Mammalian communities inhabiting temperate grasslands are of conservation concern globally, especially in Central Asia, where livestock numbers have dramatically increased in recent decades, leading to overgrazing and land-use change. Yet, how this pervasive presence of livestock herds affects the c...
The analysis of archaeological textiles is a primary source of knowledge about past societies, and the information it provides is remarkably diverse. However, special preservation conditions are needed to obtain an accurate picture of the use of textiles, particularly in the making of clothing. In T...
Eduard Suess was a well-known Austrian geologist, who shaped generations of geologists with his concepts, such as the supercontinent Gondwana and the Tethys Ocean. His correspondence with numerous scientists of his time and the establishment of "The Face of the Earth" made a foundation for modern ge...
Genomic analyses of Neanderthals have previously provided insights into their population history and relationship to modern humans1-8, but the social organization of Neanderthal communities remains poorly understood. Here we present genetic data for 13 Neanderthals from two Middle Palaeolithic sites...
This photo was taken in October 2011. Heihu is located in the Altai Mountains, in the northern tip of Xinjiang, bordering Mongolia and Kazakhstan. The lake is adjacent to the larger Lake Kanas, China’s deepest alpine lake, a popular destination among Chinese tourists, some of whom come to the lake i...
One of the important factors in the rapid development of Silk Road trade during the early Common Era was the establishment and growth of the Kushan Empire, which had a profound effect on the political and economic stability of much of Central Asia. Descendents of nomadic tribes from the steppes of t...
The phylogeography of western Palearctic species is relatively well studied, but data on Eastern Central Asia are scarce. We present one of the first data sets from a widespread terrestrial vertebrate (Bufo pewzowi) inhabiting Eastern Central Asian mountains and deserts to gain knowledge on its phyl...