Thesis (M.A.)--Guo li zheng zhi da xue. / Cover title. Reproduced from typescript. Bibliography: leaves 121-122.

The Xiongnu Empire (c. 200 BC – AD 100) was the first instance of imperial level organization by nomadic groups of the Mongolian steppe. Over a century of historical and archaeological research has produced a large body of scholarship on the political, military, and sociocultural structures of Xiongnu society. This study adds to the growing body of recent bioarchaeological research by using multiple lines of evidence to address the impacts of empire formation on the physical health of those who lived under the influence of Xiongnu rule. Models of Xiongnu empire formation posit stable access to Chinese agricultural goods and reduction in violent conflict as major motivating factors in establishing imperial-level organization among Mongolian nomadic groups. By gathering data from the skeletal remains of 349 individuals from 27 archaeological sites and analyzing the frequency of 10 dietary and health indicators, this study addresses these claims. The Xiongnu imperial expansion and administration resulted in the movement and/or displacement of nomadic groups, consequences that are documented in Chinese historical texts, but its impact on population structure is poorly understood. Craniometric data collected from this skeletal sample were used to conduct a model-bound biological distance analysis and fit to an unbiased relationship matrix to determine the amount of intra- and inter-group variation, and estimate the biological distance between different geographic and temporal groups. This skeletal sample includes individuals from 19 Xiongnu-period sites located across the region under Xiongnu imperial control. Individuals from eight Bronze Age sites in Mongolia were included to establish pre-Xiongnu health status. One agricultural site within the Han empire, contemporaneous with the Xiongnu, was included for comparison. The results of this study indicate that Xiongnu motivations for creating a nomadic empire were considerably more complex than current models suggest. Although historical texts document that the Xiongnu received agricultural products as tribute from China, dietary markers indicate the Xiongnu diet was more similar to that of their Bronze Age predecessors than to their agricultural Han neighbors. The movement of people across the Mongolian steppe during the Xiongnu period created a more phenotypically homogeneous population structure than that of previous Bronze Age groups.

Animal Style Art (ASA), an iconographic style expressed on monuments and material culture, is a geographically widespread phenomenon in north central Eurasia during the Iron Age (ca. 1,000 BCE – 100 CE). Frequently depicted elements of this style include composite animals composed of animal elements fused together to create a new mythical animal; a stylized geometric design within the animal; and an interaction of some kind (e.g., one figure attacking another, figures standing nearby, single animal). The research presented in this dissertation focuses on the possibility that ASA constitutes evidence for a pan-regional religion in north central Eurasia during the Iron Age. Systematic study of ancient texts, ethnography, archaeological remains, and a detailed stylistic analysis of the complex elements of ASA, have all contributed to this research. This analysis is an artifact-focused macro-scale (continental) study of ASA, breaking down the cultural contexts as well as the geographical and chronological distribution in which it occurs, and the elements of the style itself, analyzing patterns of occurrence and similarity throughout north central Eurasia. This has been accomplished by the creation of a database, specifically designed as a museum curation tool and as a Geographic Information System (GIS) resulting in a dataset of 4,633 catalog lots (a single object or set). These data contribute to the identification of internal patterns in the expression of this iconographic style between regions of north central Eurasia and is inferred as evidence for symbolic expression of religious belief. This claim is evaluated in a variety of ways focusing on three themes: mobility, political structure and social complexity, and religious belief. This first attempt at continental scale expression of symbolic systems directly tied to conceptual metaphors and religious belief has resulted in the preliminary identification of a religious landscape among all the regions, to varying degrees throughout the Iron Age. These findings help explain the widespread distribution of ASA in north central Eurasia during the Iron Age.