Challenges current interpretations of social and cultural change in prehistoric Eurasia, through a thematic investigation of archaeological patterns.

1. Introduction Bryan Hanks and Katheryn Linduff; Part I. Framing Complexity: 2. Introduction Ledmila Koryakova; 3. Differentiated political landscapes and non-uniform complexity in Bronze Age steppe archaeology Michael Frachetti; 4. Climate change, conflict, and the origins of the Sintashta-Arkaim complex David Anthony; 5. Settlements and necropolises of the Bronze Age of the Urals: opportunities for the reconstruction of social dynamics Andrei Epimakhov; 6. The Maikop singularity: a unique example of the unequal accumulation of wealth on the Bronze Age Eurasian steppes? Phil Kohl; Part II. Mining, Metallurgy and Trade: 7. Introduction Katheryn Linduff; 8. Formation of the Eurasian steppe belt of stockbreeding cultures: viewed through the prism of archaeometallurgy and radiocarbon dating Evgenii Chernykh; 9. Modelling early metallurgical production and community organization Bryan Hanks; 10. Technology and exchange: the metallic artifacts excavated in the ancient Dian region of Yunnan province from 5th c. BC to 2nd c. AD Han Rubin and Li Xiaocen; 11. Metal making and social complexity in the Bronze Age Steppes: material culture practices and value David Peterson; 12. Early metallurgy and socio-cultural complexity: a view based on archaeological discoveries in eastern Central Asia Jianjun Mei; Part III. Frontiers and Border Dynamics: 13. Introduction Tom Barfield; 14. Violence on the frontiers? Sources of power and socio-political change at the easternmost parts of the Eurasian steppes during the early first millennium BCE Gideon Schelach; 15. First millennium BCE Beifang artifacts as historical documents Emma Bunker; 16. Blurring the boundaries: uncovering the complex interactions between foragers and pastoralists in the Volga-Ural region Laura Popova; Part IV. Social Power, Monumentality and Mobility: 17. Introduction Francis Allard; 18. Re-writing monumental landscapes as inner Asian political process William Honeychurch, Joshua Wright and Chunag Amartuvshin; 19. 'Socially integrative facilities' and the emergence of societal complexity on the Mongolian steppe Jean-Luc Houle; 20. Deer stones and khirigsuurs: pre-Scythian Bronze Age ceremonialism and art in northern Mongolia William Fitzhugh.