Humans migrated to Mongolia 10,000 years earlier than previously believed www.heritagedaily.com

Stone tools uncovered in Mongolia by an international team of archaeologists indicate that modern humans traveled across the Eurasian steppe about 45,000 years ago, according to a new University of California, Davis, study.
The date is about 10,000 years earlier than archaeologists previously believed.

The site also points to a new location for where modern humans may have first encountered their mysterious cousins, the now-extinct Denisovans, said Nicolas Zwyns, an associate professor of anthropology and lead author of the study.

Zwyns led excavations from 2011 to 2016 at the Tolbor-16 site along the Tolbor River in the Northern Hangai Mountains between Siberia and northern Mongolia.

The excavations yielded thousands of stone artifacts, with 826 stone artifacts associated with the oldest human occupation at the site. With long and regular blades, the tools resemble those found at other sites in Siberia and Northwest China — indicating a large-scale dispersal of humans across the region, Zwyns said.

“These objects existed before, in Siberia, but not to such a degree of standardization,” Zwyns said. “The most intriguing (aspect) is that they are produced in a complicated yet systematic way — and that seems to be the signature of a human group that shares a common technical and cultural background.”

That technology, known in the region as the Initial Upper Palaeolithic, led the researchers to rule out Neanderthals or Denisovans as the site’s occupants. “Although we found no human remains at the site, the dates we obtained match the age of the earliest Homo sapiens found in Siberia,” Zwyns said. “After carefully considering other options, we suggest that this change in technology illustrates movements of Homo sapiens in the region.”

The age of the site — determined by luminescence dating on the sediment and radiocarbon dating of animal bones found near the tools — is about 10,000 years earlier than the fossil of a human skullcap from Mongolia, and roughly 15,000 years after modern humans left Africa.

Evidence of soil development (grass and other organic matter) associated with the stone tools suggests that the climate for a period became warmer and wetter, making the normally cold and dry region more hospitable to grazing animals and humans.

Preliminary analysis identifies bone fragments at the site as large (wild cattle or bison) and medium size bovids (wild sheep, goat) and horses, which frequented the open steppe, forests and tundra during the Pleistocene — another sign of human occupation at the site.

The dates for the stone tools also match the age estimates obtained from genetic data for the earliest encounter between Homo sapiens and the Denisovans.

“Although we don’t know yet where the meeting happened, it seems that the Denisovans passed along genes that will later help Homo sapiens settling down in high altitude and to survive hypoxia on the Tibetan Plateau,” Zwyns said. “From this point of view, the site of Tolbor-16 is an important archaeological link connecting Siberia with Northwest China on a route where Homo sapiens had multiple possibilities to meet local populations such as the Denisovans.”

Fluorspar: Resource nationalism complicates mining investment in Mongolia www.roskill.com

Mongolian fluorspar production has rebounded in 2018 and 2019 with output being increased to supply markets affected by less readily available Chinese material. There is no domestic requirement for fluorspar, so all production is exported, mainly to China and Russia. Small shipments (typically totalling less than 20ktpy) are also sent sporadically to Japan, South Korea and Ukraine. Exports of acidspar to the USA previously averaged 15–30ktpy but now average less than 500tpy. By far the largest export market for Mongolian acidspar in 2018 was China. Exports of acidspar to China grew tenfold between 2016 and 2018, reaching an unprecedented 79kt, worth US$37M, in 2018.

Fluorspar miners and investors in the country have, however, been rattled by the attention focused this year by one of Mongolia’s parliamentary working groups on other mining projects. The Mongolian government considers investment in mining projects as a key driver of economic growth in 2019, but development of fluorspar mining, particularly acidspar mining, has been erratic despite the need for more acidspar raw material in nearby Asian markets.

Roskill View
Foreign direct investment in Mongolia’s extractive industries—which are based on extensive deposits of coal, copper, fluorspar, gold, molybdenum, tin, tungsten and uranium—has transformed Mongolia’s landlocked economy from its traditional dependence on herding and agriculture. Exports now account for more than 40% of GDP. Mongolia depends on China for more than 60% of its external trade. China receives some 90% of Mongolia’s exports and supplies Mongolia with more than one-third of its imports.

Mongolia has experienced frequent political changes over the last decade which have complicated the investment environment in the country and resource nationalism is reported to have increased in recent years. By far the largest fluorspar producer is the Russian/Mongolian joint venture Mongolrostsvetmet but a significant proportion of Mongolian fluorspar still comes from small scale and artisanal producers. Amid political uncertainty, Mongolia’s relations with China, its largest mineral importer, continue to remain positive. Mongolia is the door into one of the economic corridors of China’s Belt and Road Initiative; both sides of this door are intent on maintaining close political and economic ties to facilitate future trade.

Acidspar and metspar supplies remain tight worldwide and much of Mongolia’s 2019 production has already been sold, mostly into the Chinese and other Asian markets, with continuing strong demand from these markets and good prospects for additional sales.

Roskill’s Fluorspar: Global Industry, Markets & Outlook report breaks down the complex fluorine supply chain considerations into clear forecasts with price forecasts based on analysis of both supply and demand. Roskill will be speaking and chairing discussions at both the FastMarkets Fluorspar 2019 event in London and the IMFORMED Fluorine Forum 2019 event in Prague in September/October 2019.

United Nations ESCAP Executive Secretary meets Prime Minister of Mongolia www.akipress.com

Under Secretary-General of the United Nations and Executive Secretary of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and Pacific (ESCAP) Armida Salsiah Alisjahbanashe was received by Prime Minister of Mongolia U.Khurelsukh, Montsame reported.

Donald Trump Jr. travelling in Mongolia www.news.mn

The eldest child of President Donald Trump is travelling in Mongolia. According to one source, Donald Trump Jr. drove to Bayan-Ulgii province, in the far west of the country, in order to climb the Tavan Bogd Mountain which is located near the triple border with China and Russia.

Commuting nightmare in UB as Peace Bridge closes www.news.mn

Commuters travelling from the well-off Zaisan district into the centre of Ulaanbaatar or people going to the airport have had an unpleasant surprise: following heavy rain at the weekend the Peace Bridge, which links the two parts of the city, has been damaged and is now closed.

China approves more fixed asset investment projects www.chinadaily.com.cn

BEIJING - The National Development and Reform Commission, China's top economic planner, approved 12 fixed-asset investment projects with the combined investment totaling 70.5 billion yuan (about $10 billion) in July, data showed.

China, Mongolia claim golds in 1st Baotou International Marathon www.xinhuanet.com

HOHHOT, China, Aug. 18 (Xinhua) -- Chinese runners claimed gold medals in both men's and women's full marathons while the Mongolian team dominated the half marathons in Baotou, northern China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region on Sunday.

Oyu Tolgoi expands partnership with National Emergency Management Agency www.montsame.mn

Ulaanbaatar /MONTSAME/. Oyu Tolgoi LLC has expanded its partnership with the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) and signed a memorandum of understanding to cooperate on disaster protection and disaster management on August 16. T.Badral, Major General, Director on behalf of the NEMA and Armando Torres, Chief Executive Officer on behalf of Oyu Tolgoi LLC signed the memorandum of understanding.

800-year-old vases containing frozen clotted cream and yellow butter found from glacial www.montsame.mn

Ulaanbaatar /MONTSAME/. The ‘Umard Mongol’ joint research team of the National Museum of Mongolia, the University of Pittsburgh of the U.S, and the American Center for Mongolian Studies has come across a rare finding of three vases full of clotted cream and one vase with yellow butter that were frozen in glacial about 700-800 years ago.

Officials seeking ways to tackle traffic-jam as ‘back to school’ season nears www.montsame.mn

Ulaanbaatar /MONTSAME/. Traffic congestion in Ulaanbaatar city is starting to get heavier as the school year is approaching, requiring more comprehensive measures from the authorities. The Traffic Police Department of Ulaanbaatar and Agency of Traffic planning, Regulation and Engineering of Ulaanbaatar city delivered a report on a previously suggested new regulation of Ulaanbaatar city’s traffic by dividing the city traffic roads into three zones starting August 15.