ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the emergence of pastoralism in the eastern regions of the Eurasian steppe from the 4th to the 2nd millennia BC. It presents idea that socioeconomic interaction throughout the proposed Inner Asian Mountain Corridor fostered the growth of mobile pastoralism as the dominant and archetypical mode of life in the eastern Eurasian steppe zone starting as early as 3500 BC. A culture-historical framework still dominates today's perspective of interaction among Bronze Age societies of Eurasia. Thus, formal parallels in pottery may reflect semiotic diffusion along the edges of overlapping pastoralist landscapes. Current archaeology illustrates that agriculture and animal herding were long part of the Neolithic economy of populations living in oasis and valley communities across Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and parts of Tajikistan. Archaeological evidence shows that mobile pastoralist societies created active networks of interaction throughout the Dzhungar Mountains as early as 3000-2500 BC.
