> [!quote] [[how did nomads get metal for weapons via AskHistorians]] > But if we take a step back from the Mongols and look at prehistory, we can say that there was definitely a great deal of mining going in the steppe. In prehistory generally metals (primarily copper and then iron) tended to be mined intensively in rich locales and circulated over wide areas. The steppe was no exception, and a lot of steppe metals came from outside: the Carpathians, the Caucasus, Bactria-Margiana, etc. But there are also phenomena like the Sintashta culture (in the Kazakh steppe) or the Kargaly mining complex (in the Southern Urals) where dedicated, specialist communities of miners and metalworkers sprang up deep inside the steppe and formed a kind of symbiosis with their pastoralist neighbours. These weren't foreign agricultural societies on the periphery, they were integral parts of the steppe economy of the time, culturally linked to the nomads around them and in the case of Sintashta especially responsible for central innovations in steppe life like the wheeled chariot. > > Why didn't this set up last? There are a number of possible explanations. One is that with the rise of medieval steppe empires like the Huns, Turks and Mongols – political systems essentially built on raiding wealthy, settled societies – the steppe simply became too dangerous for any sort of settled community to exist. Another is that it became easier for nomads to acquire metal from settled neighbours that produced vast amounts of them and with which they were increasingly connected by long-distance trade. That could be in the form of ore, smelted metal, or finished goods, and "acquire" could mean trade, raiding or tribute. - relevant for [[Monche Nomads]] and [[Mongols]]