The Nomadic Empires project organised a workshop on 3rd May 2017 to bring together historical analyses and archaeological fieldwork to address the roles of nomads in trade routes, fortifications, and polity formations along frontiers of the pre-modern Iranian realm. Prof. Richard Payne (Oriental Institute, University of Chicago) presented the multi-faceted grammar of politics employed by the hybrid polity of Turan in late antiquity, demonstrating nomads as sophisticated architects of empire.

Dr. Paul Wordsworth (Oriental Studies, University of Oxford) placed the communities of these frontiers under the microscope through a presentation of his own fieldwork on major trade centers, namely Merv, the geographic itineraries of cross-desert pathways to reach them, and the constructed landscapes of those routes as more than mere caravanserais.

On June 06, 2018, the Nomadic Empires team welcomed Professor Beatrice Manz (Tufts University, USA), who specializes on history of the Mongol and the Timurid Empires, and Professor David Morgan (SOAS and formerly University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA)—a historian of the Mongols and the medieval Middle East. Professor Manz presented a workshop titled: Tribes, Armies and Empires:  Social Morphology of Pastoral Nomads in the Mongol and Timurid Periods, where she addressed the changing structure of nomadic social groups from the rise of the Mongol Empire to the Timurid Period. The workshop focused in particular on the theme of nomadic, tribal, and mixed armies, and their creation, development, and dispersion during different historical cases and phases of centralized rulership and its collapse. Professor Manz first examined the creation of Chinggis Khan’s army, then she traced the trajectories of such tribal groups as the Jalayirids and the Oirats during the Ilkhanid Period, and the subsequent restructuring of armies during the Timurid Period, when Timur implemented his strategy of suppressing tribal power.

The workshop participants had a detailed discussion about current terminology with regard to nomadic social morphologies (such as tribes, clans, lineages, armies, empires, etc.), their genesis and strategies of affiliation, leadership, and endurance (kinship, marriage alliances, hereditary offices and positions, incorporation and diversity, personal followings, forced displacements, etc). In the afternoon, discussion continued about the varieties of armies employed and engaged by nomadic empires. The focus was on the issues of logistics, provisions, demographics, geographies of incorporation and dispersion of tribal and non-tribal contingents of these armies, as well as the role and participation of women in wars waged by nomadic empires.

On May 25^th-26^th 2017, research associate Dr. Marie Favereau participated in an international workshop organized by Dr. Konstantin Golev (Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski” /Comenius University in Bratislava) held at the Center for Advanced Study, in Sofia. The workshop was focused on ‘Mongol Warfare between Steppe and Sown: Military and Cultural Perspectives’. It drew together expert historians of the four Mongol khanates, including Prof. Michal Biran (The Hebrew University of Jerusalem) who delivered a keynote lecture on ‘The Chaghadaid Army in Comparative Framework’.

Dr Favereau’s paper on ‘The Golden Horde Economic Warfare’ aimed to demonstrate that the Jochids won more decisive victories on the market field than on the battlefield. In her talk, Dr. Favereau tested her working concept of ‘Mongol economic warfare’ – a concept she develops in the book she is writing within the framework of the Nomadic Empires project.

During May 28th-29th, Dr. Favereau carried out field research in the centre and south of Bulgaria. Dr. Favereau was accompanied by the local medievalist Dr. Konstantin Golev who is a leading expert on the Qipchaqs. They visited several important historical and archaeological sites associated with the events of the Mongol invasion in Europe, including passes in the Central Balkan Mountains and the capital city of medieval Bulgaria, Tarnovo.