Being-in-the-field: Ethnographic Observations on Archaeological Fieldwork in Central Mongolia

Abstract

In the last two decades, new intersections between archaeology and ethnography have emerged, cre-

ating subdisciplines such as ethnography of archaeological practice (Edgeworth 2003). Rather than defining

archaeology as dealing exclusively with the past, such subdisciplines interrogate how archaeological knowl-

edge is produced in the present (Davidovic 2009). Reversing the traditional dynamic of the ethnographer going

“abroad”, “into the field” – which is paralleled by archaeologists visiting the foreign country that is the past

(Lowenthal 1985) – here archaeologists themselves become the group under study and archaeology a field that

is embedded in larger societal dynamics (Meskell 2005; Castañeda 2008). Building on two fieldwork seasons

(2023 and 2024) in the Upper Orkhon Valley, on the border between Arkhangai and Övörkhangai provinces in

central Mongolia, as well as the interdisciplinary theoretical background developed as part of previous research,

this article develops the notion of ethnography of archaeological fieldwork in a Mongolian context. It explores

knowledge production at the excavation site, daily life at the archaeological camp, and the author’s reflexive

perspective as an insider and outsider. The aim is to understand how an archaeological dig inserts itself into the

pastoral landscape and existing infrastructures, and how the ethnography of fieldwork can contribute to conduct-

ing more ethical archaeological research in the future.