Warfare, Labor, and Urban Stress: Divergent Health Trajectories in Mongol‐Period Karakorum

ABSTRACT

This study examines major palaeopathological trends in Mongol‐period Karakorum and incorporates them into the existing body of research in order to deepen our understanding of health and survival, the impacts of conflict and violence on past populations, and the lived experiences of the city's diverse inhabitants within the broader socio‐political landscape of the Mongol Empire. Two distinct groups buried in Karakorum are analyzed: individuals recovered from a mass grave located outside the city walls (MG), and a portion of the Muslim community interred in the city's cemetery (KARCEM). These populations are assessed through macroscopic observation, statistical analysis, and radiographic imaging of palaeopathological markers, with particular attention paid to differences between the two groups. Clear differences emerge between the assemblages. The MG assemblage ( n  = 13) is composed mostly of males and notably lacks both non‐adult and elderly individuals. The occurrence of perimortem trauma consistent with arrowhead injuries and blunt force trauma, along with the funerary context, strongly supports a context of warfare, whereas the demographic profile and comparative patterns of Schmorl's nodes and osteoarthritis prevalence may indicate the presence of combatants in the assemblage. In contrast, KARCEM ( n  = 27) includes a substantial proportion of non‐adult individuals affected by nutritional deficiencies, whereas adults show higher rates of antemortem trauma and degenerative disease. These pathological patterns suggest a settled urban community whose adult members led physically demanding lives, whereas children experienced considerable physiological stress.