Archaeology and Landscape in the Altai Mountains of Mongolia

Archived website.The information presented on this website is the result of eighteen field seasons in the Altai Mountains of Russia and Mongolia. The extensive materials we have been able to gather and document represent the first broad inventory of surface archaeology in northwestern Mongolia. This website draws on three major resources: analysis of the region’s cultural monuments, accessed through the Archaeology section; an Image Gallery, consisting of digitized photographs of monuments and landscape; and a set of maps which include 1) a series of static image maps, and 2) a searchable Interactive Map. All maps are derived from the Project’s extensive Geographic Information Systems (GIS) database. The static maps consist of Basin Maps, located in the Altai Region Basin pages, and View Shed Maps, accessed in the Cultural Landscape section. The Interactive Map is designed to allow users to display map layers dynamically, pan and zoom the Altai region, and view specific monument types. Many of the map features have a direct link to the photographic archive, also accessed through the Image Gallery.Support for this project was provided by the National Endowment for the Humanities, a federal agency. Any views, findings, conclusions or recommendations expressed in this website do not necessarily represent those of the National Endowment for the Humanities

Late Pleistocene and Early Holocene Rock Art from the Mongolian Altai: The Material and its Cultural Implications

Rock-pecked images from the northern Mongolian Altai attest to the presence of human communities within the high valleys of that region during the Late Pleistocene and Early Holocene. The material provides evidence that is hitherto largely missing from the archaeological record of that region. This paper reviews the rock art, its find sites and larger physical contexts and uses evidence from paleoenvironmental studies to propose dating and cultural significance. The material is compared with other sites said to have Paleolithic imagery from Mongolia and the adjoining Russian Altai. The body of presented material offers a major resource for the study of early hunter-gatherer communities at the interface of Central and North Asia

Architecture and sculptural decoration of the Venetian synagogues

The beautiful synagogues of the Venetian Ghetto are uniquely preserved in their original historical context. Their architecture and sculptural decoration testify to the cultural and artistic achievements of the Venetian Jewish community throughout the sixteenth to eighteenth centuries.This thesis evaluates the cultural environment that shaped the synagogues, looking at religious and social movements of their period. It also uses the artistic evidence of the synagogues themselves to understand the patrons who built them. Strong currents of mysticism and messianism are expressed in the iconography of the sculpture applied to key architectural features. This decoration is introspective, looking to Jewish roots and symbolism of the Hebrew Bible, and is not assimilated to exterior models. Both Jewish and Venetian, synagogue architecture in Venice shows signs of the artistic synthesis that was taking place in many areas of literary and artistic endeavor in the ghetto during the Renaissance and early modern periods.Thesis (M.A.)--University of Oregon, 2006.School code: 0171

Hunting, herding, and people in the rock art of Mongolia: New discoveries in the Gobi-Altai Mountains

Despite its harsh and arid conditions, the Gobi Desert has played an important role in shaping Holocene populations, including the transition from hunting to herding lifeways. Here we present three newly documented rock art sites in the Gobi-Altai Mountains of south-central Mongolia, a cave (Gazar Agui 1), a rock shelter (Gazar Agui 13) and an open-air landscape site overlooking a palaeolake (Unegt Uul). In addition, we re-examine the preservation of the rock art cave site of Saalit Agui some 20 years after its original documentation, using digital technology not available at that time. Comparisons of rock art at Gazar Agui 1 and Saalit Agui with previously documented rock art in Mongolia suggest links with Mesolithic and Neolithic anthropomorphic iconography. Unegt Uul and Gazar Agui 13 show Early Bronze Age to Iron Age symbols, suggesting two distinct periods of production, by hunter-gatherers during the Early Holocene and by later hunter-pastoralists during the Late Holocene. Our findings suggest that wet periods in mountainous basins of the Gobi-Altai were likely key to early human habitation, with pastoralism dominating during arid periods. Our observations further indicate that preservation of rock art sites in the region is currently under threat due to human activity and climate change