On March 13th, Director of the Research and Education Centre of Eurasian Studies at South Ural State University Aleksandr Tairov gave a lecture on the “Types of Economy of Early Nomads” at the Centre for Historical and Cultural Legacy of Chelyabinsk.
Among the attendees were local historians, school teachers, museum employees, tour guides and other visitors to the "In the Valley of Tamerlane" exhibition organized at the Centre. The exhibits included copies of archaeological artefacts from the early Iron Age, as well as student sketches from excavations in the south of the Chelyabinsk Region, including against the backdrop of the Kesene Mausoleum, also called Tamerlane's Tower.
Aleksandr Tairov spoke about the peculiarities of the migration routes of nomads in the South Ural and Trans-Urals regions, grazing of goats and sheep, and meteorological features. The main idea is that the routes, although they had been subject to redistribution between groups of nomads, had generally been preserved for centuries, the directions had been determined by natural factors: the presence of rivers, lakes, terrain, etc.
The final part of the lecture was devoted to questions. The audience members were interested in how nomads had navigated the steppe without maps, how to find traces of ancient hearths, and how often camels (used to transport the heaviest loads, such as yurts) had been found in nomad herds.