Origin of the Alans

[Alanus]

The Woman in Baifu M2

In 1975 (a year before Fu Hao's Tomb was discovered at Anyang) archaeologists excavated three tombs at Baifu, just north of Beijing. Tomb M1 was in poor condition, M2 contained the body of a woman and her personal possessions, and the male in M3 is generally described as her "companion." M2's date of interment has been placed at about 1040-1030 BC, shortly after the Zhou victory over the Shang Dynasty and the establishment of the new State of Yan.

"The richest of the three graves belonged to a woman who was evidently also an accomplished warrior, for her grave goods included a bronze helmet, more than sixty bronze weapons, and large numbers of horse and harness fittings. Although the presence of bronze vessels, elaborate chariot fittings, and fragments of oracle bones for divination reveal obvious concessions to traditional Chinese customs, most of the grave goods from Baifu suggest that the woman and her companion, buried in the adjoining grave with fewer weapons but also a helmet, might have been foreigners who adopted Chinese customs." (Bunker and So, 1995)

   
The woman was buried in a rectangular pit constructed of hewn logs, her body laying supine in north-south orientation, her head facing east. The fancy helmet was placed just above her head, and she wore boots studded with over 200 bronze "buttons," Pazyryk style. She carried... "a northern-style stone hammer (mace-head?) in her left hand and a bronze long knife [actually a dagger] in her right hand, identifying her as a leader (stone hammer, mace-head), and perhaps a hunter (arrowheads), as well as a warrior (helmet), and someone who may have ridden or driven horses (harness equipment, boots)." (Hartley et al., 2012. Please note Hartley's error. The mace was actually held in her right hand, the dagger in her left.)

   
Here's a drawing of the woman's mace-head and helmet.

   
Her bronze dagger was about 15 inches long, it's pommel shaped into a horse head (#8 in this illustration). Also shown are her other daggers and knives, varying in length from 25 cm to 45 cm.

   
Her longest dagger (#9) is almost a forerunner of an akinakes. It measures 17 inches, has a semi-mushroom pommel, one side of which is engraved with a "portrait"-- a round-faced man with a brachycephalic skull, also commonly called "Andronovo," "Ferghana-Pamir," or more accurately "Siberian."

   
She was buried with a typical "bow-shaped" chariot reins holder; but far more interesting, she also had a bronze snaffle bit with a pair of triple-holed bone psalia, precisely like those found at Arzhan 1... and identifying her as one of the earliest known equestrians.

Finally, to give you an idea of her social status, most likely a high commander for the Marquis of Yan, directly below is a facsimile of her helmet with its fancy crest. Below the photo of her helmet, we see the style of the Marquis of Yan's helmet. Both are elite objects... in a world where representatives of the Andronovo culture are riding for the State of Yan at the very birth of horseback riding.
   
   

Please post comments. What kind of woman could be buried with a mace, just like a Bronze age king?