Origin of the Alans

[Alanus]

Found: the Ritual Center of the Arimaspi.

I have tracked Chinese and Japanese archaeological interests in the Sandauhaizi Complex back to the 1980s, but no European research has been published. The only American to mention this impressive site was Joshua Wright (Asian Perspectives, 2014) but his perspective was flawed.

Sandauhaizi may have been discovered in the 1960s by Wang Bo while he searched for deer stones in Xinjiang Province. In 1996, Wang Linshan and Wang Bo mentioned the site for the first time in an academic paper. In October 2001, Hatakeyama Tei visited Sandaohaizi, writing about it during the following year. That same year, the site was listed by the Chinese as one of five key heritage preservation units. The ritual site contains the largest stone mound in Eurasia along with 51 deer stones around its periphery.

   
The Sandaohaizi ritual center as it stands today.

Located next to Flower Lake in the southern Altai, Sandauhaizi in only a few miles from the Mongolian border and sits at an altitude of 2700 meters. It is possibly (or better still, probably) the most important archaeological discovery within the past half century. The c. 800 BC ritual site is connected to Arzhan 1, the Aldy-Bel culture and the Bai-dag cemetary in Tuva. We are looking at a virtual Steppe "empire" in existance 600 years before the Xiong-nu empirical polity. The Chinese hypothesis needs review and feedback. I think they are amazingly correct.

   
Sandaohaizi deer stone showing the oldest known depiction of saddled horses.

I have posted 15 photos of this impressive ritual complex on the Facebook group, Steppe Archaeology-Eurasian Nomads. (If you click on a photo, it will enlarge in a separate window.) Please review this archaeological site carefully and let me know what you think. Thank you. The link is here:

http://facebook.com/groups/945254875586148/?multi_permalinks=1302423746535924¬if_t=like¬if_id=15