Anthropology
The Making of Ancient Eurasia (MAE) is an integrated interdisciplinary research program in which
researchers from the Department of Anthropology at the University of Chicago and Argonne National Laboratory (ANL) are
collaborating in the simultaneous investigation of early ceramic and metal technologies in the Eurasian steppes, the Caucasus,
and Central China. Much of the historical significance accorded to Eurasia emerges from our understanding of the Silk Road, a
legendary series of trade routes that extended from China to the Near East and the Mediterranean. However, parts of Eurasia
appear to have been tied together by less-formal exchange routes as early as the 2nd millennium BC. This earlier network
provided the foundation for the flow of technologies, arts, armies, and empires that linked the Old World into a vast
interconnected web. In order to understand the origins of Eurasian exchange networks, we must examine both the extraordinary
objects serendipitously found far from their places of origin, as well as the ordinary, mundane artifacts that were shaped by
knowledge and techniques that flowed from community to community more steadily and quickly than the occasional treasure. What
links were established between communities from China, to the Eurasian steppe, to the Caucasus in the 3rd through 1st
millennia B.C. that made possible Eurasia’s emergence as a pivot of world history? This project examines the material
foundations of Eurasian social life from the 3rd through the 1st millennia B.C. in order to understand both the communities of
each region and the ways of life that may have bound them together across vast distances to make ancient Eurasia. The MAE
investigations are advancing the first integrated comparative anthropological and archaeometric study of ancient Eurasian
ceramics and metalwork from the macro-, meso-, and micro- scales of analysis. The simultaneous analysis of ceramic and metal
materials allows for a broader understanding of production techniques, organization, and social and technical goals. Through
ongoing analysis of inter- and intra-regional variation in ancient Eurasian ceramics we are examining patterns of interaction
that underlay the emergence of social complexity and long distance trade.Return to MAE Home