Session IV: Ice Patch Archaeology in the Altai

Dates: July 29-August 18, 2021

Fees: $3,950 USD

Skills: archaeological survey; mapping and GIS; ethnoarchaeology

Logistics: This session will be very logistically challenging (but very rewarding). Please apply for this only if you have a solid foundation of outdoor skills and mountaineering experience. Participants will move frequently between backcountry camps on foot or horseback. Water from local streams can be used for cleaning and purified for drinking water. Participants will take turns cooking VERY basic meals for the small team.

Description: In 2021, the NOMAD Science Session IV will explore some higher elevation areas of the Altai Mountains in western Mongolia in partnership with teams led by Dr. William Taylor (UC Boulder Museum of Natural History) and Dr. Isaac Hart (University of Utah). Year round ice patches that have been utilized by both hunters and herders in the region potentially for millenia are increasingly melting due to global climate change and our team will be assessing these remnant ice patches for their research potential. While Mongolia has a great potential to contain these kinds of archaeological materials, very little work has been done as it is incredibly logistically and physically challenging. However, preliminary research by our teams has proven that the work is justified and has already uncovered several areas of interest and important archaeological artifacts. Participants of this program must be particularly flexible, savvy in outdoor skills, and interested in backcountry camping, horseback riding, and backpacking.

Team members will conduct preliminary archaeological surveys and ethnographic interviews in order to salvage both materials and knowledge that are being lost as a result of global climate change. Remnant ice/snow patches will be investigated for their archaeological potential as they may contain organic artifacts not preserved elsewhere, but now threatened by climate change. Ethnoarchaeological methods will be employed to investigate how contemporary inhabitants of the region use ice patches and are adapting to their imminent loss.