Khyadag and Zunii Gol: Animal Art and the Bronze to Iron Age Transition in Northern Mongolia

The Late Bronze Age Mongolian culture known for its memorial deer stones and khirigsuur burials, the Deer Stone-Khirigsuur complex (hereafter DSK) dating to 1300-700 BCE, displays persistence over several hundred years. Radiocarbon dates from hearths and horse remains associated with these sites show little change in architecture, ritual practice, and iconography, giving the impression of an unchanging mortuary cultural regime. New research demonstrates that deer stones are memorials to recently deceased leaders that display distinctive features of personal identification within the unifying framework of an over-arching religious theme represented by deer-bird iconography. Despite continuity, the DSK complex is not monolithic. This paper presents evidence for regional cultural and chronological variation in deer stone