Origin of the Alans

[Alanus]

Hi, Jan

This is just a quick reply; and I have yet to answer Michael on the info he found on the changing Tarim landscape. I forgot to mention the scabbard slide in connection to the long swords. According to Trousdale, the slide was a "steppe" invention introduced to the Chinese. He could not present physical proof; and this hypothesis, while generally accepted, is certainly under contention. What really matters are the nephrite scabbard slides carved by the Chinese. I have an authentic and early example, actually a complete set of fittings.

My set is dated to Late Zhou, actually early Qin. From China, the jade scabbard slide traveled westward. We see it (and the Chinese long-sword) on the Orlat illustration. This same buckle has horses with Pazyryk cow-hocs, men with either moustaches or goatees, and Chinese armor. To me, it was scrimmed by a Yuechi artist. The scabbard slide shows up next on Kushan frescoes, and then it arrives in the North Pontic area with the Alans. One Roxolani chieftain buried on the west side of the Danube was interred with his long-sword and jade slide. There can be no mistake where these slides originated, nor where the long-sword came from: China. What culture bordered and interacted (intimately) with China in the Qin period? It was the Yuezhi, as typified by our old friend Wushi Lau, who owned so many horses "he could only estimate their number by the valleyful." (Sima Qian in his chapter on "The Moneymakers.")

Along with the Chinese-carved scabbard slide, we find other new innovations showing up in the North Pontic with the Alans, such as the unique-styled Niya bowcase with its 2 quivers attached. We also find lamellar armor of the Chinese type shown on the Orlat plaque. Are these connections coincidence? They only show up in Qin to Han China, in Yuezhi-controlled Bactria, in Kushana, and finally in the Bosphorus and the Danubian edge of the Roman Empire. It's a clear timeline of weaponry and armor innovations traveling east to west... and there are no intermediaries. It's a clear link from Qin/Han China to the Yuezhi to the Alans. When you add further visual evidence, the distinct horse tail-sheaths and crenelated manes are depicted in Pazyryk K5 and on petroglyphs 75 miles from Ukok, so we are specifically pinpointing the Altai. They are next seen on Qin and Han illustrations, and finally in the north Pontic. Obviously, you can discount all cultures where they are not seen... including the Xiongnu and Turks.

Another observation-- there is a total lack of military weapons, swords and otherwise, observed in Pazyryk culture burials. Rudenko attributed this void to thorough ransacking by robbers soon after the kurgans were abandoned. This does seem feasible, since no gold items are found either. Only in the horse burials, outside the main chamber, do archaeologists find gold or gold-foiled artifacts. We do find remains of bows and arrows, the pervasive akinakes, and occasional sagaris; BUT these items are not necessarily war weapons. They were tools for hunting and everyday life. I have been discussing this "void" with Gala Argent, and it would appear the deceased didn't need weapons of war in their concept of Elesium. Instead, it appears they were headed to a proverbial "happy hunting ground." If this is the case, then the lack of long-swords, armor, and lances, in Pazyryk graves appears to be a cultural norm.

Lastly, I would reconsider the Yuezhi-Pazyryk connection (likewise the Yuezhi-Alan premise) if any historian or archaeologist can pinpoint a physical location in Gansu, the Hexi Corridor, or the Tarim Basin, which has burial sites of any culture even close to that of the Yuezhi. If you can't show me gold, artful sophistication, good horses, and Chinese trade goods, then my nod remains with the sites at Pazyryk, Ak-alaka, and Berel.