08-04-2015, 12:51 PM
No man is an island.
If we study steppe influences on the Chinese, we discover the Type I sword was the end-result of 2.000 years of interaction between steppe cultures and the Chinese, who (in the beginning) were farmers. The Chinese were trading with Central Asian peoples during the formation of the earliest steppe cultures.
[attachment=12637]turbinoculture-mid2ndMillenniumBC.JPG[/attachment]
During the Turbino culture (early Second Millennium BC), we find imported Chinese nephrite and lapis lazuli jewelry alongside strange Turbino-origin curved knives that somehow found their way to the Karasuks and Chinese.
[attachment=12638]DSC_0130.JPG[/attachment]
By the end of the 2nd Millennium BC, these curved knives are found in abundance within Shang Dynasty chariot burials at Anyang. Note, one bronze knife has a typical central ridge that we also see on the early Sarmatian swords at Filippovka and the Zubov Farm kurgans.
[attachment=12639]DSC_0125.JPG[/attachment]
Sometime between the early Zhou Dynasty and the death of King Gaojian (500 BC), the knife-shape evolved into a very short bronze sword. The pommels and guards were distinctive. By 300 BC or earlier, the Chinese hired the Yue-Chi or Saka to reform their military structure. Lord Wuling ordered his army to learn archery, ride horses, and wear barbarian clothing. At this time, I believe that Saka iron sword blades were introduced to the Chinese. Also, at the same time, we see scabbard slides, and horses with crenelated manes and tail-coverings. These are all barbarian in origin.
[attachment=12642]DSC_0128.JPG[/attachment]
Now we have Gaojian's sword next to early jade sword fittings. They are smaller than Han-era fittings and have a single chilong (hydra dragon). This sword, with the addition of the Saka iron blade, becomes the proto-type of the Type I Sarmatian Sword. BUT it has many steppe features. It is not ALL Chinese, nor is it totally Sarmatian. It's a combination of interaction and trade between two cultures.
So, while Simonenko, Khazanov, and Treister, are all "correct" in noting the Type I sword has a Chinese "origin," so too is Trousdale in claiming it also has a steppe origin. We have to look at the Big Picture, not the short-term one; and when we do, we can see the extended evolution of just not the Type I sword, but also the crenelated mane, the scabbard slide, and the bound horse-tail. Everything is connected.
[attachment=12641]DSC_0136.JPG[/attachment]
A close-up of the original bronze hand-guard and the alternative jade version. Both styles are found from China to the Black Sea.
If we study steppe influences on the Chinese, we discover the Type I sword was the end-result of 2.000 years of interaction between steppe cultures and the Chinese, who (in the beginning) were farmers. The Chinese were trading with Central Asian peoples during the formation of the earliest steppe cultures.
[attachment=12637]turbinoculture-mid2ndMillenniumBC.JPG[/attachment]
During the Turbino culture (early Second Millennium BC), we find imported Chinese nephrite and lapis lazuli jewelry alongside strange Turbino-origin curved knives that somehow found their way to the Karasuks and Chinese.
[attachment=12638]DSC_0130.JPG[/attachment]
By the end of the 2nd Millennium BC, these curved knives are found in abundance within Shang Dynasty chariot burials at Anyang. Note, one bronze knife has a typical central ridge that we also see on the early Sarmatian swords at Filippovka and the Zubov Farm kurgans.
[attachment=12639]DSC_0125.JPG[/attachment]
Sometime between the early Zhou Dynasty and the death of King Gaojian (500 BC), the knife-shape evolved into a very short bronze sword. The pommels and guards were distinctive. By 300 BC or earlier, the Chinese hired the Yue-Chi or Saka to reform their military structure. Lord Wuling ordered his army to learn archery, ride horses, and wear barbarian clothing. At this time, I believe that Saka iron sword blades were introduced to the Chinese. Also, at the same time, we see scabbard slides, and horses with crenelated manes and tail-coverings. These are all barbarian in origin.
[attachment=12642]DSC_0128.JPG[/attachment]
Now we have Gaojian's sword next to early jade sword fittings. They are smaller than Han-era fittings and have a single chilong (hydra dragon). This sword, with the addition of the Saka iron blade, becomes the proto-type of the Type I Sarmatian Sword. BUT it has many steppe features. It is not ALL Chinese, nor is it totally Sarmatian. It's a combination of interaction and trade between two cultures.
So, while Simonenko, Khazanov, and Treister, are all "correct" in noting the Type I sword has a Chinese "origin," so too is Trousdale in claiming it also has a steppe origin. We have to look at the Big Picture, not the short-term one; and when we do, we can see the extended evolution of just not the Type I sword, but also the crenelated mane, the scabbard slide, and the bound horse-tail. Everything is connected.
[attachment=12641]DSC_0136.JPG[/attachment]
A close-up of the original bronze hand-guard and the alternative jade version. Both styles are found from China to the Black Sea.
Alan J. Campbell
member of Legio III Cyrenaica and the Uncouth Barbarians
Author of:
The Demon's Door Bolt (2011)
Forging the Blade (2012)
"It's good to be king. Even when you're dead!"
Old Yuezhi/Pazyrk proverb
member of Legio III Cyrenaica and the Uncouth Barbarians
Author of:
The Demon's Door Bolt (2011)
Forging the Blade (2012)
"It's good to be king. Even when you're dead!"
Old Yuezhi/Pazyrk proverb
