Preface: From myth to method : advances in the archaeology of the Eurasian steppe -- Differentiated political landscapes and non-uniform complexity in Bronze Age steppe archaeology -- Climate change, conflict, and the origins of the Sintashta-Arkaim complex -- Settlements and necropolises of the Bronze Age of the Urals : opportunities for the reconstruction of social dynamics -- The Maikop singularity : a unique example of the unequal accumulation of wealth on the Bronze Age Eurasian steppes? -- Formation of the Eurasian steppe belt of stockbreeding cultures : viewed through the prism of archaeometallurgy and radiocarbon dating -- Modeling early metallurgical production and community organization -- Technology and exchange : the metallic artifacts excavated in the ancient Dian region of Yunnan Province from 5th c. BC to 2nd c. AD -- Metal making and social complexity in the Bronze Age steppes : material culture practices and value -- Early metallurgy and socio-cultural complexity : a view based on archaeological discoveries in eastern Central Asia -- 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parts of the Eurasian steppes during the early first millennium BCE -- First millennium BCE Beifang artifacts as historical documents -- Blurring the boundaries : uncovering the complex interactions between foragers and pastoralists in the Volga-Ural region -- Re-writing monumental landscapes as inner Asian political process -- "Socially integrative facilities" and the emergence of societal complexity on the Mongolian steppe -- Deer stones and Khirigsuurs : pre-Scythian Bronze Age ceremonialism and art in northern Mongolia.