A chronology of 15 years of research and documentation in northwest Mongolia, this book spans the 12,000 year history of the region and the cultural heritage of the people that live there. The location borders both the China and Russian border areas and the book is the first of it’s kind oriented toward archaeology and culture in the region.
Esther Jacobson-Tepfer
James E. Meacham
Photography by Gary Tepfer
225 pages ISBN: 9781589482326
2009
Review by Jeff Thurston
A chronology of 15 years of research and documentation in northwest Mongolia, this book spans the 12,000 year history of the region and the cultural heritage of the people that live there. The location borders both the China and Russian border areas and the book is the first of it’s kind oriented toward archaeology and culture in the region. At 225 pages the book is filled with a wealth of information and images that few people have previously seen. One can quickly become immersed in the rugged beauty of the Mongolian landscape.
There are eleven chapters included and each covers a unique region of the vast landscape. These include regions such as the Potanin Glacier, Oigor Gol Basin, Tsagaan Gol Basin, Khovd Gol Basin and others. Dr. Esther Jacobson-Tepfer has been working in the Mongolian Altai for 15 years. She is assisted by her husband Gary Tepfer who provides the large number of images within book. James E. Meacham serves as the geographic information system (GIS) professional providing the maps that provide the precise views, context and sitings for the architectural sites, settlements, migratory routes and places of ceremony and worship.
The preface describes how the work began with the author explaining the first invitation in 1989 by Russian scientists. Initial interest lied with the standing stones strewn across the region and the many mounds of cultural significance. Later investigations would include art and artifacts before evolving to include infographics and finally mapping. A website and other materials would later be developed through a grant from the U.S. National Endowment for the Humanities in 2007 with assistance from the University of Oregon.
Individual regions are described along with accompanying maps. Viewsheds are also provided to help orient the pictures for readers understanding. The information is detailed and includeds mountain elevations, landscape forms and event soil characteristics. We learn the highest peaks are 4374 m above sea level with many of the mountains almost as high, lending to the breath taking views and distant views across barren lands in many cases.
Climatic information and graphs are also include in some examples. A large number of different animals traverse the landscape including sheep, camels, bears, goats, wolves, elk and a variety of birds. Landscape cover types are presented for deserts, savannah, highlands, tundra, glaciers and forests.
Maps from Harper’s Gazette of 1855 are present as well as other historical mapping such as that gathered from the U.S. War and Navy Department of 1942. There is something exquisite in being able to see the routes of explorers over time as they weave their trails through GIS topographic maps. Then with the turn of a page the wrestler’s of the Nadam festival in the upper Sagsay are portrayed or the magnificent depictions of elk from the Late Bronze Age embedded into bedrock are exposed.
We learn about the numbers of features inventoried by the authors through maps charting their locations and numbers including mounds, standing stones, Kirigsuur and Turkic monuments. Rock art including riders on horses, carts and drivers and hunters all detail and reflect certain points in history. Mounds rise on the landscape sometimes indicating burial sites and other times acting as locations for the spirits of specific mountains.
Several remarkable images of Standing Stones are presented within the book. Many of these can be seen from satellite images and those of the Tsagaan Asgat are presented through satellite imagery. The most prominent standing stones being the deer stones which resembled humans. Walking or viewing these standing stones on the landscape causes one to be reminded of people, for that is how they seem to appear. The largest of group of stones, located Tsagaan Asgat includes over eighty of these stones. Individually and collectively these stones serve to provide a description about the people and their relationships to each other geographically and through time.
The petroglyphic image of skier from the Early Iron Age in the Shar Nokhoityn Gol clearly shows skis and poles. The Turkic monuments of the Sogoo valley seem almost as if they were carved yesterday – features visible and readily identifiable. The glacier of the Tavan Bogd rises between gently sloped mountains into the sky, touching the clouds. Meanwhile, an image of a rider on a horse crossing the Rashaan Gol shows pristine grassland that seemingly has not ever been walked on before.
The relationship of these landscapes to people forms the basis for many of their movements across the lands, often in response to animal movements depending upon fresh water, grassland and topography. GIS is used to drape cultural locations upon aerial images in the Zoost Ereg region. These are easily seen to be determined in relation to topography and rock formations.
The authors suggest that these important cultural artifacts are slowly being impacted by human settlement. Roads, ditches and other convenient changes for economic purposes are slowly impacting the region. These events are raising the concern that preservation and conservation of many of these sites needs to be considered before they are more greatly impacted and or lost. This observation should be a call to outsiders and those within Mongolia to help to ensure these important places are preserved.
The reference material section of this book is filled with valuable information including large maps and tables of place names together with their descriptions. Several standing stones and mounds are identified and photographed, sometimes for the first time and will help to act as valuable records.
In summary ESRI Press through this book has provided a valuable and insightful documentation of the Mongolian landscape. The authors provide a thorough description of that country’s landscape from both a cultural and archaeological perspective often presenting images, maps and written descriptions that simply are not available elsewhere.
I found myself attracted to the rugged beauty of Mongolia as presented in the many images and descriptions of this book. Beyond that are the many interesting stories the rocks, paintings and cultural events present with their individual reflections as told by the authors.
Archaeology and Landscape in the Mongolian Altai: An Atlas is a comprehensive story about the landscape, culture and archaeology of Mongolia. It contains unique maps, graphics and textual descriptions about the landscape of Mongolia and the people living upon it through time. It is also an educational treasure wherein GIS is used to neatly communicate the relationships between archaeology, landscape and culture. This added richness provides a more comprehensive and understandable perspective to appreciate the beauty and heritage that is Mongolia.
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Jeff Thurston is co-founder and co-editor of V1 Magazine for Vector1 Media. He is based in Berlin.
