Asian Journal of Paleopathology Vol.4
Received: August 25, 2021
Accepted: November 2, 2021
DOI: 10.32247/ajp2021.11.2

Review
A brief review of paleopathological research in Mongolia

Myagmar Erdene

Abstract
　As the result of archaeological investigations of burial sites of ancient Mongolian populations conducted since the 1950s, and especially following intensive national and collaborative archaeological expeditions in the last two decades, large quantities of skeletal materials have been collected at different institutions in Mongolia, including universities, museums and research institutions.
　Despite these intensive archaeological excavations and the accumulation of materials, investigation of human remains in Mongolia does not have a long history. The first bioanthropological studies conducted in the 1970s and 1980s focused on the morphological characteristics of modern Mongolian populations, along with craniometric and osteometric analyses of human remains from the Neolithic to the Medieval period. The first paleopathological research into the Early Iron Age population of western Mongolia was conducted in the 1990s.
　Human skeletal studies, particularly in paleopathology, have increased in number from the end of the first decade of the 21st century, and several studies have been published on the dental health, degenerative joint diseases and traumatic injuries among ancient Mongolian populations. The present paper reviews the available publications on diseases of archaeological populations from Mongolia.

Key words
Mongolia, ancient nomads, paleopathology, oral health, joint diseases