactions Sociétés Environnements (BioArch, UMR 7209), Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Sorbonne Université, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Paris, France.
Joly, Dominique
  • Service municipal d'Archéologie de la ville de Chartres, Chartres, France.
Lemoine, Michel
  • Bioarchéologie, Interactions Sociétés Environnements (BioArch, UMR 7209), Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Sorbonne Université, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Paris, France.
Telouk, Philippe
  • 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.
Thil, François
  • Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l'Environnement (LSCE/IPSL, UMR 8212), Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA), Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Université de Versailles - Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ), Gif-sur-Yvette, France.
Turbat, Tsagaan
  • Institute of Nomadic Archaeology and Department of Anthropology and Archaeology, National University of Mongolia, Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia.
Balter, Vincent
  • 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.
Coulon, Aurélie
  • Centre d'Écologie et des Sciences de la Conservation (CESCO), Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Sorbonne Université, Paris, France.
  • Centre d'Ecologie Fonctionnelle et Evolutive (CEFE), Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), École Pratique des Hautes Études (EPHE), Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD), Université Paul Valéry Montpellier 3, Montpellier, France.
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.

MeSH Terms

  • Animals
  • Horses
  • Mongolia
  • Radiometric Dating / methods
  • Archaeology
  • Dental Enamel / chemistry
  • History, Ancient
  • Strontium Isotopes / analysis
  • Carbon Isotopes / analysis
  • Oxygen Isotopes / analysis

Conflict of Interest Statement

The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

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Citations

This article has been cited 1 times.
  1. Le Corre M, Douville E, Dapoigny A, Tran KV, Turbat T, Enkhbayar G, Lepetz S, Zazzo A. A bioavailable 87Sr/86Sr isoscape of Mongolia: Implications for the reconstruction of past human and animal mobility. PLoS One 2025;20(12):e0336327.
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