This book has been a collaborative effort in many ways and I wish to thank those who helped to make it a reality. My colleagues in the field, Chunag Amartuvshin, Joshua Wright, and A. Russell Nelson, shared in the difficult work of data collection over the years and also provided substantial guidance and support for the writing of this book. I wish to thank Prof. D. Tseveendorj, the Director of the Institute of Archaeology, Mongolian Academy of Sciences, whose generous assistance has made my research in Mongolia possible. Mentors in the field and at home who have been critical to my efforts in Mongolia include Zagd Batsaikhan, Diimaajav Erdenebaatar, Carla Sinopoli, Jeffrey Parsons, and Henry Wright, J. Daniel Rogers, William Fitzhugh, and Bruno Frohlich. Research and write-up were supported by the Wenner-Gren Foundation, the National Geographic Society, the National Science Foundation, the National Endowment for the Humanities, Center for the Study of Eurasian Nomads, the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, and Yale University. Special thanks are extended to our research staff members Michelle Machicek, J. Gerelbadrakh, J. Burentogtokh, P. Khatanbaatar, Erik Johannesson, Emma Hite, Jeremy Beach, and D. Molor. Joyce Honeychurch and William Gardner were generous with their time and comments in the editing of the final text and the editorial staff at Springer was endlessly patient and I appreciate their assistance greatly. Finally, both recognition and thanks are due to the people of Egiin Gol and Baga Gazaryn Chuluu who were always most generous and hospitable throughout our projects. In this book, Russian Cyrillic transliteration uses the Library of Congress system while Mongolian Cyrillic is transliterated according to the system given in Fitzhugh, W., Rossabi, M., & Honeychurch, W.(2009), Genghis Khan and the Mongol empire, Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution. A few Mongolian words, such as Gobi and Genghis Khan, assume their standard English forms.