Origin of the Alans

[Alanus]

Hi, Michael

Thanks for Mair's review of Benjamin's book. I'll probably end up buying it, even though it's terribly overpriced for what it contains. Maps, and especially photos, always aid a reader; and evidently Dr. Benjamin's volume is bare-bones. I believe illustrations, especially of a culture's art, are indispensable. Many of the correct conclusions found in Jettmar and Sulimirski are based on the affinities of art. Illustrations of costume, such as those by Yatsenko, are priceless; and they build a direct cultural connection between the Pazyrk people (Yuezhi), the Bactrian Kushans, and the Crimean Aorsi-- the same moustache, physical appearance, short kaftan and pannela.

I was shocked when reading Benjamin's outline, discovering he restricted the Yuezhi homelands to the Gansu only. This isn't what we read in other evaluations. Here are a couple of examples beyond those of Taishan Yu... which I've previously given-- "from Gansu to Hetao and northwest to the Altai."

"What is clear is that between the sixth and fourth centuries B.C. there was a powerful confederacy of nomadic tribes under the name of Yueh-chih living on the steppes to the south of the Altai mountains." (Ma Yang and Wang Binghua, The Culture of the Xinjiang Province, p. 218) Yet even this statement is incorrect; the Yuezhi were not nomads ("wanderers") but pastoralists. There's a big difference. Recently, in 2012, Jennifer Chi (curator of the Institute for the Study of the Ancient World, New York University) amended this notion, "The popular perception of these people as mere wanderers has not caught up with the new scholarship."

For geographic locations, we can also turn to Harmatta who describes the Yuezhi "in Gansu and the lands between Dzungaria and Ordos." The Dzungar Basin runs from north-western Xinjiang to Kazakhstan, not exactly Gansu. Harmatta adds, "It may be proposed that they built up a large empire which included a greater part of the Mongolian Plain, regions north of the Tien Shan range, the Tarim Basin, and upper waters of the Yellow River. They were known to the Chinese as the Yueh-chih, i.e. Scythians... They were not only called Scythians but were Scythians themselves." (Janos Harmatta, History of Civilizations in Central Asia, Vol. II, pp. 148-172)

There are many other quotes I could use, but these are enough to refute Benjamin's claim. We also have Benjamin's Gansu podboi burial "theory" to contend with. This has been a hard one to track down. Back in 1999, Zadneprovsky wrote an article in CIAA Newletter, Issue 9, "Of utmost significance is the study of the Haladun cemetery in the central part of Gansu Province, in the territory of the presumed original homeland of Yueh-chih (Kaogu Xuebao, 1992.2). In 12 out of 18 graves, burials in podboys have been discovered." He then likens these podboy burials directly to the Yuezhi, finishing with, "Overall, only 18 podboy burials have been discovered in north China, an insufficient number for drawing conclusions." I might add he had difficulty counting, since only 12 graves were theoretically assigned to the Yuezhi, not 18 burials. This is a typical example of "odd thinking." It defies common sense, the ability to count from one to twelve, and the general process of logical deduction. (Never trust a man who can't count.)

As opposed to this line of reasoning, I prefer the work of Harmatta, Yang and Binghua, and especially Prof. Yu and our old friend Sulimirski... who positioned the Arimaspi precisely in the location of the Pazyryk culture. The connection to the Yuezhi is so strong it can't be dismissed. The Arimaspi are linguistically defined as Arima (lovers) Aspa (horse)-- the "horse lovers"-- and as such, they were the only culture within the borders of China, Mongolia, and Kazakhstan, to bury their deceased with sacrificed horses. Even the lowest warrior was interred with a horse, a very important cultural tradition, enabling the person to safely ride to the otherworld.

There are no royal burials in the Gansu because the elite Yuezhi were buried in the Altai and both sides of it. Even lesser personages were buried there. In 2003, in the Chuya steppe of the Altai Republic, 751 mounds have been located in 136 sites. In the valley of Dzanzator, we find 1687 structures spread over 192 sites, all located and described in 2005. That's a lot of dead people for a tribe of "ghosts." In Habahe County, on the Chinese periphery of the Altai we find hundreds more. Here they are, mapped through GPS positioning:

   
All recently surveyed, the graves pepper the landscapes of Habahe, Fuyan, and Qinghe Counties, all in the Altay Prefecture.

   
A line of warrior graves in Habahe County, China. Only a few of hundreds can be found. Over the millennia, warrior graves disappear, the steppe grass creating loam that, finally exceeding 20 to 30 centimeters, obliterates the smaller burials.

   
On the left side of the photo, we see a partial view of royal kurgan complete with a trench to delineate the living from the dead, a "Scythian" custom... except it's found in Habahe, exactly were Harmatta and Sulimirski placed the Arimaspi and Yuezhi.

We're not going to find any "ghosts," only the real graves of real people. Most scholars believe the Pazyryk people lived in log cabins during the summer when they went back down to the steppe areas, such as Habahe County. There are no traces of log cabins anywhere on the Chinese-Mongolian steppes, and for good reason. Here in Maine, the first settlers arriving to the northern counties built log cabins. They were constructed in precisely the same fashion as Pazyryk ones-- debarked logs built-up in mortise and tenon fashion.

   
The original settler's cabins were built in the 1790's to early 1800s. They have rotted away... and all traces of them have disappeared, yet we know they existed. Here is a fishing camp built in the 1920s, constructed from mortised logs. In another 100 years, it will vanish. Compare the longevity of a Maine log cabin to the 2,200 year-old structures of the Altai, and it's easy to see why no traces are left.

We have sufficient proof the Yuezhi were the Arimaspi-- the Horse Lovers. In the Qin Court, we find Minister Wushi Luo, a Yuezhi chieftain in charge of horse procurement. In the Han era, we have Emperor Wu giving a fortune for "Heavenly Horses" bred by the Yuezhi, whereas the Wuson breed was inferior. We have the same horses in Pazyryk graves, and this ritual is exclusive and not found in Wusun or Xiongnu burials. Today, the Chinese are acutely aware of their own history, and the official State Stables have Akhal-tekes as prime stock. As did the early Chinese, the Pazyryks/Yuezhi loved their horses. Additionally, we find the Pazyryk culture disappearing precisely at the time of the Yuezhi migration. Was Dr. Benjamin aware of any of this information?

I offer this post to refute any notion or "theory" that the Yuezhi-- the largest and richest culture on the eastern steppes-- lived exclusively in the Gansu and buried their elite in humble podboi graves.