Publications by authors named "Bryan K Miller"
Cauldrons, vessels that are simultaneously common and enigmatic, offer insights into past cultural and social traditions. While assumed to possess a special function, what these cauldrons contained is still largely mysterious. These vessels, such as those made from bronze or copper alloys, function as reservoirs for ancient organics through the antibacterial qualities provided by the metal surfaces.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe Xiongnu established the first nomadic imperial power, controlling the Eastern Eurasian steppe from ca. 200 BCE to 100 CE. Recent archaeogenetic studies identified extreme levels of genetic diversity across the empire, corroborating historical records of the Xiongnu Empire being multiethnic.
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- The eastern steppe has a rich history of pastoralist groups, but it's been hard to pinpoint when domesticated animals like ruminants and horses were fully adopted due to a lack of remains.
- Recent studies on ancient dairy consumption in the Altai Mountains reveal data from the Early Bronze to Late Iron Age, linking dairy shifts to social complexity in western Mongolia, including population growth and monument construction.
- The findings indicate that the development of complex societies was initially driven by the adoption of ruminant livestock, with social changes and significant horse dairying practices emerging later, around 1350 cal BCE.
The Eastern Eurasian Steppe was home to historic empires of nomadic pastoralists, including the Xiongnu and the Mongols. However, little is known about the region's population history. Here, we reveal its dynamic genetic history by analyzing new genome-wide data for 214 ancient individuals spanning 6,000 years.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFDairy pastoralism is integral to contemporary and past lifeways on the eastern Eurasian steppe, facilitating survival in agriculturally challenging environments. While previous research has indicated that ruminant dairy pastoralism was practiced in the region by circa 1300 BC, the origin, extent and diversity of this custom remain poorly understood. Here, we analyse ancient proteins from human dental calculus recovered from geographically diverse locations across Mongolia and spanning 5,000 years.
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- Horse domestication had a profound impact on warfare, travel, trade, and language spread.* -
- The study analyzed DNA from 149 ancient horses, revealing two distinct extinct lineages from Iberia and Siberia that didn't significantly contribute to modern horses.* -
- The Persian horse lineages gained traction after Islamic conquests, and modern breeding practices have dramatically affected genetic diversity in horses compared to earlier human management.*