Update on 1st Century Sarmatian Weapons

[Alanus]

Folkert, thanks for posting these photos!

You and your friend did a fine job. The Niya bowcase-quivers are just like the originals. I really love the second one, which would allow wearing a Type I Sarmatian sword at the outer left thigh.

As information for other RAT members, Niya is located at the southwestern corner of the Tarim Basin in the Takla Makan, Xingiang Province. We have no idea who actually owned the original artifact. It was found containing an eared bow, and the dry climate and salt-infused soil kept it from deteriorating. Although the bow has been called "Hunnic," it was developed in the late 3rd Century B.C. by the Sargatskya.

This type of bow case with two quivers can be dated back to the mid 2nd Century B.C. The Orlat Battle plaque shows this form of case accurately, and the plaque probably depicts combat between the Yuezhi and Sakarauli or the Wusun. All three tribes passed through Niya, as did the Xiongnu (early Huns). The style was carried into the Bosphorus by the earliest Alans, a cultural extension of the Yuezhi, Wusun, and Saka.

   
The bowcase as shown on the Orlat plaque. The combatants are wearing lamellar armor with a collar, a style borrowed by the Han Chinese. The cataphact at the right uses a Type I Sarmatian sword, developed by the Chinese and used extensively by the Saka-Alans. We are looking at borrowed technology by both groups.

   
A photo of the actual Niya bow case and double quiver. The majority of tumuli graves around Niya are those of the Sakarauli, so this case may have belonged to a member of that tribe.

Anyway, Folkert, I congratulate you on creating a couple of historically-accurate bow cases.