Eurasian mobile pastoralists living in semiarid environments focus on specific location on the landscape where pasture resource and water are available. Ectones – or intermediary zones between the mountain and steppe environments – create mosaic landscapes of resource-rich patches and other discrete enclaves of useful biota for pastoralist communities. Ecotopes (Ecological patches) provide vital resources for the herding system used in Central Asia today as well as the past.
Paleoethnobotany on the Silk Road
Central Eurasian Archaeobotany 