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Climate of the Eurasian steppe during the last millennium and its influence on the history of the nomadic peoples: a scientific review
Pavel D., Manakhov, ecologist, Lomonosov Moscow State University, Moscow, Russia,
poul.manakhov@yandex.ru, https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1192-006x
Summary
The following review concerns the research of the Eurasian steppe climate history during the last 1000 years and its relationship with the history of the nomadic peoples inhabiting this territory. The results of the paleoclimatological studies published in the last 20 years are examined and compared. The recent reconstructions of the climate of the western and eastern parts of the Eurasian steppe (divided for the purposes of this review along the Ural mountains) during the Medieval Warm Period (10th–13th cc.) and Little Ice Age (15th–19th cc.) are described. The influence of climatic condition on the political history if the nomadic peoples is discussed using the example of the 13th century Mongolian conquests. The comparison of recent reconstructions allows us to conclude that they generally correspond to the results of previous research and design a picture of temperature anomalies and humid and arid zones distribution in the Eurasian steppe and adjacent territories during the Medieval Warm Period and Little Ice Age. Author expresses doubts on the validity of linking the history of the climate change directly to the political history of the nomadic peoples of the Eurasian steppe due to the complex relationship between climate and economic and social processes.
Keywords: reconstruction of past climates, Medieval Warm Period, Little Ice Age, Eurasian steppe, Eurasian nomads history, paleoecology, paleoclimatology.
© Manakhov P.D., 2026
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Received 22.06.2025
Accepted 02.03.2026
Article is published: 15.06.2026
Funding. This work was funded by the Russian Science Foundation (project No. 25-18-00322).
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