Volume 1: Craft Production in the Mongol Empire. Karakorum and its Artisans Volume 2: A Layered History of Karakorum. Stratigraphy and Periodization in the City Center

• Applicant: Dr. Susanne Reichert
• Subject Area: Prehistory and World Archaeology
• Term: from 2020 to 2022
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 433824986

The thesis covers the archaeological remains from the middle of Karakorum in Mongolia, the first capital of Mongol Empire of the 13th and 14th centuries. Excavations by Bonn Universität from 2000 to 2005 in an area south of the central crossroads brought evidence for workshops that used iron, non-ferrous metals, precious metals, glass, mineral stones, bones as well as possibly birch bark. Massive occupation layers of up to four meters depth hint to a complex temporal sequence of use in the excavated areas. On the basis of these remains, the study asks in which ways the economy of the city focused on the handicraft production was intertwined with the political elite of the Mongol world empire. Specific aspects have been hitherto published in preliminary reports and by way of catalogues of single find groups. A detailed analysis of these workshops in their temporal depth had been missing so far. Such an analysis, however, would be of immanent importance for the evaluation of the function and supra-regional standing of the city at its heyday. Due to the amount of covered materials, the thesis will be published in two volumes. The first volume „Craft Production in the Mongol Empire. Karakorum and its Artisans” focuses on the question of handicraft production and its possible dependence on Mongolian elites. For the first time, the present work contributes a detailed study on the development of handicraft workshops of a settlement site covering a temporal breadth of about 200 years for the area of modern-day Mongolia. The analysis of finds that indicate craft production and their distribution as well as the distribution of features and installations used for handicraft allow structural insights into the city history, which far exceed information detectable from written sources known to us. The question of the organization of production is answered based on the framework by Cathy L. Costin and through close examination of textual sources. The second volume “A Layered History of Karakorum. Stratigraphy and periodization in the city center“ presents a chronological system for the sequence of settlement layers as documented during the excavations of Bonn University. This system served not only as a basis for thediscussion of the workshops (volume 1) but will also be the authoritative foundation for future works on other material groups. In methodological terms, the relative chronological system of the settlement layers rests on the depositional sequence of layers. This relative sequence of layers is supported by a cognitive sequence that results from a feasible combination of building structures, a reconstruction of room ground plans. Dendrochronological analyses, radiocarbon dates, coins, as well as a dated seal of 1372 feed into the absolute dating of the relative system.

• DFG Programme: Publication Grants