Early pastoral economies along the Ancient Silk Road

bicicleur 2

Regular Member
Messages
6,367
Reaction score
1,401
Points
113
The Silk Road was an important trade route that channeled trade goods, people, plants, animals, and ideas across the continental interior of Eurasia, fueling biotic exchange and key social developments across the Old World. Nestled between the Pamir and Alay ranges at a baseline elevation of nearly 3000m, Kyrgyzstan’s high Alay Valley forms a wide geographic corridor that comprised one of the primary channels of the ancient Silk Road. Recent archaeological survey reveals a millennia-long history of pastoral occupation of Alay from the early Bronze Age through the Medieval period, and a stratified Holocene sequence at the site of Chegirtke Cave. Faunal remains were recovered from test excavations as well as surface collection of material from recent marmot activity. Although recovered specimens were highly fragmented and mostly unidentifiable using traditional zooarchaeological methods, species identification via collagen mass fingerprinting (ZooMS) coupled with sex and first-generation hybrid identification through ancient DNA enabled preliminary characterization of the animal economy of Alay herders. Our new results indicate primary reliance on sheep at Chegirtke Cave (ca. 2200 BCE), with cattle and goat also present. The discovery of a large grinding stone at a spatially associated Bronze or Iron Age habitation structure suggests a mixed agropastoral economic strategy, rather than a unique reliance on domestic animals. Radiocarbon-dated faunal assemblages from habitation structures at nearby localities in the Alay Valley demonstrate the presence of domestic horse, as well as Bactrian camel during later periods. The current study reveals that agropastoral occupation of the high-mountain Alay corridor started millennia before the formal establishment of the Silk Road, and posits that ZooMS, when paired with radiocarbon dates and ancient DNA, is a powerful and cost-effective tool for investigating shifts in the use of animal domesticates in early pastoral economies.

https://journals.plos.org/plosone/a...JXZf6FnVoWKyRcyFp43MFqls3pj_-ESYzvqliyOvYZ1t8

the earliest evidence of horses used in battle comes from Sintashta
by 1600 BC mares were used in Kyrgizistan for longe-range transportation
when the silk road came into use, they used existing and well-known routes
 
The Silk Road was an important trade route that channeled trade goods, people, plants, animals, and ideas across the continental interior of Eurasia, fueling biotic exchange and key social developments across the Old World. Nestled between the Pamir and Alay ranges at a baseline elevation of nearly 3000m, Kyrgyzstan’s high Alay Valley forms a wide geographic corridor that comprised one of the primary channels of the ancient Silk Road. Recent archaeological survey reveals a millennia-long history of pastoral occupation of Alay from the early Bronze Age through the Medieval period, and a stratified Holocene sequence at the site of Chegirtke Cave. Faunal remains were recovered from test excavations as well as surface collection of material from recent marmot activity. Although recovered specimens were highly fragmented and mostly unidentifiable using traditional zooarchaeological methods, species identification via collagen mass fingerprinting (ZooMS) coupled with sex and first-generation hybrid identification through ancient DNA enabled preliminary characterization of the animal economy of Alay herders. Our new results indicate primary reliance on sheep at Chegirtke Cave (ca. 2200 BCE), with cattle and goat also present. The discovery of a large grinding stone at a spatially associated Bronze or Iron Age habitation structure suggests a mixed agropastoral economic strategy, rather than a unique reliance on domestic animals. Radiocarbon-dated faunal assemblages from habitation structures at nearby localities in the Alay Valley demonstrate the presence of domestic horse, as well as Bactrian camel during later periods. The current study reveals that agropastoral occupation of the high-mountain Alay corridor started millennia before the formal establishment of the Silk Road, and posits that ZooMS, when paired with radiocarbon dates and ancient DNA, is a powerful and cost-effective tool for investigating shifts in the use of animal domesticates in early pastoral economies.

https://journals.plos.org/plosone/a...JXZf6FnVoWKyRcyFp43MFqls3pj_-ESYzvqliyOvYZ1t8

the earliest evidence of horses used in battle comes from Sintashta
by 1600 BC mares were used in Kyrgizistan for longe-range transportation
when the silk road came into use, they used existing and well-known routes

Always been fascinated by the Silk Road. However, I'm interested in your comment about the earliest evidence of horses used in battle comes from Sintashta. The only thing I was aware of was that they found that very early chariot wheel there.
 
This ancient Silk Road was the main path for the spread of the Indo-European languages in that region.
Dv9PUIE.jpg
 
you're right, there is no actual evidence of a battle
but Sintashta has the oldest true chariot burials
I can't imagine though they invented the spoked wheel just for parade
also, the settlements were heavily fortified and there was ample production of weaponry of all sorts

if you want actual proof of a chariot battle, I guess you'll have to resort to written history
and even then, the story sometimes depends on the interpretor of the texts

I share your fascination for the silk road, that's what made me interested in this article
 
This ancient Silk Road was the main path for the spread of the Indo-European languages in that region.
Dv9PUIE.jpg
sure, some of the trade probably existed long before,
but the official silk road came into existence only when the Han emperors had beaten the Xiongnu once and for all, which afaik is 2nd cent BC
then the Chinese made all the middle men in the Tarim Basin more or less redundant
they had direct acces to trade with the Greco-Bactrians in the Fergana valley

the silk road became important after the Romans had conquered Egypt, about 30 BC

the Ordos culture (6th cent BC) in inner Mongolia was probably IE, and so were the Yuezhi
and metallurgy and sheep and cattlle probably arrived in China through the Gansu corridor, so it was probably of direct or indirect IE origin (Afanasievo)
but trade was halted and afterwards taken over and monopolized by the Xiongnu
 
actualy trade routes between Central Asia, the Indus valley and Mesopotamia already existed in BMAC, probably using donkeys and Bactrian camels

I think many Indic herders 4 ka explored these roads once they had met the BMAC people, and they simply toke over the trade of BMAC
it was private enterprise as against the trade controlled and monopolised by the BMAC elite

the BMAC fortified cities and citadels show no signs of destruction, but they seem to have become redundant and to have lost their wealth
 
you're right, there is no actual evidence of a battle
but Sintashta has the oldest true chariot burials
I can't imagine though they invented the spoked wheel just for parade
also, the settlements were heavily fortified and there was ample production of weaponry of all sorts

if you want actual proof of a chariot battle, I guess you'll have to resort to written history
and even then, the story sometimes depends on the interpretor of the texts

I share your fascination for the silk road, that's what made me interested in this article

I watched this soon after it was posted. If you have a chance, you might want to give it a try. I'd be interested to know if you think it's accurate given new discoveries.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qt-mPIEGyXI

One of the many things that sparked my interest in it was this old movie with Ingrid Bergman (just loved her) called "The Inn of the Seventh Happiness." It showed the mule trains traveling and then stopping at ancient inns.

There was also Marco Polo as well, but I've never seen a good fictional version of it.

marco-polo.jpg
 
I didn't know about the Alay Valley pass, all maps only shows the Ferghana Valley as a road to tarim basin and china. Interesting stuf.
 
Thank you for opening the pathways to the Silk Roads I'n still reading Peter Frankopan "The Silk Roads". The Wall Street said it best " A rare book that makes you question your assumptions about the world" if the past wasn't enough the potential of China today is one more reminder of just how fragile the past can proclaim the future.
Trying to collect the pieces of the impact of time.
Prague, 4 October 2000 (RFE/RL) -- A celebration begins today in Kyrgyzstan's second-largest city: Osh. This year, say city officials, Osh turns 3,000 years old. Although there are some who question the claim, Osh is undoubtedly one of the oldest cities along the fabled Silk Road and one of Central Asia's most interesting commercial centers.
 
I watched this soon after it was posted. If you have a chance, you might want to give it a try. I'd be interested to know if you think it's accurate given new discoveries.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qt-mPIEGyXI
One of the many things that sparked my interest in it was this old movie with Ingrid Bergman (just loved her) called "The Inn of the Seventh Happiness." It showed the mule trains traveling and then stopping at ancient inns.
There was also Marco Polo as well, but I've never seen a good fictional version of it.

I might when I have the time and I'm in a patient mood.
The traders who profited from the silkroad have always tried to keep it a secret for their European customers, and probably the same in China.
That is why European history tells us nothing about the silkroad, it was in the hands of the Islmamic world, so maybe we should check Arabic writings.

I don't know whether this is true, but it might be very well :
When the Venetians controlled the trade between Arabia and Europe, they told evil about the Arabs to the Europeans and they told evil about the Europeans to the Arabs, as they saw it in their interest to keep the distance between the Arabic and European worlds as big as possible.

And actualy, the tales of Marco Polo inspired Christoffel Columbus and the likes to search for ways to come in direct contact with China and India, it meant the end of the Venetian monopoly.

There was probably trade by herding tribes between the steppe and China through the Gansu corridor since 5 ka, the Afanasievo era.
 

This thread has been viewed 4264 times.

Back
Top