The Sagsai culture (1500-1000 BCE) is an early Bronze Age culture of Western

Mongolia Mongolia is a landlocked country in East Asia, bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south and southeast. It covers an area of , with a population of 3.5 million, making it the world's List of countries and dependencies by po ...

. It was centered on the

Sagsai Sagsai () is a sum (district) of Bayan-Ölgii Province in western Mongolia. It is primarily inhabited by ethnic Kazakhs (Altaic Kazakhs). As of 2014 it had a population of 4945 people. The district is home to a large number of eagle hunters who ...

area (the westernmost region of modern Mongolia) and succeeded the

Chemurchek culture The Chemurchek culture (Ch:切木尔切克, ''Qièmùěrqièkè''; Ru: Чемурчекская культура), also called Khemtseg, Hemtseg, Qiemu’erqieke, Shamirshak (2750–1900 BCE), is a Bronze Age archaeological culture of western Mo ...

. The Sagsai culture is thought to have used horse chariots, prior to 1200 BCE, as shown by dated petroglyphs in the region. It was followed by the

Deer stones culture Deer stones (), sometimes called the Deer stone-khirigsuur complex (DSKC), in reference to neighbouring khirigsuur tombs, are ancient megaliths carved with symbols found mainly in Mongolia and, to a lesser extent, in the adjacent areas in Siber ...

. At the same time the Ulaanzuukh-Tevsh culture was prospering in the steppes of southern and eastern Mongolia in the 13th century BCE, and seems to have transmitted the horsedrawn chariot to the Chinese

Shang dynasty The Shang dynasty (), also known as the Yin dynasty (), was a Chinese royal dynasty that ruled in the Yellow River valley during the second millennium BC, traditionally succeeding the Xia dynasty and followed by the Western Zhou d ...

. File:Sagsai-shaped graves (positions), Mongolia.jpg, Sagsai-shaped graves, Mongolia. File:Sagsai-shaped graves, Mongolia.jpg, Sagsai-shaped graves, Mongolia. File:Sagsai-shaped graves, Tsagaan Asga site (round).jpg, Sagsai-shaped graves, Tsagaan Asga site (round). File:Sagsai-shaped graves, Tsagaan Asga site (square).jpg, Sagsai-shaped graves, Tsagaan Asga site (square).

References

Sources

* {{cite journal , last1=Esin , first1=Yury , title=Chariots in the Bronze Age of Central Mongolia based on the materials from the Khoid Tamir river valley , journal=Archaeological Research in Asia , date=1 September 2021 , volume=27 , pages=100304 , doi=10.1016/j.ara.2021.100304 , url=https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ara.2021.100304 , issn=2352-2267, url-access=subscription Archaeological cultures in Mongolia