Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jasrep A model for pastoral mobility in Iron Age Kazakhstan Tekla M. Schmaus a, ⁎ ,1 , Claudia Chang b , Perry A. Tourtellotte b a Department of Anthropology, Indiana University, Student Building 130, 701 E. Kirkwood Avenue, Bloomington, IN 47405, United States b Anthropology Department, Sweet Briar College, Gray Hall, 134 Chapel Road, Sweet Briar, VA 24595, United States ARTICLE INFO Keywords: Central Asia Kazakhstan Pastoralism Iron Age Seasonality Cementum analysis ABSTRACT Recent research in Central Asia has altered our understanding of mobility and local economies during the Bronze and Iron Ages. In this paper, we present new data from Tuzusai, an Iron Age (400 cal BCE–1 cal CE) site in southeast Kazakhstan. Multiple lines of evidence have suggested that Tuzusai was part of an agro-pastoral system, and that people may have been present at Tuzusai year-round. We performed an analysis of cementum annulations in caprine (sheep/goat) teeth from Tuzusai, which gives direct evidence for seasonal slaughter patterns. Our results demonstrate that animals were slaughtered at Tuzusai year-round, and that there was a spike in the fall which was likely due to herd management strategies. To date, these results are the strongest line of evidence that people were present at Tuzusai throughout the year. We use ethnographic analogy to discuss the nature of a community in which some people were sedentary and others were mobile. We also argue that our results can be used as a model to help determine mobility at other sites in the region for which there are fewer lines of evidence describing the local economy. 1. Introduction Archaeological and historical models of Central Eurasia have long treated the region as a crossroads inhabited by mobile pastoralists. Research questions have focused on the ways in which mobility fa- cilitated the spread of peoples, goods, and ideas. Mobile groups may have migrated across the steppe as early as the Eneolithic (Anthony, 2007). In the Bronze Age, mobile groups moved through the mountains, spreading new technologies along with them (Doumani and Frachetti, 2012; Frachetti, 2012, 2011). In the Iron Age, these mobile groups formed hierarchical societies (Baipakov and Taimagambetov, 2006), known to history as nomadic states like the Scythians (Herodotus, 1987). However, recent archaeological studies have increasingly ques- tioned the extent to which early Central Eurasian economies were dominated by mobile pastoralism. Isotopic analyses of human diet during the Bronze Age in different regions of Kazakhstan indicate a substantial agricultural component (Lightfoot et al., 2015; Motuzaite- Matuzeviciute et al., 2015). In southeast Kazakhstan (Semirech'ye), there is now palaeobotanical evidence of agricultural production as early as 1490–1260 cal BCE (Spengler et al., 2014). This evidence puts Semirech'ye at the heart of research on the spread of agricultural pro- ducts during the Bronze Age (Doumani et al., 2015; Spengler, 2015; Spengler et al., 2014), and even links the region's economy to that of Western China during the Bronze Age (Betts et al., 2014). Evidence for mixed economies in Central Eurasia continues into the Iron Age. Isotopic and palaeobotanical analyses demonstrate an agri- cultural component of the human diet in this later period as well (Motuzaite-Matuzeviciute et al., 2012; Murphy et al., 2013). In addi- tion, palaeobotanical data from Semirech'ye one again provide evi- dence of agricultural production during the Iron Age (Chang, 2017a; Chang et al., 2003; Rosen et al., 2000; Spengler et al., 2013). As it becomes increasingly clear that people had mixed economies, the ex- tent of their mobility or sedentism must also be examined. Although agro-pastoral systems have been studied in other world regions, the way these two sectors of the economy articulated in Iron Age Semi- rech'ye needs to be investigated further. In this paper we add to the overall understanding of pastoral economies by discussing a case study from an Iron Age (400 cal BCE to 1 cal CE) site in southeast Kazakhstan. Tuzusai is the most extensively studied settlement for the region and time period. Multiple lines of evidence, including mudbrick and pit-house architecture and agri- cultural remains, indicate that this settlement was likely occupied year- round by people engaged in agricultural production (Chang, 2017a; Chang et al., 2003). The settlement also has a faunal assemblage con- sisting predominantly of caprine (sheep and goat) remains, indicating a significant pastoral component to the economy as well (Benecke, 2003; Lyublyanovics, 2012). The first author conducted a study of cementum https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jasrep.2017.10.029 Received 10 August 2017; Received in revised form 21 October 2017; Accepted 22 October 2017 ⁎ Corresponding author. 1 Department of Anthropology, 1032 W. Sheridan Rd, Loyola University, Chicago IL 60660. E-mail address: tmschmaus@gmail.com (T.M. Schmaus). Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports 17 (2018) 137–143 2352-409X/ © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. MARK