This history of Russia, Central Asia and Mongolia spans from the time of the first inhabitants of the region up to the time of the Mongol Empire in the 13th century. It presents Inner Eurasia as a coherent region with all underlying unity in geography and history despite its cultural and ecological variety. This volume, the first of two surveying this region, charts developments from the Old Stone Age, through the emergence of the earliest farming societies of Central Asia, and the pastoral nomadic societies of peoples such as the Scythians, the Huns, and the Turks. It also describes the emergence of a powerful agrarian state in the lands of Rus, where eventually the modern Russian state would appear. The book describes the political and economic history of these societies as well as their distinctive ways of life. It shows how their evolution reflects the geography and ecology of Inner Eurasia. Together with volume II, which covers the period to the present, this set is the most thorough and up-to-date study of this fascinating and much misunderstood region.