Fringe Landscapes: A Hypothesis on the Dynamics of Settlement and Mobility in Iron Age Inner Asia

Abstract The relationship between nomads and architecture in archaeology is particularly elusive in contexts where a broad spectrum of mobility is evident. Despite growing data on settlement remains in Inner Asia that illustrate a range of subsistence strategies, identifying distinct material evidence of nomadism remains challenging. This article presents the first integrated analysis of Iron Age (first millennium BCE) habitation remains from the Eurasian midlatitudes, spanning Tian Shan, Altai, and Kunlun Mountains. The prevailing understanding is that the spread of horseback riding combined with reduced settlement due to climatic shifts in the endorheic basins signal increased mobility in this period, as evidenced by the practice of mobile pastoralism. It is also argued that east–west routes of cultural interaction in the Iron Age sparked early urbanism and laid the groundwork for later long-distance trade. I adopt the framework of “landscape dynamics” to rethink the relationship between architecture and movement in mobile communities. I observe that the Iron Age built environment aligns with characteristics of the contemporary “fringe landscape”. Although often located at the edges of urban cores, the “fringe” is not necessarily peripheral. It is, more importantly, a space characterized by transitory and disordered patterns of change and a hub of innovation and experimentation. I argue that these features can better explicate the study area’s landscape dynamics. The increase in “fringe” locations created points of “landing” that facilitated frequent yet more varied patterns of movement, aligning with the observation that developments in Iron Age material cultures were more disparate and dispersed than implied by existing hypotheses.