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Fieldwork and excavations conducted with the permission of the Ministry of Education, Culture, and Science for Mongolia. This research was funded by the Max Planck Society, Germany. AK was supported by the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation (grant No. 075-15-2020-787 for the implementation of Fundamentals, methods and technologies for digital monitoring and forecasting of the environmental situation on the Baikal natural territory). FG was financially supported by the HIPATIA research program of the University of Almeria, Spain. We thank everyone involved with fieldwork, Denis Scholz for the U/Th dating attempt, and Bryan Miller for access to key literature.

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May 10, 2021
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Archaeological and environmental cave records in the Gobi-Altai Mountains, Mongolia

Publicated to:Quaternary International. 586 66-89 - 2021-06-10 586(), DOI: 10.1016/j.quaint.2021.03.010

Authors: Vanwezer, Nils; Breitenbach, Sebastian F M; Gazquez, Fernando; Louys, Julien; Kononov, Aleksandr; Sokol'nikov, Dmitry; Avirmed, Erdenedalai; Burguet-Coca, Aitor; Picin, Andrea; Cueva-Temprana, Arturo; Sanchez-Martinez, Javier; Taylor, William Timothy Treal; Boivin, Nicole; Bayarsaikhan, Jamsranjav; Petraglia, Michael D

Affiliations

Griffith Univ, Australian Res Ctr Human Evolut, Brisbane, Qld, Australia - Author
Inst Catala Paleoecol Humana Evolucio Social IPHE, Zona Educacional 4,Campus Sescelades URV, Tarragona 43007, Spain - Author
Irkutsk Natl Res Tech Univ, Irkutsk 664074, Russia - Author
Max Planck Inst Evolutionary Anthropol, Dept Human Evolut, Deutsch Pl 6, D-04103 Leipzig, Germany - Author
Max Planck Inst Sci Human Hist, Dept Archeol, Kahlaische Str 10, D-07745 Jena, Germany - Author
Mongolian Cave Res Assoc, Ulaanbaatar 210523, Mongolia - Author
Natl Museum Mongolia, Ulaanbaatar 210646, Mongolia - Author
Northumbria Univ, Dept Geog & Environm Sci, Newcastle Upon Tyne NE1 8ST, Tyne & Wear, England - Author
Russian Acad Sci, Inst Earths Crust, Siberian Branch, Irkutsk 664033, Russia - Author
Smithsonian Inst, Natl Museum Nat Hist, Dept Anthropol, Washington, DC USA - Author
Speleoclub Arabika, Irkutsk, Russia - Author
Univ Almeria, Water Resources & Environm Geol, Almeria 04120, Spain - Author
Univ Autonoma Barcelona, Ctr Estudis Patrimoni Arqueol, Bellaterra 08193, Spain - Author
Univ Calgary, Dept Anthropol & Archeol, Calgary, AB, Canada - Author
Univ Colorado, Museum Nat Hist, Henderson Bldg, Boulder, CO 80309 USA - Author
Univ Queensland, Sch Social Sci, Brisbane, Qld, Australia - Author
Univ Rovira & Virgili URV, Area Prehist, Avinguda Catalunya 35, Tarragona 43002, Spain - Author
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Abstract

Though hundreds of caves are known across Mongolia, few have been subject to systematic, interdisciplinary archaeological surveys and excavations to understand Late Pleistocene and Holocene environments. Previous cave excavations in Mongolia have demonstrated their potential for preservation of archaeological and biological material, including Palaeolithic assemblages and Holocene archaeology, particularly burials, with associated organic finds. In other cases, cave surveys found that stratigraphic deposits and archaeological materials are absent. The large number of caves makes the Mongolian Altai Mountain Range a potentially attractive region for human occupation in the Pleistocene and Holocene. Here we present the results of an interdisciplinary survey of caves in four carbonate areas across the Gobi-Altai Mountains. We report 24 new caves, some of which contain archaeological material recovered through survey and test excavations. Most caves presented limited sedimentation, and some were likely too small for human habitation. Six caves showed evidence of palaeontological remains, most likely from the Late Holocene and recent periods. The most notable anthropogenic findings included petroglyphs at Gazar Agui 1 & 13. Gazar Agui 1 also contained lithics and a bronze fragment. Tsakhiryn Agui 1 contained 31 wooden fragments that include an unused fire drilling tool kit and items commonly found in association with medieval burials. We observed that the caves remain in contemporary use for religious and economic purposes, such as the construction of shrines, mining and animal corralling. Water samples from the caves, and nearby rivers, lakes, and springs were analysed for their isotopic compositions (818O, 8D, 817O, 17Oexcess, d-excess) and the data, combined with backward trajectory modelling revealed that the Gobi-Altai

Keywords

Archaeological evidenceArchaeologyBurial (geology)Cave systemGeomorphologyGovi-altayHoloceneMongoliaPaleontologyPleistocene-holocene boundarySpeleologyStable isotopeSurveyWater stable isotopes

Quality index

Bibliometric impact. Analysis of the contribution and dissemination channel

The work has been published in the journal Quaternary International due to its progression and the good impact it has achieved in recent years, according to the agency Scopus (SJR), it has become a reference in its field. In the year of publication of the work, 2021, it was in position , thus managing to position itself as a Q1 (Primer Cuartil), in the category Earth-Surface Processes.

From a relative perspective, and based on the normalized impact indicator calculated from the Field Citation Ratio (FCR) of the Dimensions source, it yields a value of: 3.07, which indicates that, compared to works in the same discipline and in the same year of publication, it ranks as a work cited above average. (source consulted: Dimensions Jul 2025)

Specifically, and according to different indexing agencies, this work has accumulated citations as of 2025-07-20, the following number of citations:

  • WoS: 4
  • Scopus: 3

Impact and social visibility

From the perspective of influence or social adoption, and based on metrics associated with mentions and interactions provided by agencies specializing in calculating the so-called "Alternative or Social Metrics," we can highlight as of 2025-07-20:

  • The use, from an academic perspective evidenced by the Altmetric agency indicator referring to aggregations made by the personal bibliographic manager Mendeley, gives us a total of: 26.
  • The use of this contribution in bookmarks, code forks, additions to favorite lists for recurrent reading, as well as general views, indicates that someone is using the publication as a basis for their current work. This may be a notable indicator of future more formal and academic citations. This claim is supported by the result of the "Capture" indicator, which yields a total of: 28 (PlumX).

With a more dissemination-oriented intent and targeting more general audiences, we can observe other more global scores such as:

  • The Total Score from Altmetric: 12.75.
  • The number of mentions on the social network X (formerly Twitter): 19 (Altmetric).

Leadership analysis of institutional authors

This work has been carried out with international collaboration, specifically with researchers from: Australia; Canada; Germany; Mongolia; Russia; United Kingdom; United States of America.