CORRELATIONS a Thesis Submitted in Partial Satisfaction O

Home , Caucasus Mountains, Chariot burial, Issedones, Scapulimancy

CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY, NORTHRIDGE

NOMADIC AND EARLY CHINESE ART: I' CORRELATIONS

A thesis submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in

Art

Geraldine Celine Russman

June 1976 The Thesis of Geraldine Celine Bussman is approved:

Earle Field, Ph.D

Birgitta Wohl, Ph.D.

Jenne L. Trabold, Ph.D.,_ Chairman

California State University, Northridge

ii ACKNOWLEDGMENT

I take this ~pportunity to thank the members of my committee, Dr. Earle Field, Dr. Jeanne L. Trabold, and Dr.

Birgitta Wohl for the generous donation of their time and talents to aid me in the production of this thesis. An additional word of appreciation goes to Dr. Trabold, my committee chairman, my graduate advisor, and my first Art

History professor.

iii TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page

ACKNOWLEDGMENT iii

LIST OF PLATES AND SOURCES v

ABSTRACT XV

Chapter

1. INTRODUCTION . 1

2. HISTORICAL AND GEOGRAPHICAL BACKGROUND . 27

3. THE SHANG DYNASTY (c. 1550-1027 B.C.) 54

4. THE CHOU DYNASTY, WESTERN PERIOD (c. 1027-771 B.C.) .... 100

5. CHOU DYNASTY, EASTERN PERIOD (770-256 B.C.) ...... 119

6. CH'IN DYNASTY (220-207 B.C.) HAN DYNASTY (202 B.C.-220 A.D.) .. 141

7. SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS .. 164

BIBLIOGRAPHY . 172

APPENDIXES • ...... 178

MAPS • 179

MAP SOURCES...... 186 ·'· : ~;;·

iv Plates and Sources

Plate Page

1. Painted pottery from the Tripolye Culture (c. 3500-1900 ? B.C.) found at Er5sd.

Source: E. D. Phillips, The Royal Hordes: Nomad Peoples of the Steppes, New York, McGraw-Hill Book Company, 1965, Illustra- tion 7 . • ...... • . . . . . • 4

2. Prehistoric pottery from Kansu Province.

Source: Walter A. Fairservis, Jr., The Origins of Oriental Civilization, New York, Vantage Books, 1959, Figure 10 ...... 5

3. Cast gold belt buckle from the Siberian collection of Peter the Great. Hermitage I-1useum. Date unknown. About 4-1/2 in. wide.

Source: Tamara Talbot Rice, The Scythians, London, Thames and Hudson, 1961, Plate 2 14

4. Chased gold leopard from Kelermes in the Kuban. Hermitage Museum. 7th-6th century B.C. Length, about 12 in.

Source: Tamara Talbot Rice, The Scythians, London, Thames and Hudson, 1961, Plate 9 . . . 15

5. Chased gold recumbent stag, shield plaque from Kostromskaya kurgan. Hermitage Museum 7th-6th century B.C. Length 12-1/2 in., height 7-1/2 in.

Source: Gregory Borovka, Scythian Art, trans. by V. G. Childe, New York, Paragon Book Reprint Corporation, 1967, Plate 1 17

6. Bronze bridle plaque in shape of bird's head from the Nymphaeum necropolis, Crimea. Hermitage Museum. Mid-5th century B.C. Length 1-5/8 in.

Source: "From the Lands of the Scythians," The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, No. 5, 1973/1974, Cat. no. 56...... 18

v Plates and Sources (continued)

Plate Page

7. Carved bone objects from Orenburg. Top object dates .from the 6th-5th century B.C.; date for bottom object is uncertain. Moscow Historical Museum.

Source: Gregory Borovka, Scythian Art, trans. by V. G. Childe, New York, Paragon Book Reprint Corporation, 1967, Plate 31. 19

8. Gold cup with handles in the form of predatory animals, Siberian collection of Peter the Great, Hermitage, 5th-4th century B.C.

Source: "From the Lands of the Scythians," The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, No. 5, 1973/1974, Plate 22. . . 21

9. Cast bronze and gold-leaf ornament from the Golden Barrow, Crimea. 7th-6th century B.C.

Source: Gregory Borovka, Scythian Art, trans. by V. G. Childe, New York, Paragon Book Reprint Corporation, 1967, Plate 15 A. 22

10. Cast gold ornament from the Siberian collec~ tion of Peter the Great. Hermitage Museum. 7th-6th century B.C.

Source: Gregory Borovka, Scythian Art, trans. by v.- G; Childe, New York, Paragon Book Reprint CorpoFation, 1967, Plate 45~ ~. 23

11. Bronze bridle ornament formed by two felines in a heraldic pose. Chance find from the Black Sea area. Hermitage Museum. Early 6th century B.C. Length 1-11/16 in.

Source: "From the Lands of the Scythians, '' The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, No. 5, 1973/1974, Cat. no. 39. 24

12. Gold shield ornament from Kul Oba, Crimea. Hermitage Museum. 5th-4th century B.C. Length, about 12 in.

Source: Tamara Talbot Rice, The Scythians~ London, Thames and Hudson, 1961, Plate 24. 26

vi Plates and Sources (continued)

Plate Page

13. Drawing of figures on the gold calathos from the Great Bliznitsa tomb, c. 4th century B.C.

Source: Ellis H. Minns, Scythians and Greeks, New York, Biblo and Tannen, 1965, Fig. 315. 43

14. Felt wall-hanging from Pazyryk, barrow 5. 5th century B.C.

Source: Sergei I. Rudenko, Frozen Tombs of Siberia, trans. and with a preface by M. W. Thompson, Los Angeles, University of Califor- nia Press, 1970, Plate 154. 44

15.. Shang Dynasty bronze ritual vessel from the 12th century B.C. showing the t'ao t'ieh mask.

Source: John Hay, Ancient China, New York, Henry z. Walck, Inc., 1973, p. 67. 67 16. Drawing of t'ao t'ieh mask and k'uei dragon.

Source: Walter A. Fairservis, Jr., The Origins of Oriental Civilization, New York, Vantage Books, 1959, Fig. 15. . . 69

17. Earthenware bottle decorated with cut-out leather cocks from barrow 2, Pazyryk c. 5th century B.C.

Source: Sergei I. Rudenko, Frozen Tombs of Siberia, trans. and with a preface by M. W. Thompson, Los Angeles, University of Califor- nia Press, 1970, Plate 55. 71

18. Bronze ting from An-yang, 11th century B.C., Shang Dynasty.

Source: "The Chinese Exhibition. A pictorial record of the Exhibition of Archaeological Finds of the People's Republic of China,'' Kansas City, Missouri, The Nelson Gallery- Atkins Museum, 1975, Plate 83. . 72

vii Plates and Sources (continued)

Plate Page

19. Bronze kuang with superimposed dragon design from An-yang, .11th Century B.C., Shang Dynasty.

Source: "The Chinese Exhibition. A pictorial record of the Exhibition of Archaeological Finds of the People's Republic of China, Kansas City, Missouri, The Nelson Gallery- Atkins Museum, 1975, Plate 88 C. 73

20. White marble owl from tomb at An-yang, Shang Dynasty.

Source: Courtland Canby and others, eds., The Epic of Man, New York, Time Incorportated, 1961, p. 202...... 74

21. Bronze knives dated from 1300 B.C. and later. In each group the first is from Shang China, the second from the Ordos region, and the third (right and left groups) is from the Minusinsk region of Southern Siberia.

Source: E. D. Phillips, The Royal Hordes: Nomad Peoples of the Steppes, New York, NcGraw-Hill Book Company, 1965, Illustra- tion 19...... 85

22. Horn carving on plate from upper girth-strap found at Pazyryk, barrow 3, c. 5th century B.C.

Source: Sergei I. Rudenko, Frozen Tombs of Siberia, trans. and with a preface by M.W. Thompson, Los Angeles, University of Califor- nia Press, 1970, Plate 96 B. . • . . . . 87

23. Carved wooden saddle pendant from Pazyryk, barrow 3, c. 5th century B.C.

Source: Sergei I. Rudenko, Frozen Tombs of Siberia, trans. and with a preface by M. W. Thompson, Los Angeles, University of Califor- nia Press, 1970, Plate 104 d...... 88

viii Plates and Sources (continued)

Plate Page

24. Carved wooden bridle decorations from Pazyryk* barrow 4, c. ~th century B.C.

Source: Sergei I. Rudenko, Frozen Tombs of Siberia, trans. and with a preface by M. W. Thompson, Los Angeles, University of Califor- nia Press, 1970, Plate 111 . 89

25. Bronze tsun, 12th-11th century B.C. Shang Dynasty.

Source: "The Chinese Exhibition. A pictorial record of the Exhibition of Archaeological Finds of the People's Republic of China," Kansas City, Missouri, The Nelson Gallery- Atkins Museum, 1975, Plate 89 90

26. Carved horn frontal plate from Pazyryk, barrow 2, c. 5th century B.C.

Source: Sergei I. Rudenko, Frozen Tombs of Siberia, trans. and with a preface by M. W. Thompson, Los Angeles, University of Califor- nia Press, 1970, Plate 111 . 92

27. Carved wooden pendants from Pazyryk, barrow 1, c. 5th century B.C.

Source: Sergei I. Rudenko, Frozen Tombs of Siberia, trans. and with a preface by M. W. Thompson, Los Angeles, University of Califor- nia Press, 197Q, Plate 83 E and F 93

28. Bronze ting, 11th century B.C. Shang Dynasty.

Source: "The Chinese Exhibition. A Pictorial record of the Exhibition of Archaeological Finds of the People's Republic of China," Kansas--City,- fvlissouri;; --The Nelson· Gallery- Atkins Museum, 1975, Plate 91 99

ix Plates and Sources (continued)

Plate Page

29. Wooden bridle decorations from Pazyryk, barrow 1, c. ·5th century B.C.

Source: Sergei I. Rudenko, Frozen Tombs of Siberia, trans. and with a preface by M. W. Thompson, Los Angeles, University of Califor- nia Press,· 1970, Plate 92. 96

30. Drawings of tattoos on the body in barrow 2, Pazyryk, c. 5th century B.C.

Source: Sergei I. Rudenko, Frozen Tombs of Siberia, trans. and with a preface by M. W. Thompson, Los Angeles, University of Califor- nia Press, 1970, Figs. 51, 52. 97

31. Human figure carved in marble found at An-yang. Shang Dynasty.

Source: Li Chi, The Beginnings of Chinese Civilization, Seattle, University of Washing ton Press, 1957, Fig. 6 98 32. Kuei from the Western Chou period, 11th century B.C.

Source: William Watson, Ancient Chinese Bronzes, ed. by Basil Gray, Rutland, Vermont, Char~es E. Tutt·le- Company.,·-1962, Plate -32. . 112

33. Tina from the Western Chou period. --~~ - Source: George Kuwayama, Ancient Ritual Bronzes of China, Los Angeles, Far Eastern Art Council of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1976, Plate 32. • . . 114

34. Horse's head gear from Chang-chia-p'o, 8th century B.C. Chou Dynasty

Source: William Watson, Early Civilization in China, New York, McGraw-Hill Book Company, 1966, Ill. 46. . 115

X Plates and Sources (continued)

Plate Page

35. Horse's head-dress from Pazyryk, c. 5th century B.C ..

Source: Sergei I. Rudenko, Frozen Tombs of Siberia, trans. and with a preface by M. W. Thompson, Los Angeles, University of Califor- nia Press, 1970, Plate 120. . . 117

36. P'an from the Late Western Chou or early Spring and Autumn period.

Source: George Kuwayama, Ancient Ritual Bronzes of China, Los Angeles, Far Eastern Art Council of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1976, Plate 37. . . 124 37. Chung from the Spring and Autumn period, first quarter of the 5th century B.C.

Source: George Kuwayama, Ancient Ritual Bronzes of China, Los Angeles, Far Eastern Art Council of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1976, Plate. 42. . 126

38. Pien Hu from the Warring States period, 5th-4th century B.C.

Source: George Kuwayama, Ancient Ritual Bronzes of China, Los Angeles, Far Eastern Art Council of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1976~; -plate 46~ . 128

39. Embroidered Chinese silk found at Pazyryk, c. 5th-4th century B.C.

Source: a From the Lamds of the Scythians," The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, No. 5, 1973/1974, Plate 23. . 129 40. Chinese mirror from barrow 6 at Pazyryk.

Source: Sergei I. Rudenko, Frozen Tombs of Siberia, trans. and with a preface by M. W. Thompson, Los Angeles, University of Califor- nia Press, 1970, Fig. 55. . 131

xi Plates and Sources (continued)

Plate Page

41. Bronze mirror from the Eastern Chou period.

Source: William Watson, Early Civilization in China, New York, McGraw-Hill Book Company, 1966, Plate 114 . 132

42. Tomb guardian from Hsin-yang. Warring States period.

Source: John Hay, Ancient China, New York, Henry Z. Walck, Inc., 1973, p. 80 . 135

43. Felt wall-hanging from Pazyryk, c. 5th century B.C.

Source: Sergei I. Rudenko, Frozen Tombs of Siberia, trans. and with a preface by M. W. Thompson, Los Angeles, University of Califor- nia Press, 1970, Plate 173 137

44. Pottery relief model from the Warring States period.

Source: "The Chinese Exhibition. A pictorial record of the Exhibition of Archaeological Finds of the People's Republic of China," Kansas City; Missouri~Th~ Nelson Gallery- Atkins Museum, 1975, Plate 132 138

45. Ornaments from horse-trappings found in the Black Sea region, c. 5th century-B.C.

Source: Gregory Borovka, Scythian Art, trans. by V. G. Childe, New York, Paragon Book Reprint Corporation, 1967, Plate 19 . . 139

46. Top. Han bronze ceremonial axe-head. Left, Luristan bronze object. Right top, Han bronze-object. Right bottom, -2 Han -bronze- buckles.

Source: W. P. Yetts, "Chinese Contact with Luristan Bronzes," Burlington Magazine, August, 1931, pp. 76-81 . 149

xii Plates and Sources (continued)

Plate Page

47. Ink rubbing from Shang period.

Source: Li Chi, The Beginnings of Chinese Civilization, Seattle, University of Washing- ton Press, 1957, Plate 1. . . 151

48. Bronze talisman from Luristan.

Source: R. M. Carless, "Notes on Luristan Bronzes," Apollo, July 1965, pp. 26-31, Plate 4 ... . 153

49. Han sabre-guard.

Source: Rene Grousset, The Civilizations of the East, Vol. III, China, trans. by Catherine Alison Phillips, New York, Cooper Square Publishers, Inc., 1967, Fig. 78. . 154

50. Jade ring in the form of a curled beast, Han period.

Source: Gregory Borovka, Scythian Art, trans. by V. G. Childe, New York, Paragon Book Reprint Corporation, 1967, Plate 72 B. . 155

51. Ink rubbing of the relief_ from the tomb of Wu Liang-tz'u, Han Dynasty.

Source: Rene Grousset* The Civilizations of the East, Vol. III-;- China, trans. by Catherine Alison Phillips, New York, Cooper Square Publishers, Inc., 1967, Fig. 43. . 157

52. Scythian bridle frontlet, 4th century B.C., found at Tsimbalka kurgan. Greek workmanship.

Source: "From the Lands of the Scythians," The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, No. 5, 1973/1974, Plate 69. . 159

xiii Plates and Sources (continued)

Plate Page

53. Bronze deer from the Han Dynasty period.

Source: "The'Chinese Exhibition. A pictorial record of the Exhibition of Archaeological Finds of the People's Republic of China," Kansas City, Missouri, The Nelson Gallery- Atkins Museum, 1975, Plate 175. . 160

54. Bronze ornament, Han Dynasty, 1st century B.C.

Source: William Watson, Early Civilization in China, New York, McGraw-Hill Book Company, 1966, Ill. 106. . 162

55. Bronze ornament, Han Dynasty, 1st century B.C.

Source: "The Chinese Exhibition. A pictorial record of the Exhibition of Archaeological Finds of the People's Republic of China," Kansas City, Missourin, The Nelson Gallery- Atkins Museum, 1975, Plate 174. . 163

xiv ABSTRACT

NOMADIC AND EARLY CHINESE ART:

CORRELATIONS

Geraldine Celine Bussman

Master of Arts in Art

This study postulates that there was demonstrable contact between the steppe nomads and the Chinese which dates from the earliest dynasties and that the liaison can be seen in the art of both people. Geographical, political, and sociological background is provided for the nomads, as well as for the Shang, Western Chou, Eastern

Chou, Ch'in, and Han Dynasties. Literary and archaeologi cal data is presented to support the hypothesis that contacts took place and that.influences passed between nomadic and sedentary cultures.

Material from archaeological sites on the Russian

Steppe, in China, and in Southern Siberia, as well as items from the collection of Peter the Great, was used in the study. An analysis of the art objects unearthed at these sites and observed from Tsar Peter's collection produced evidence of technical, compositional, and

XV stylistic similarities between the art of the steppe horse

men and the art of those dynasties under consideration.

The Shang data suggested a relationship between

the nomadic finds at Pazyryk and Chinese items from An

yang. With the advent of the Chou Dynasty both peaceful

and war-like contacts with the nomadic border tribes

increased. Borrowings of many kinds occurred and artistic influences are apparent in the decoration and shape of

Chinese bronzes. The expansionist, trade-oriented Han

Dynasty intruded itself into nomadic territory and a close association developed between steppe~dweller and Chinese.

TheHanDynasty exhibited the most apparent absorption of animal style art as expressed by the nomadic artist.

xvi Chapter 1

INTRODUCTION

The Yellow River valley presented the early Chinese

with an ideal environment for the establishment of a seden-

tary, agricultural civilization. The cradle of Chinese

civilization was carved it seems from the fertile loess

soil of Northern China. The myths of the people contain no

references to a nomadic past; 1 it is as though the land

itself had produced the humans who inhabited it, and had

predestined them to farm the lartd. Beyond the loess de-

posits, the environment changes into one which was perfect-

ly suited to the needs of the nomadic herdsmen, steppeland.

The upper Yellow River valley and the territory to the west of early dynastic China was the eastern end of a vast belt -of steppe, desert, and oasis which extended westward all the way to_ the Caspian and Black Seas. This geographical area, during the last millennium B.C., was inhabited by numerous tribes who shared a uniform culture, although 2 they may have displayed some regional variation. While

1walter A. Fairservis, Jr., The Origins of Oriental Civilization (New York: Mentor Books, 1959), pp. 76-77. 2 sergei I. Rudenko, Frozen Tombs of Siberia, trans lated and with a preface by M. W. Thompson (Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1970), p. xxxiv.

1 2

the agriculturalist was learning methods to control his environment, the nomad was finding ways to adjust to his.

The two groups developed along divergent paths. They were contiguous, however, and contact between them was unavoid- able. It seems reasonable to assume that borrowing took place, especially artistic borrowing.

The artistic expressions of a people demonstrate its individuality, its particular manner of seeing; they also tell something of its exposure to outside influences, and how those influences are transposed into the idiom of the culture concerned. Material will be presented in this study which points out the close and constant interaction between the nomadic herdsman and early dynastic China.

Evidence of this contact is apparent. Data from China and its neighboring regions, as well as from Scythia support the assumption. There was a constant flow of information between easte:r"n and western Euasia. The steppeland acted as a link rathe~ than as a barrier; it was a corridor through which cultural development, artistic invention, and technical innovation had been transfe~red since man could lay claim to the possession of such features.

Some of the earliest Neolithic remains from South ern Russia and the Yellow River valley of China demonstrate that some connection may have existed even at that early date. The expertly-made pottery of the Tripolye culture

(c. 3500-1900 B.C.) in Southern Russia was decorated with 3

3 a distinctive spiral design. (Plate 1} This same design

is seen as the decorative motif on Neolithic Chinese ware . 4 f rom K ansu P rovlnce. (Plate 2} These sites have Carbon

14 dates which range from 4115 B.C. + 110 years, to 1725

B.C. + 95 years. 5

Excavations of the Neolithic sites which provided the material just described and the scientific developments which permit those materials to be dated with relative precision are comparatively recent occurrences. Many of the items with which this study will be concerned are available to us because of flukes of nature, idiosyncrasies of personality, or happy accident. They are also available because of the continuous archaeological excavations which have been and are being conducted, and the constant im- provement in archaeological technique.

Much of the nomadic material is present today because of the antiquarian interests of the Russian Tsar,

Peter the Great. It was during his reign that the first

Russian museum was founded in 1714. His fascination with

3 E. D. Phillips, The Royal Hordes: Nomad Peoples of the Steppes (New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company, 1965}, p. 24.

4F alrservls,. . op. cit., p. 107. 5 Michael Sullivan, The Arts of China (Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1973}, p. 21. 4

Plate 1: Painted pottery from the Tripolye Culture (c. 3500-1900? B.C.) found at Erosd. 5

Elate 2: Prehistoric pottery from Kansu Province. 6

a gift of ancient golden items from Siberia prompted him to issue a decree in 1718 which protected ancient artifacts from destruction and at the same time stimulated the search for Russia's past. Because the first of the nomadic items had been di~c6ver~d in the Siberian region, it was there that the early excavations were carried out. During the

19th and the early years of the 20th centuries, attention turned to the kurgans of Southern Russia. Digs were carried out at Chertomlyk, Kul Oba, Alexandropol, The Great

Bliznitsa, Seven Brothers, Maikop, Kelermes, Kostromskaya, and Ulski Aul. Modern research is not limited to the kurgans; Scythian settlements and the cities of the colon 6 ial Greeks are also being investigated.

One of the most unique excavations, and the one which has provided heretofore unavailable data, was the site of Pazyryk in the Altai Mountains. Here a combination of climate, tomb design, and human greed resulted in the preservation of artifacts which usually decompose with the passage of time. The climate of the eastern Altai region is extremely cold during the long winters, but it is not sufficiently cold to produce a permanent deep-freezing of the ground. It was in this earth that the tombs of

Pazyryk were dug. The burial chambers were lined with an

6 , "From the Lands of the Scythians," The Metropoli~t-a-n~M~u_s_e_um of Art Bulletin (1973/1974), Vol. XXXII, # 5 ' pp . 2 6 -31. 7

insulating layer of logs; over the tomb sites large earthen

mounds were raised and each in turn was covered with a

cairn of stones. A micro-climate developed beneath the

mounds and after some years refrigeration took place. The

rocky blanket which covered each grave insured that even

the short summers of the Altai would not melt the refriger-

ated ground which preserved the tombs' contents. The chambers' treasures were thus protected against decay, but not against robbery. During one of the ancient penetra- tions of the tombs, the wooden roof of one of the buried structures gave way and formed an opening through which water could enter into the chamber. This water enveloped all that was left in the tomb; when it froze thick and hard, the result was additional protection for the remain ing items from the depredations of later tomb robbers. 7

Peculiarities of site, and careful excavation at

Pazyryk resulted in the preservation of articles of wood, leather, felt, cloth, an~mal fur, and sven the tattoos on_ the skin of a long-dead chieftain. Similar geographical peculiarity and archaeological precision combined at excavations of Chou Dynasty sites in China, and when they did the exact forms of wooden chariots were literally retrieved from the dust of their own burials. Wooden

7 Rudenko, op. cit., pp. 7-12. Rudenko observed that distinct layers of ice had formed within the chambers before the plundering took place. 8

chariots which are buried in the fine loess soil of the

Yellow River valley leave their images when they decay.

The process is described in Watson:

As the wood, .surrounded by compact earth, rotted away, it was replaced by a fine dust which eventually turned into a firm mass distinct in texture from the encasing earth and capable of being separated from it by careful excavation.8

A successful excavation of this type was performed at the

Chou site at Shang-ts'un-ling, 9 and the Chou chariot became visible.

It was not a peculiarity of site, but a cultural trait, exotic pharmacology, which led to another archaeological unveiling in China, the discovery of the Shang.

"Dragon bones" had been sold as a medicinal ingredient for many decades in China. They were oddly shaped bones with peculiar markings which were found in the area around

An-Yang in Honan Province; a powder made from the bones was prescr1"b e d · f or nervous d"1sor d ers. lO In 1899, the markings--on-the "dragon bones"· were recognized as an ancient form of Chinese script, but it was not until 1928 that excavations were begun at the An-Yang site. Archaeo-

8 william Watson, Early Civilizations in China (New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company, 1966), p. 78. 9 John Hay, Ancient China (New York: Henry Z. Walck, Inc., 1973), p. 70.

10H. G. Creel, The Birth of China (New York: Frederick Ungar Publishing Company, 1954), p. 22. 9

logical discoveries there finally proved the existence of

the Shang Dynasty, which until that time, had been consid

ered by western historians to have been part of Chinese

mythology. The work at An-Yang led to excavations of

other Shang cities and to sites connected with later dynas-

ties as well. If one judges from the material unearthed in

the last ten years and exhibited in the United States

J recently, it is apparent that archaeological research

continues unabated in the Peoples Republic of China.

This study will utilize the artifacts which have

been uncovered by the scientific excavations just described

to illustrate the possibility of interrelationships and

borrowings between the sedentary Chinese and the nomadic

steppe-dweller. The Shang, Western Chou, Eastern Chou,

and Han Dynasties will be examined in detail in order to

demonstrate that, from an historical point of view, the

artistic borrowings which are proposed are valid. The

study also provides an over-all view of the development of

nomadism, and the political and social climate of the

Eurasian steppe during the time which corresponds to the

early Chinese dynasties. This section was deemed necessary

as the art of the nomad is inseparable from his life-style.

The art of these steppe horsemen will be examined in detail

in the following paragraphs.

Many theories have been put forth to explain the

motivations behind the animal art of the nomadic peoples 10

of the steppeland. One of the simplest is a love of

ornament and the need for artistic expression; and added

to these the requirements imposed by a nomadic existence

to combine the two. This resulted in a concentration of

artistic energy in the small decorative works which removes

them from the merely ornamental and places them at a high

level of artistic achievement.

Nomadic art was animal art. Man was rarely depic-

ted. The present study posits that the choice of such

artistic subject matter was a direct outgrowth of the

environment in which the nomad existed. It was necessary

for his survival and for the survival of his herds and

flocks that he observe the wild denizens of the world

through which he passed. Observation led to an intimate knowledge which was translated into artistic renderings.

There are, however, other interpretations of the animal style. Hartman suggests the possibility that the art is motivated by totemistic beliefs. She points to the prevalence of Shamanism among the tribes, and the shaman's identification with animal spirits, especially the pro- tective animal spirit which was the totem of the tribe.

This animal was often believed to have been the progenitor of the clan. 11 She also mentions a simpler reason for the

11 J. M. Hartman, "Animal Style Art at Asia House, New York," Oriental Art (Summer, 1970), pp. 186-190. 11

animal motifs in nomadic art:

Animals provided the substance of nomadic existence. Horses for transportation; reindeer, ibex and elk for meat, milk and hides; wild fowl, salmon and sturgeon for food; sables, marten, mink, lemming, ermine and Artie fox for fur and felt with which they covered t.heir wagons and built their tents . . Thus the emphasis of animal motifs on horse trappings and other appointments is readily understandable.l2

Andersson also holds to the idea that the art expresses a

kind of totemism among the nomadic tribes, although the

literary references which are available from both Greekand

Chinese sources do not mention a cult of animal worship 13 among the nomads with whom they came into contact.

Rudenko rejects the idea of totemism. He believes

that the animals in conflict represent the dualism of the 14 religious beliefs of the Near East. Tizac is one who agrees with Rudenko's idea of religious dualism, and he expresses the theory quite clearly in his description of a pole-top decoration:

rP groupe personnifie l'antique principe zoroas trien de l'homme en lutte contre les forces du mal; l'homme est, d'autre part, assiste par les animaux, symboles du Bien. Les betes qui representent le Bien sont les animaux a cornes, princi~alment le taureau, les bouquetins, cerfs, chevres, aussi le

12 Ibid., p. 189.

13 Rudenko, op. cit., p. 287.

14Ibid., p. 288. 12

cheval et le coq. Les malfaisantes sont surtout les reptiles (serpents, dragons), et le lion.lS

Lappo-Danilevsky suggests explanations for a few

of the animals seen·in Scythian art: the lion, the grif-

fin, and the cock. All, he says, are godly attributes:

the lion represents the god Artimpasa; the griffin, the

sun god Oetosyrus; and the cock was also held to be 16 sacred. Grayaznov maintains that the animal conflicts

which are seen endlessly on nomadic works represent sym-

bolically the constant tribal contests of strength which 17 were a part of nomadic existence. There is one other

questionable, but because of Herodotus' account, plausible

motivation for Scythian art which is suggested by Klein:

the animals are the fantastic nightmare figures which are 18 suggested under the influence of hashish.

15 H. d'Ardenne de Tizac, "Revelation d'un style animal archaique: les bronzes du Louristan," Art et Decoration (January 1931), p. 14. Tizac has made a number of personal value judgments regarding good and evil ani mals. Both reptiles and lions have been considered "symboles du Bien." The snake was revered in Rome and the dragon in China. The lion was associated with the Mother Goddess for millennia. 16 A. Lappo-Danilevsky, as mentioned in Rudenko, op . cit . , p . 2 8 7 • 17 Mikhail Gryaznov, The Ancient Civilization of Southern Siberia, translated by James Hogarth (New York: Cowel's Book Company, Inc., 1909), p. 198. 18 E. Klein, "Barbarian Art of Scythia," Graphis, Vo 1. 2 9 , No • 16 7 ( 19 7 3-19 7 4 ) , pp . 2 6 0-2 6 7 . 13

Whatever the motivation, nomadic art has character-

istics which are identified with it and motifs which are

repeated so often that they themselves become characteris-

tic of the art. These distinctive traits will be analyzed

in the following material. Animals in conflict, usually

a carnivore in the act of attack upon a herbivore, are

seen repeatedly in the art of the steppe. (Plate 3) Most

of the animals which appear in Scythian art are real fauna,

not fantastic animals; it is merely the impressionistic 19 style which makes them seem fantastic.

The animals of prey and their victims areportrayed

alone as well as together. The former have been described

as eloquent symbols of the violence inherent in the life

of the nomadic horesman; he swept down upon his sedentary

victim with the same singleness of purpose which is appar-

ent in the predatory· animals. The golden leopard from

Kelermes epitomized this aggressive strength and nervous

energy. It is reinforced by the smaller versions of

itself which are designed into the paws and tail of the animal. (Plate 4) One of the perennial victims of the carnivorous animal, the stag, is reproduced with such constancy in the art of the nomads that there is some

19 Gregory Borovka, Scythian Art, translated by V. G. Childe (New York: Paragon Book Reprint Corporation, 1967)' p. 53. Plate 3: Cast gold belt buckle from the Siberian collection of Peter th.e Great. Hermitage Museum. Date unknown. About 4~ in. wide.

,_. ,j:>. Plate 4: Chased gold leopard from Kelermesr in the Kuban. Hermitage Museum. 7th-6th century B.C. Length, about 12. in.

1-' U'l 16

speculation that the animal may have been the totem beast 20 of one of the tribes, the Saka. (Plate 5)

Birds of prey were a most popular subject in

Scythian art. The head alone was the common mode of presentation. (Plate 6) The beak, which expresses the carnivorous nature of the bird, was accentuated; it was exaggeratedly large and rolled back into a scroll pattern.

The cere, the characteristic mark of birds of prey, was also stylized and emphasized.

It was usual in Scythian art to see the animal reduced to representational parts, especially the head, 21 legs, antlers, or talons. The head of the animal was most important; it was often exaggerated while the body itself was schematically rendered. (Plate 7) The bird's head was more widespread than either the stag or the elk, two~ other favorite nomadic animal subjects.

The poses which were chosen when the whole animal was rendered were also~~-limit€d -~n number ~nd so became~- typical characteristics. Herbiroves are often seen with their legs doubled up under the body; the stag is often presented in this pose. (Plate 5) An animal was sometimes portrayed with its head turned back upon itself;

20 Karl Jettmar, Art of the Steppes, translated by Ann E. Keep (New York: Crown Publishers, 1967).

21Borovka, op. cit., p. 39, observes that stag antlers often had tines which ended in birds'~ heads. Plate 5: Chased gold recumbent stag, shield plaque from Kostromskaya kurgan. Hermitage Museum. 7th-6th century B.C. Length 12~ in., height 7~ in.

1-' -.....1 18

Plate 6: Bronze bridle plaque in shape of bird's head from the Nymphaeum necropolis, Crimea. Hermitage Museum. Mid-5th century B.C. Length 1 and 5/8 in. ., .... '"~ ...... ·,

Plate 7: Carved bone objects from Orenburg- Top object dates from the 6th-5th century B.C.; date for bottom object is uncertain. Moscow Historical Mus,eum.

1-' 1..0 20

(Plate 8) at other times the beast was shown standing with

its legs suspended, hanging in mid-air. (Plate 9)

The coiled animal, especially a feline type, occurs

frequently as a pose in monadic art. (Plate 10) Jettmar

states that this treatment was used earlier in China than

1n. t h e steppe reg1ons.. 22 In her review of a 1970 exhibition of animal style art, Hartman mentions a coiled animal

image from the Eastern Chou period, a bronze sleeve-weight 23 dated 6th to 5th century B.c. Another pose which is common among the nomadic remains is the confronted animal composition in which two animals are presented in a heraldic position, such as the two felines in Plate 11.

The heraldic pose is presented in a more complex rendition in the Luristan bronze in Plate 48. This piece will be discussed later as it relates to the art of the Han

Dynasty.

The art of the steppes demonstrated characteristic motifs and poses; it showed representative techniques as 24 well. The metal work of the Scythian shows indications

22 Jettmar, op.· cit., p. 35. 23 Hartman, op. cit., p. 190. 24 M. I. Artamonov, The Splendor of Scythian Art (New York: Frederick A. Praeger, 1969), p. 19. It is known that portable forges were used in the Minussinsk region at the beginning of the nomadic era, and it is assumed that the same kind of system was used by the Scythian metalsmith. :..~~; - .' ::·.',•··

:;,~,;,;¥,..,,.,,.. o,.<.'" ,.:.;~ ...... :.

Plate 8: Gold cup wit~h handles in the form of predatory animals, Siberian collection of Peter the Great, Hermitage, 5th-4th cent~~ry B.c.

N 1-' Plate 9: Cast bronze and gold-leaf ornament from the Golden Barrow, Crimea. 7th-6th century B.C.

IV N Plate 10: Cast gold ornament from the Siberian collection of Peter the Grea;t. Hermitage Museum. 7th-6th century B.C.

N (,...; Plate 11: Bronze bridle ornament formed by two felines in a heraldic pose. Chance find from the Black Sea area. Hermitage Museum. Early 6th century B.C. 1 and 11/16 in. 25

of expertise in another medium prior to the graduation to the more advanced material. Artamonov says:

Another characteristic of the Scythian style, namely the custom of turning cylindrical and convex surfaces into inclined planes intersecting each other at sharp arrises, is with good reason attributed to skill in carving wood.25

Klein observes that only schematically rendered full face or profile figures are used, and that the compositions are a 1 ways symmetr 1ca. 1 .. 26 It is a linear rather than a model- led art. There is a reduction to essentials in rendition.

Another trait which can be observed in the art of the steppe is the accentuation of the joints, often by the 27 superimposition of another animal form at the juncture.

(Plate 12)

The animal art of the steppe nomad which has been described here is a unique expression of the people who produced it. The suggestion that this singular art may be tied to the art of China is the basis for the investigation.

25 rbid., p. 28. 26 Klein, op. cit., p. 260. 27 Jettmar, op. cit., pp. 35-36. v ~.

Plate 12: Gold shield ornament from Kul Oba, Crimea. Hermitage Museum. S·th-4th century B.C. About 12 in. in length.

N 0'1 Chapter 2

HISTORICAL· AND GEOGRAPHICAL BACKGROUND

The nomadic life-style is an evolution from settled

agricultural communities. Domesticated, or semi-domesti-

cated animals such as sheep, goats, cattle, horses, or

camels were necessary for the development of a nomadic

culture. Man himself had to be domesticated by at least a partial link to an agricultural society before he was able to dominate the lesser beasts and learn the techniques of animal management which were prerequisite to his new cultural adventure.l

Owen Lattimore theorizes that this development, in the steppe environment, occurred at steppe oases. At such sites, the early agriculturalist exploited the watered plots for his experiments_ in agriculture; the wild animals, which in the grassland, were drawn there by the promise of water and lush vegetation. This was the se~ ting fordomestication. He suggests that the first captives were used as decoy animals to attract their unwary wild

lRobert J. Braidwood, "The Agricultural Revolution," reprinted from Scientific American {San Francisco: W. H. Freeman and Company, September 1960), p. 8. It is admitted that scholarly debate continues on this point, but for pur poses of the present study, Braidwood's assumption will be used as a working hypothesis.

27 28

relatives, and he assumes that castration was practiced to 2 render the decoy animals more manageable.

In addition to techniques of animal management, of which castration is one, man had to learn to harvest the produce of his animal herds before he could abandon the relative security of his agricultural base. He learned to shear his sheep and to utilize the wool which his camels shed. Most important, he invented the technique of milking.

This was a late development and originated with the nomads on the Eurasian steppe. The milk from all species of herd animals was used as food, and its nutrients were preserved 3 in the forms of cheese and ghee, a clarified butter. It is thus apparent that there was a long line of development from domestication to nomadic ex~stence.

There is much scholarly argument as to whether nomadic cultures developed suddenly or evolved over a period of generations. S~ I. Rudenko champions the latter

2 owen Lattimore, Inner Asian Frontiers of China (New York: American Geographical Society, 1940), pp. 160- 161. Lattimore points out that, ". . undoubtedly the knowledge of castration is essential to the technique of steppe pastoralism." Otherwise the unnecessarily large number of'male animals, fighting each other and attempting to lead away bands of females, would make it impossible to keep stock in large, tractable herds on unfenced pasture. 3 George F. Carter, Man and the Land (New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1968), pp. 417-418. 29

4 position and M. P. Gryaznov argues for the former. Rudenko

asserts that the need to appropriate vast tracts of arid

land to feed the increasingly large herds or flocks must

have required centuries. Gryaznov states on the other hand

that the switch to nomadism in the steppe region was abrupt,

and that a period of violent struggles ensued. The present

study observes that both theories may be correct. The

concept of a nomadic existence totally based upon the

grazing needs of livestock must have taken generations to

accept, but once the skills were learned and the concept

accepted, the widespread adoption of the life-style could

have been sudden. The acceptance of the concept must have

been achieved by steps. One of these stages can be seen

in the activity of the tribes belonging to the Karasuk

culture in the Minusinsk basin during the 13th to 8th

centuries B.C.:

In this pattern of economy each community, after completing the spring programme of work in the fields, moves with all its~livestock to-sunimer quarters- in the mountains of the open steppe, returning in the autumn when the crops are ready for harvest. Thus each community has two places of settlement, living in winter in the area where it grows its crops and in summer in the summer pastures.S

4 • I) • Jaroslav Prusek, Ch1nese Statelets and the North- ern Barbarians in the Period 1400-300 B.C. (Dordrecht Holland: D. Reidel Publishing Company, 1971), p. 90. 5 Mikhail P. Gryaznov, The Ancient Civilization of Southern Siberia, translated by James Hogarth (New York: Cowles Book Company, Inc., 1969), p. 98. 30

This semi-nomadic culture may have been psychological pre paration for the commitment to nomadism which has to come.

The interrelationships between the farming and the nomadic communities are varied and sometimes puzzling.

According to Pru~ek, during the course of the evolution of both the intensive agricultural and the nomadic cultures, the two lived in a symbiotic relationship. As evidence for this assertion he points to a rock drawing which illustr ates a village of the Tagar period, 7th to lst centuries

B.C. in the Minusinsk region, in which three timber huts, one clay hut, and one yurta are shown along with rectangles which represent cultivated fields. Scythian cauldrons stand over fires between each of the huts_ He concludes that the nomads and the settled farmers resided side by side, and that a symbiotic relationship existed between the two. 6

Gryaznov supports Pru~ek's theory when he states that some farming was part of the nomadic culture and that settled farming persisted in areas which had contact with the nomads such as Bolsaja-Recka, near Blizne Elbany. 7

In Herodotus' famous account of the Scythians in the Black Sea region, we also see nomad and cultivator as a team. He described two of the peoples who inhabited

6pr~sek, op. cit., p. 97.

7Gryaznov as mentioned in Pr~sek, op. cit., p. 91. 31

Scythia as the Calippidae and the Alazonians:

These and the Callipidae, in other respects, follow the usages of the Scythians, but they both sow and feed on wheat, onions, garlic, lentils, and millet; but beyond the Alazones, dwell husband men, who do not sow wheat for food, but for sale.B

These materials support the proposition that dual communi-

ties existed, made up of the land-bound farmer with his

cultivated fields and the nomad with his moveable crop.

There is, however, also evidence that the sedentary/

nomadic contact was not always peaceful. From burials in

the Ob Valley in Southern Siberia that date from the 7th

century B.C., the change from safety to insecurity can be

seen. Weapons had never been buried with the dead of the

settled communities in this area during the Andronovo and

Karasuk periods, but they became common grave.:.;gocids·when

their neighbors in the high Altai became actively nomadic. 9

Lattimore insists-that therewas- increasinganimosity be--

tween the steppe nomads and the settled agri~ultural com 10 munities 1n the area of the_Great Wall. Smaller western versions of China's Great Wall were thrown up by beleaguered

farmers in central and southeastern Europe; they built

8 Herodotus, Herodotus, translated by Henry Cary (Freeport, New York: Books for Libraries Press, 1972), IV~ .17. 9 Gryaznov, op. cit., pp. 199-200.

lOL at t"lmore, op. cit. , p. 3 9. 32

fortifications, moats, and earthworks in an attempt to protect themselves from the incursions of the marauding nomads. 11 Not every member of an ethnic group became nomadic, and these related groups seemed to have lived alongside the nomads, undisturbed by the depredations of t h elr. k"lnsmen. 12 Herodotus confirms this. Unrelated farmers were molested, however, and as Cernikov has observed:

Throughout the whole history of the nomads the most striking feature are [sic] constant armed clashes among themselves and with the farming regions bordering upon the steppes.l3

The very nature of the nomadic way of life encouraged armed conflict. The livelihood of the nomadic community depended upon the welfare of the herds, and the herds were constantly in need of pasturage. This pasturage was obtained by force. Large flocks or herds required a more ·extensive domain in which to pasture them. A larger geographical- area meant_ confrontation with settled agricultural communities and competition among the nomadic groups themselves. A nomadic type developed who was both herdsman and warrior. The horseman-herdsman of the steppe was free to take time out from his animal-husbandman duties to make swift raids upon the settled communities in his

11 . i) Prusek, op. cit., p. 92. 12 Ibid., p. 97.

13cernikov as quoted in Pru§ek, op. cit., p. 92. 33

path, and make off with his booty without fear of reprisal.

Although the idea appalls Rudenko, it might well have been

simply the greed for loot which stimulated the large-scale . . ·14 a d opt1on of nornad1srn. In many instances the sedentary

tribes, thus imposed upon, were forced to abandon their

vulnerable settlements and take up the nomadic way of life

themselves as a matter of survival and a form of self-

defense.

During the 9th and 8th centuries ·B.C., increasing

numbers took to the steppeland. Hordes of people were

on the move, permanently. They moved about in large

parties. No longer was it a matter of the men going off

with the herds as the season demanded; this extreme corn-

rnitrnent to pastoralism involved the whole family unit, and

by extension the whole communal structure. Grousset refers

to "des convois de chariots" which he picturesquely des

cribes as "des villes arnbulantes." 15 There was a reduction

of dependence upon agriculture and more concentration upon

the management of the herds. "Horne" was no longer a sta-

tionary structure; it was either an oxen-drawn wagon which was driven by the women of the family, or it was a trans- portable hut. In this mobile horne, " . . the children

14 Pru~ek, op. cit., p. 90. 15 Rene Grousset, L'Ernpire des Steppes (Paris: Payot, 1969), p. 36. 34

16 were born and the family lived, worked and died." This

statement is somewhat exaggerated because the men of the

family essentially lived, worked and died on horseback.

For the steppe nomad, it was this close association with

the horse which set him apart and made him unique.

The earliest literary references to the horse 17 are found in Chinese and Indian works, however domestica-

tion of the animal seems to have taken place further west

in southern Russia. Archaeological material indicates that

the people of the Tripolye Culture (3500-1900 B.C.) were 18 respons1. b 1 e f or th e accomp 1 1s. h ment; sources p 1 ace t h e 19 date at c. 3000 B.c. Dent proposes the plausible theory

that mares in foal were the first captives. He supposes

that any mare carrying the added weight of an unborn foal 20 would be slower afoot and more vulnerable to capture.

16 Gryaznov, op. cit., p. 131. 17 The horse is mentioned frequently in the Chinese Classics and also in the ~g Veda, India 1 s earliest literary source composed by the invading Aryans in the second half of the 2nd. millennium B.C. A. L. Basham, The Wonder That Was India (New York: Grove Press, Inc., 1954), p. 28. 18 E. D. Phillips, The Royal Hordes, Nomad Peoples of the Steppes (New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company, 1965), p. 19. 19 Albert c. Leighton, "The Horse and Human History," Encyclopedia Americana (1973), XIV, pp. 390-393. 20 Anthony Dent, The Horse Through Fifty Centuries of C i vi 1 i z at ion (New Yo r::-k-:--=H=-o--=-1-:-t-,-----:R=--;-i-n-e--=h~a"'--r--:-t-a_n_d=""'-w::-:.-;-i-n_s_t=-o-.-n-,-

1974) 1 P• 11. 35

The horse was not the first animal to be tamed for

traction. As early as the 5th millennium B.C., the ox, the

onager, and the ass were bearing or pulling man's goods. 21

In Siberia, the reindeer preceded the horse as the beast of

burden; an evolutionary development from nomadic reindeer

herding to horse-breeding took place there. 22 From the be-

ginning of its service as a domestic animal, the horse was

probably ridden. The halter was no doubt a simple affair, made of biodegradable material so that evidence for the

early development of the technique of horseback riding is

not ava1"1 a bl e to t h e arc h aeo 1 og1st. . 23 Development of horse

tack allowed the horseman of the steppes to gain more con-

trol over the responsive animal. The bridle is a case in point. The first cheek-pieces, shaped from horn, may have been linked by a solid wooden or a leather bit. 24 There is evidence to indicate the use of a primitive bridle with bone cheek-pieces as early as the 15th-14th centuries B.c~ in Eastern Europe. 25 From the finds at Pazyryk 1t can be

21 M1"k los/ Jank ov1c . h , T h ey Ro d e 1nto . Europe, t rans- lated by Anthony Dent (London: George G. Harrap & Company, Ltd., 1971), p. 15.

22Ibid., p. 22. 23 Ibid., p. 15.

24s erge1. I. Rudenko, Frozen Tombs of Siberia, translated and with a preface by M. W. Thompson (Los Ange les: University of California Press, 1970), p. xxv. 25 Gryaznov, op. cit., p. 103. 36

seen that wood carvings were also used as bridle parts.

(Plate 24) With the introduction of metal, the bridle

developed further:

In the 7th c~ntury B.C. the nomads of Southern Siberia began to use a bronze bit and devised a dis tinctive form of bridle using cheek-pieces with three holes, which spread rapidly all over the steppe region and as far west as the Danube. The nomadic tribes continued to perfect the bridle, and about the turn of the 6th and 5th centuries B.C. introduced a new version with two-holed cheek-pieces which passed through the ring of the bit; and again the new invention spread rapidly throughout the Eurasian steppes.26

The invention of the stirrup, a late development, added to the efficiency of the steppe horseman. Grousset tells us that:

Le probleme de l'etrier est un probleme capital. L'invention de l'etrier assura longtemps aux nomades du nord une immense superiorite sur la cavalerie des sedentaires.27

The stirrup first appeared as part of the gear of the

Sarmatians; it was unknown to the Scythians who had preceded them in Southern Russia. The Sarmatians were the controlling force in the steppeland from the 2nd century

B.C. to the 3rd century A.D. 28 The stirrup seems to have been introduced into China during the Han Dynasty; however, this assumption is based upon controversial evidence, the

26rbid., p. 135.

27Grousset 1 op. sit., p. 37.

28M. Rostovtzev:; The Animal Style in South Russia and China (New York: Hacker Art Books, 1973), pp. 119-121. 37

imperfectly preserved shrine carvings in the tomb of Wu

Liang Tz'u, A.D. 147.29

In the 2nd century B.C., while the Sarmatians were

developing the foot stirrup, the Indians were using a big-

toe stirrup; the idea spread with the diffusion of the

Indic culture. Lynn White, Jr., suggests that it was from

this source that the Han Dynasty obtained its stirrup.30

Although there was increasing influence from India upon

China during the Han Dynasty, it seems more reasonable to

assume that the shoe-clad Chinese would adopt the foot

stirrup from the similarly clothed Sarmatians rather than

the version developed by their barefooted neighbors to the

south.

It is not surprising that the horse was first

domesticated in the steppeland and that man first developed

techniques for his control __ther.e. __ The horse was_ a_ part of

the landscape, a native which had adapted itself to the

demands of the region's harsh climate. The great land mass

of Eurasia has a continental climate due to its-latitude

and to the great mountain barriers which cut it off from

distant oceans. The climate is characterized by extreme

aridity, very harsh winters and excessively hot summers.

29M. Tregear, "Animals in China," Animals in Archaeology, edited by Houghton A. Brodrick (New York: Praeger, 1972), pp. 160-161. 30Lynn White, Jr., "Medieval Borrowings from·Further Asia," reprinted from Medieval and Renaissance Studies, No. 5, p. 9. 38

The horse thrived on it. He is one of the only animals who

could survive the.harsh winters because of his ability to

push aside the snow covering with his hoofs in Drder to 31 find food.

The nomadic herdsmen of the steppe took advantage

of the ability of the horse to survive and multiply in this

forbidding land, and he linked his own hopes for survival

on his successful management of the herds. Riding was an

essential element in the control of freely roaming herds;

it was the mastery of this technique which made the steppe

nomad successful. The social composition of a horse herd

lends itself to the control of a mounted rider. The herd

responds to the leader ~ithin it, either a stallion or an

old mare; if a man is mounted upon and controlling the

actions of the lead animal, he is also in control of the

whole herd~ It is for this reason, Jankovich posits, that

the early herdsman adopted riding:

It identified him, so to speak, physically with the equine leader, from whose back he could keep his herd together or lead it in the right direction rather than drive it.32

The original domestication of the horse was probably motivated by the need for food; the steppe folk use both the meat and the milk of the animal. But it was not the horse as food source which stimulated the rearing of vast

31 Rudenko, op. cit., p. xxiv. 32 Jankovich, op. cit., p. 18. 39

herds; it was the horse as military device and status symbol. The mounted warrior had a tactical advantage over his rival on foot, and this gave him the ability to override the settled communities around him. Demonstration of this military superiority no doubt stimulated the demand for this new ultimate weapon.

When the worth of the horse as a war machine was proven, an early-day equivalent to today's military- industrial complex developed on the Steppes of Southern

Russia. The Indo-Europeans introduced the horse to the area of the Transcausasus, where improvements in weapons of war were always appreciated, early in the 2nd millennium

B.C. In this area, the horse, a more tractable animal, soon replaced the onager which had been pulling a heavy, solid-wheeled wagon since Sumerian times, c. 3000 B.C. The

Hun::.-ians- (e.-lSOD-B.C.) are-credited __ with_ the_development of a lighter, spoke-wheeled wagon, or chariot, which became the decisive factor-~n-many crucial battles. The next development was the switch from charioteer to mounted cavalry. This occurred sometime in the 15th or 14th centuries 33 B.c. The mobility offered by this new means of transportation accelerated the expansion of empires in the always volatile Near East, and facilitated communications between far-flung territories, making possible the control of such empires once they were created.

33 P h'll'l lpS, Op. Cl't ., p. 43ff • 40

The success of the horse as an instrument of war brought about numerous societal changes. The mounted warrior became an aristocrat; the horse-breeder on the

Russian Steppes became wealthy and powerful; newoccupations were created. Just as the computer industry of modern times demands its specially trained professionals, so did the horse industry of the 1st millennium B.C. Dealers, train- ers, horse-masters, grooms, harness-makers, blacksmiths, . 34 chariot-builders, training-manual writers, and not least among these, the artist in wood-carving and metal working whose small masterpieces decorated horse, rider, and vehicle. Horse-ownership became a status symbol for the individual and for empires. The demand for horseflesh spurred the gathering and breeding of huge herds. The grassy steppe provided ideal pasturage and the limited pastoralist became the mounted nomad.of the Steppe. As the first pioneers in this new enterprise became.more than prosperous, -other-tri-bal:-::-:-uni ts were -tempted=~±-o abandon-- scratch farming and join their cousins on the move. The new culture spread geographically from the borders of

China to areas north and south of the Black Sea.

34 "A Hurrian living in Boghazkoy wrote a complete treatise on this subject, using Indo-European technical terms - and in this way introduced or rather popularized the horse in the Near East." George Roux, Ancient Iraq (Baltimore: Penguin Books, 1969), p. 212. 41

The vast steppe invited the movement of peoples.

It is a land that resembles a sea; and because of the hard

ground and absence of obstacles (mountains, hills, or even

trees) movement across it could be likened to an ocean

voyage. Pru~ek says of it:

The steppe zone which, as a system of inter linked inland seas connects huge complexes of civili zation in the eastern and western parts of Eurasia was always of special significance for this mutual dependency. 35

The fact that transport is relatively easy on the steppe

is one basis for this connection. It has been estimated

that a light horse-drawn cart might traverse as many as

130 miles in a single day; the speed of a mounted rider would be even greater.

The Eurasian steppe was an ancient corridor of cul-

tural exchange between east and west; during the 9th, 8th, and 7-th-centuries -B. e., the--tempo of exchange increased,-

and the steppeland was alive with the movement of peoples.

Herodotus'. description of the origins of the namadic mi.-

grations appears to modern eyes as an illustration of

the domino theory:

Aristeas • . says in his epic verses. • that beyond the Issedones dwell the Arimaspians, a people that have only one eye; and beyond them the gold~ guarding griffins; and beyond these the Hyperboreans, who reach to the sea: that all these, except the Hyperboreans, beginning from the Arimaspians, con tinually encroached upon their neighbours; that the Issedones were expelled from their country by the Arimaspians, the Scythians by the Issedones, and

:1 35p ruse. k , op. c1t., . P~ 24 • 42

that the Cimmerians, who inhabited on the south sea, being pressed by the Scythians, abandoned their country. 36

Prusek;I equates the Arimaspians with the nomads of the Altai mountains in Southern Siberia. He uses finds

from the Great Bliznica (Plate 13) and from Pazyryk (Plate

14) to illustrate his theory. From the Great Bliznica a gold calathos shows a young man fighting with a griffin.

He is dressed in close-fitting pants and he wears a cape.

The motif can be interpreted as exemplifying the belief expressed in Herodotus that the gold-rich Altai Mountains were protected by a gold-guarding griffin. From Pazyryk, which is located in the high Altai, Pru~ek points to the similarity of dress between the horseman on the wall tap estry found at that site and the figure on the calathos. 37

It may well have been in the high Altai mountains of

Southern Siberia where the first stirrings of the nomadic cultures began whose ripples were felt far to the west ori the steppeland of Southern Russia.38

Southern Russia displays a rich history before the coming of the Scythian tribesmen. The people of the

36Herodotus IV. 13. 37Yaroslav Pru~ek, "The Steppe Zone in the Period of Early Nomads and China of the 9th-7th Centuries B.C.," Diogenes, 54 (1966), pp. 23-46.

38Pruse . k , op. c1t., . p. 94 • oo

0'· ...... '·-.., -...... ·...... ' . ~ \- y-

)

I \ \ ~

Plate 13: Drawing of figures on the gold calathos from the Great Bliznitsa tomb, c. 4th century B.C.

.j::>. w 44

Plate 14: Felt wall-hanging from Pazyryk, barrow 5. 5th century B.C. 45

Tripolye culture (3500-1900 B.C.) have already been men-

tioned in this study as the first to domesticate thehorse.

That culture spread its influence through the whole western

partofthe steppe in the neighborhood of the Dniepr valley.

They were a sedentary group who practiced both agriculture

and stockraising. Material found at the Tripolye sites

suggests that the culture had ties with the peoples to the 39 west 1n. th e Danu b e Va 11 ey an d th e Ba lkan reg1on..

Another important culture which has left evidence

of its passage is the Maikop culture (late 3rd millennium

B.C.) in the Kuban district north of the Caucasus range. Remains from burials associated with this culture show that

these early tribes were already rich breeders of livestock who had contact with the ancient cultures south of the

Caucasus mountains. In contrast to the western leanings of the Tripolye culture, the Maikop burials seem to indicate a more easterly source. Tools, weapons, and funeral.

furniture found in Maikop graves show distinctly eastern . . 40 or1g1ns.

The Cimmerians, last forerunners of the Scythians

in the area about the Black Sea, were either "foot-bound

39 Gregory Borovka, Scythian Art, translated by V. G. Childe (New York: Paragon Book Reprint Corporation, 1967), p. 16.

40Ibid., p. 17. 46

41 pastoralists" who learned cavalry techniques from the 42 Scythians or a "mounted nomad power." The Cimmerians

have left little evidence of their historical presence;

Greek and Assyrian accounts mention their flight from the

Scythian inroads, and their own incursions into the Near

East. There is also strong evidence that some remained in

their old homeland and mingled with the newcomers and that 43 some sought haven in the Crimea.

The chronology of events and the motivations of

both Cimmerians and Scythians are very cloudy during the

early years of the 7th century B.C. Changing alliances

and changing loyalties during the chaotic last years of

the Assyrian Empire make definitive statements difficult,

although such statements abound. A few observations can

be made with some certainty, however. The Cimmerians

inflicted defeat upon Rusas of the Kingdom of Van (the

Urartu)--~in -7-14 B.C .. , and they--destroyed--the people of .. 44 Phrygia six years-later. According to Georg~ Raux, ~hey were aided in the latter venture by their former enemies, 45 the Scythians and Urartians.

41 Colen McEvedy, The Penguin Atlas of Ancient History (Baltimore: Penguin Books, 1967), p. 46. 42 Phillips, op. cit., p. 51. 43 Ibid. I p. 52. 44 Henri Frankfort, The Art and Architecture of the Ancient Orient (Baltimore: Penguin Books, Inc., 1970), p. 337. 45 George Raux, op. cit., p. 195. 47

At some time after the arrival of the Cimmerians in

the territory south of the Caucasus Mountains, Scythian tribesmen also appeaFed in the area. They caused damage

in the Kingdom of Urartu and defeated the Medes in battle.

Herodotus tells us that after the defeat of the Medes, they made a sweep through Syria and Palestine up to the 46 very borders of Egypt. For a time they were allied with

Assyria and settled in Assyrian lands in the neighborhood of Lake Urmia which they occupied for a couple of genera tions, or, according to Herodotus, for twenty-eightyears. 47

Some sources maintain that Cyaxares, the Median king, had to defeat the Scythians before he could destroy Assyrian 48 Nineveh in 612 B.c., and others maintain that the Scyth- ians' support of Median and Babylonian forces was the move which made that destruction possible. 49 Soon after-the fall of Assyria, most of the Scythian tribesmen left the

Transcaucasian area and joined their relatives on the ·

Russian Steppes. Here the Scythian suzerainty was established in the 6th century B.C. These are the Scythians

46Herodotus, I. 104.

47 Herodotus, IV. 1. 48 Phillips, op. cit., p. 55. 49 McEvedy, op. cit., p. 48. --,.-·\

as we know them from the Russian tombs and from the des

criptions by Herodotus.so

It was here that the Scythians established contact

with Greece through the colonial cities which the Greeks

had established along the shores of the Black Sea and its

river tributaries. A profitable trade relationship was

established between nomad and Greek. The seafaring Greeks

carried metal for the production of weapons, luxury goods,

jewels, wine and oil from Ionia in exchange for grain,

leather, slaves, furs and precious metals. 51

The Greek colonists had originally been drawn to

the area by the inexhaustible schools of fish which swarmed

in the great river estuaries along the shores of the Black

Sea. The colonies which profited from this long-term

trade relationship, Panticapaeum, Phanagoria, Chersonesus,

and Olbia, were wealthy outposts of Greek culture for cen-

turies. The region around the Cimmerian Bosporus was actu-

ally shaped into a political division known as the Bosporan

Kingdom in the 4th century B.C. It was based upon Greek

city-state models.52

In the 2nd century B.C., another wave of nomads,

SOM. I. Rostovtsev, Iranians and Greeks in South Russia (New York: Russell and Russell, 1969), p. 41. 51 Ibid., p. 44.

52Borovka, op. cit., p. 22. 49

the Sarrnatians, challenged the Scythians for control of the steppe region and won. The Scythians, in turn, were forced to seek refuge in the Crirnea.S3 The Sarrnatians, like the Scythians, were Indo-Europeans who spoke an

Iranian language. Their movement west was a repetition of the same stirrings which initiated the movement of the

Scythian tribes before them. They were pushed by tribes to the east of them and they pushed the tribes to the west of thern.S4 The Sarrnatians were the mounted power in the steppe region through Roman times up until the corning of the Huns in 430 A.n.SS

Movement across the steppe was not always a westward movement. Migrations of peoples moved in both di- rections; there are indications that Indo-European-speaking groups had arrived on the borders of China by the middle of the 2nd millennium B.c.S6 While western Eurasia was bearing the brunt of the Scythian invasions, China was being harried by invasions into her territory by the Hsien yun, the Pei Jung, and the Ti. Pr~sek observes that:

S3Rostovtsev, op. cit., p. 9. S4Ibid., p. 181.

SST. Sulirnirski, The Sarrnatians (New York: Praeger Publishers, 1970), p. 22.

S6wolfrarn Eberhard, A History of China (Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1969), p. 2S. There is some speculation which connects these newcomers with the mythical Hs~a Dynasty. 50

In China, these barbarian raids and movements affected the whole province of Shen-hsi, Shan-hsi, all of Ho-pei, the greater part of Shang-tung and Ho-nan, that is, almost the whole ancient cultural area of China in the basin of the Huang-ho, and it took over three centuries to overcome the conse quences of these' invasions.57

Earliest written material in China, the Shang

Dynasty (1550-1030 B.C.) oracle bones, mention enmity

between border barbarians and agriculturalists. The Shang

made constant raids upon the western sheep raisers, especi 58 ally a tribe which they referred to as the Ch'iang.

Another group of barbarians, which bear the name Hu, were

seen not merely as the prey of the Shang, but as a threat ., to the border settlements.59 The basic conflict between

herdsmen and agriculturalists found expression in early

aggressive behavior in the borderlands of the Yellow River

valley.

G. Haloun, who bases his work on that done by Heine

Geldern, and Meng Wen-t'ung60 both postulate that there was

a west~to eas-t migrq._t_iQn_:_:o4: ccindo-Europ~an.s_--towar_d the

57 Prusek,.v op. c1t.,. p. 2 5.

58creel, op. cit., p. 213.

59(D)enis (Si)nor, "Inner Asia, History of," Encyc lopedia Britannica, l5th ed., IX, pp. 595-601. 60Pru~ek, op. cit., p. 26, provides the following information: G. Haloun, Zu J. J. M. de Groot, "Die Hurinen der vorchristlichen Zeit, OLZ, 1922, pp. 433-438. Meng Wen-t'ung, "Investigation of the Incursions of the Red and White Ti into the East," Ch'ih Ti Pai Ti tung ch'in k'ao, Yu-kung, Vol. VIII, 1937, Nos. 1-3, pp. 67-68 (in Chinese). 51

borders of China from the Black Sea/Caucasus region between the 9th and the 7th centuries B.C. Geldern proposes that

Thracian and Germanic tribes migrated in an easterly direction. Haloun has even tried to link the Scythians with the name Yueh-Chih and the Cimmerians with the name

Hsien-yun.· Before the presumed invasion, archaeological evidence indicates that the region was inhabited by peaceful agricultural tribes; the replacement of these peoples by more militant groups, and the adoption of a nomadic life~style by tribes on the borderlands of China signaled 61 the beginning of a new era. This forc~able replacement of primitive agriculturalists by aggressive nomadic peoples was the same in the east on the borders of China as it was in the west on the borders of Eastern Europe.

Massive attacks were executed by the Hsien-yun on the Chou territories in the late 9th and early 8th centuries B.C. Pru~ek mentions some instructive Hsien-yun/

Certain tactics employed by the Hsien-yun as well as certain cultural elements, probably of Chinese origin, which appear in the earliest Scythian finds, incline me to the view that the irruption of the Hsien-yun into China is connected with the transition of the tribes in the steppe zone to mounted nomadism and the rise of a new fighting technique. In the course of such thrusts into China, certain cultural elements could well have found their way among the nomads and so have been transmitted through them as far as the Black Sea region.62

61 ·v Prusek, op. cit., p. 29. 62 •u Prusek, op. cit., pp. 36-37. 52

At about the same time, c. 800 B.C., the Scythian tribes were appearing in the Altai and the Yueh-chih were making

inroads into modern-day Kansu. Attacks by the Pei Jung

followed the Hsien-yun invasions in 794, 769, 710, and

706 B.C. Another people, the Kuei Jung,63 made incursions into middle and eastern China beginning in c. 729

B.C.; 366 years were to pass before they were finally re moved.64

An early nomadic empire, the Hsiung-nu, were next on the scene. Because of the strength of their tribal confederation and the fact that· they were.. a power of long- standing, the Hsiung-nu are often thought of as the oriental counterparts of the Black Sea Scythians. They were a treat to the Yellow River civilization from c. 200

B.C. until they disappeared from the scene in c. 48 A.D.

Part of the power and wealth of this barbarian people lay in their control of territory along the Silk Road, the rich over-land trade route between Han China, and __ her new cus- i...umers in the western lands which bordered the Mediter ranean.69

6 3pru~e~, ~icbi-d.- ,- p. --4 2 ,-- explains that--the Kuei Jung were also known as the Ti, and had been mentioned in the Chinese Classics as enemies of the Shang and the Chou Dynasties.

64Ibid., p. 44.

65(si)nor, op. cit., p. 597. 53

China's conflict with the nomads is a basic theme

in the history of the country. Except for notable periods of detente it was ever-present. Literary and archaeologi cal evidence links China's early cultures to those of her northern and western neighbors, and through them to the tribes who ruled the steppe. It was a time and a place where East really did meet West~ Chapter 3

THE SHANG·DYNASTY (c. 1550-1027 B.C.)

According to Chinese legend, the. Shang Dynasty was preceded by a long line of mythical emperors who ruled the 1 Middle Kingdom after the world was created by P'an Ku, the first being. P'an Ku, with the aid of the phoenix, the dragon and the tortoise, sculpted the world from a piece of granite which had been floating aimlessly about in space. Unlike the biblical story of creation in which the • whole operation took but six days, P'an Ku labored at his task for 18,000 years. With each day's labor, six feet were added to his height. Also unlike the biblical account in which the creator rested when his work was completed,

P'an Ku died at the conclusion of his task, and out of his enormous body, our world was created:

His head was ·transmuted into·· mountains,· his breath wind and clouds, and his voice thunder; his left eye became the sun; his right eye the moon; his beard • . was transformed into stars; his four limbs and five extremities into the four quar ters of the globe and the five great mountains; his blood into rivers; his veins and muscles into the strata of the earth, and his flesh into the soil; his skin and the hairs thereon into plants and trees; his teeth and bones into minerals; his marrow into pearls and precious stones; his sweat descended as

1 This is the term which the inhabitants of the Yellow River civilization used to identify their land. It was thought of as the center of the world.

54 55

rain; while the parasites which infested his body, being impregnated by the wind, were the origin of the human race.2

This world which P'an Ku created was ruled over by the Heavenly Emperors, thirteen brothers who each reigned for 18,000 years. The rule then passed to a line of eleven brothers who were known as the Terrestial Emperors.

Nine human emperors followed them and they in turn were succeeded by the Five Ti, and Yao and Shun, the model rulers. Each of these mythical dynasties contributed its inventions and developments to the formation of the civilization of China. .,

The last of the model rulem~ Shun, named Yu his trusted minister to succeed him on the throne. Yu is credited with the establishment of the Hsia Dynasty whose traditional dates are 2205-1766 B.C. The cyclical rhythm of Chinese history began with this still legendary dynasty.

Each- succeeding royal house repeated -the pattern cOf- its predecessor;~a period of strength was followed by a-period of decline and weakness; a point was reached when the internal weakness invited dynastic challenge, and one ruling house was then replaced by another. The last weak ruler of Hsia was deposed in- a revolut-ion led- by T' ahg, the founder of the second dynasty, the Shang. There is a body

2 c. A. S. Williams, Outlines of Chinese Symbolism and Art Motifs {Rutland, Vermont: Charles E. Tuttle Company, 1974), p. 314. 56

of opinion which would give credence to the actual existence of the Hsia Dynasty; it is treated as an historical entity in the traditional literature of China. There is no longer any question concerning the existence of the

Shang Dynasty; it has been confirmed by literature and by archaeological proofs as well.

The dynastic dramas took place on China's Central

Plain in the valley of the Yellow River, the Chinese cradle of civilization. It was a fertile land with a continental climate, hot in summer and cold in winter. The soil is composed of loess, a fine, talc-like material., which was deposited in the Yellow River Basin during the Upper

Pleistocene period. At that time the wind-blown particles were laid down in a wide area and to a great depth; in some 3 places the depth exceeds 150 feet. Lands to the north of 4 the Sh ang ClVl-. . 1 1za. t 10n . _wer_e rna d e_ up o f _ grass 1 an d an d plateaus. At the time of the early dynasties, that no~ dry landabounded in lakes, ponds, and small rivers:

It is, however, still not known when the desicca tion process began in this part of China. In the Huangho Valley, we know that desiccation was not widespread until after the Shang and then only as a

3 M. Tregear, "Animals in China," Animals in Archae ology, edited by Houghton A. Brodrick (New York: Praeger, 1972), p. 150. Loess is still being deposited in the region. 4 Present day Inner Mongolia and the northern parts of Hopei, Shansi, and Shensi Provinces. 57

result of intensive defgrestation combined with climatic deterioration.

This border land lent itself to the herding of animals, an

activity which would eventually be the basis for the wealth

and power of the steppe nomads. The fertile loess-land, on the other hand, encouraged the establishment of early agricultural communities.

It was in the fruitful Yellow River valley that dynastic China began. Here the Shang power was established, centered in the northern part of modern-day Honan

Province; and it was here that the cities of Shang were located. As to the extent of the hegemony of this first historical dynasty, Watson tells us that:

Shang rule probably extended eastwards across the Central Plain of China to the Shantung region, and westwards to the western end of Honan province. Its influence cannot have passed to the south be yond the southernmost reach of the Yellow River, or westward beyondits junction with the Wei at the point where the prQvinces of Shansi, Shensi and Honan join. 6

SKwang-chih Chang, The Archaeology of Ancient China (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1968), p. 355. Li Chi gives supportive data for this assumption. He points out that written records and skeletal remains tes tify to the fact that deer were numerous in the Yellow River basin at the time when the Shang inhabited the regie~ Their presence presupposes the existence of a forested area close by. The Beginnings of Chinese Civilization {Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1957), p. 33.

6william Watson, Early Civilization in China {New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company, 1966), p. 61. 58

This civilization, although not extensive in area, represented a quantum leap in the development of Chinese culture over the Neolithic groups which had preceded it, the Yang-shao and the Lung-shan cultures. The Shang were a truly urban people whose life style differed little from their counterparts in Mesopotamia. There were class dis- tinctions after the introduction of bronze craft, as production of the metal carne under the purview of the aristocracy. The superior bronze weapons enabled those who 7 had them to exert control over those who did not.

Another piece of weaponry which g~ve a distinct advantage to the Shang warrior-aristrocracy was the horse- drawn chariot. As far as it can be determined, this war machine was not a Shang invention. It was probably introduced into China from the west.

The combination of technical---ski-l-l -in building a light, strong, spoke-wheeled vehicle, with the domes tication of the horse as a reliable fast traction animal, of which chariot warfare was the outcome, seems to have taken place somewhere in the North Syrian-Anatolian region around the seventeenth century B.c.8

Shang buria1 sites at Ta Ssu K'ung Ts'un near An-yang and at Hsiao T'un provide evidence for the existence of spoke-

7 owen Lattimore, Inner Asian Frontiers of China (New York: American Geographical Society, 1940), p. 268. 8 Watson, (Editor's Preface), op. cit., p. 7. 59

whee 1 e d c h ar1ots. during Shang t•1mes. 9 Chariots with horses

and charioteer were inhumed in the elaborate burials of the

Shang aristocracy and in sacrificial rites associated with building dedications. 10 Two horses accompanied most of the buried chariots, but four were found in the Hsiao T'un grave. In all, five chariot burials were uncovered at the latter site. 11

The horse which pulled the Shang chariots was a native to China, Equus caballus ferus. This species, the first true horse in the region, is referred to as Przewal- 12 ski's horse. The value which the Shang.placed upon horses is not only inferred by archaeological materials, but it is attested to in ancient literature. The Bamboo

9 Tregear, op. cit., p. 153. War chariots have been found, but no bits, saddles, or stirrups. The assump tion can be made that the horses were used to pull the wheeled vehicles, but were not ridden. 10 Watson, op. cit., p. 48.

11Ibid.,·p. 77. 12 Tregear, op. cit., p. 149. The same source adds this interesting history of the evolutionary ups and downs of the horse in China:

The horse-like Hipparion and the related Proboschip parion both died out before or during the Lower Pleis- tocene . . The Equus sanmeniensis appeared right at the end of the Lower Pleistocene and continued into the Middle Pleistocene. This horse-like animal then became extinct ~nd was replaced by the Equus hemionus, a half-ass or onager, which survived into the Holocene. 60

Books13 in recording the reign of Woo-yih (c. 1158 B.C.) state:

In his 34th year, Ke-leih, duke of Chow, came and did homage at court, when the king conferred on him 30 le of ground, ten pairs of gems, and ten horses.l4

In early China the horse was highly valued for military usage, but it was not employed as the common draught animal wh 1c. h 1t . b ecame 1n . ot h er cu l tures. l5

The development of a warrior-aristocracy brought many changes in its wake. This class was supported by the peasantry, and therefore had time for conquest and the expansion of power. Tribute augmented the &gricultural weal~

There were new patterns of warfare which involved the use 16 of the chariot and expeditions to capture slaves. The history of the reign of Tsoo-keah (c. 1203 B.C.) as provided by the Bamboo Books state that:

In his 12th year, he led a punitive expedition against the hordes of the West; from which he returned in the winter~-- In his l3ti: year,. th~ - hordes--of--the West--came----t;e-make -thel-r-submlSSlon. 17

13 James Legge, The Chinese Classics, Vol. III (Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press, 1960), p. 105. Legge identifies the work as follows: "The Bamboo Books is the name appropriate to a large collection of ancient documents, discovered in A.D. 279, embracing nearly twenty different Works, which contained altogether between seventy and eighty chapters or Books."

14Ibid., Ch. XXVII, p. 137.

l5Tregear, op. cit., p. 152. l6chang, op. cit., p. 236. l7Legge, op. cit., Vol. III, p. 136. 61

The oracle bones tell of campaigns for the express purpose of obtaining captives. One tribe of sheepherders was the particular target of such expeditions; these were the

Ch'iang whose name came' to mean slave. 18 Prusek. " po1nts' out the one distinguishing feature of these people among the barbarian tribes: they made use of the horse. 1 9

Military tactics were not the only segment of life which changed drastically with the appearance of the Shang; commercial life was altered as well. Trade increased, necessitating the use of currency. Currency must be durable, portable, and relatively rare. For the Shang,.. strings of cowrie shells fulfilled all of these requirements. The small mollusk shell began its career as a fertility amulet and became an article of value. 20 This important item of

Shang culture leaves an echo in the excavations at Pazyryk.

Rudenko's finds included many_cowrie shells which he assumes are a holdover from earlier times. In this culture they were-used as-magicamul~ts to -provide protection-against

18H. G. Creel, The Birth of China (New York: Frederick Ungar Publishing Co., 1954), pp. 213-214.

1 9Jaroslav Pr;~ek, Chinese Statelets and the North ern Barbarians in the Period 1400-300 B.C. (Dordrecht, Holland: ·-n~ Reidel Publishing Company, 197l),p. 39: Pru§ek also mentions that the Ch'iang had close affinities to the Karasuk culture of the Altai; such a relationship could suggest the link which might help to explain the strong Chinese influence in that culture.

20creel, op. cit., pp. 90-91. 62

21 the ev1'1 eye and the workings o f ev1'1 sp1r1ts.. . Cowrie

shells have also been found in Scythian graves near Kiev, . 22 at t h e f ar western end of Euras1a.

All of the social, commercial, and military developments placed more and more power and wealth in the hands of the aristocracy. The great influence wielded by the fortunate few in life led to a desire for its extension beyond the grave. To fulfill this desire, well provisioned, luxurious chambers were provided for wealthy corpses, and sacrificed humans and animals accompanied the deceased to 23 his grave. .. Political control rested in the hands of a king and the lords whom he appointed to control the outlying areas of his kingdom. Direct rule would not have been possible, and a tightly controlled political system did not_ exist. The Shang government was a proto-feudal arrangement. which- did-c.:nbt.become .solidified untrl· the next

21 ser:gei I. Rudenko, Frozen Tombs of Siberia, trans lated and with a preface by R. W. Thompson (Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1970), p. 47. 22 J. Gunnar Andersson, Children of the Yellow Earth (London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner and Co., Ltd., 1934), p. 298. Andersson also mentions that the Shang cowrie shell has left a remnant in modern Chinese script; the shell signific is still used in many characters which signify wealth, p. 301. 23 John Hay, Ancient China (New York: Henry z. Walck, Inc., 1973), p. 62. 63

dynasty came to power. 24 Succession in the Shang heredi- tary line passed from brother to brother rather than the usual dynastic succession of ·father to son. At the end of a generation when no brother remained to succeed to the throne, it was inherited by the son of a brother rather 25 than by the son of the ruler himsel£.

Religious beliefs of the Shang included the concept of a supreme being, a chief gcd whose title was Shang Ti; they also believed that the world of nature required offerings. There is a record of the sacrifice of a number of cattle to the Huan River's source; the., earth, the wind, and other powers of nature received sacrifices as well.

There were two goddesses in the pantheon, the Eastern

Mother and the Western Mother, 26 and offerings were made also to the Ruler of the Four Quarters. Watson adds that,

"Sacrifices are made to the East, West and South, but

24 . Watson, op. cit., p. 62. 25 Wolfram Eberhard, A History of China (LosAngeles: University of California Press, 1960), p. 24.

26H enr1. Maspero, La Ch. 1ne Ant1que,. rev1see...... d I apres' les corrections et additions laissees par l'auteur et pour vue de caracteres chinois par Paul Demieville (Paris: Presses Universitaires de France, 1965), p. 135. Maspero tells us that the Western Mother was the daughter of Shang Ti, and he describes her thus: II • la plus celebre est la Dame Reine d'Occident, Si-wang-mow, aux dents de tigre, et a la queue de panthere' qui reside aux lieux ou le soleil se couche." It is instructive to observe that the Mother Goddess was from prehistoric times an eminent diety in Western civilizations, and that in some of the earliest depictions of the goddess, she is seen in association with large feline animals. 64

27 inexplicably, not to the North." The predominent re- ligion of the Shang, however, was ancestor worship. The belief that the spirits of dead ancestors could influence the activities of the living became the basis for complex 28 and elaborate rituals.

The Shang attempt to communicate with their gods and with their powerful deceased forebears created another distinctive mark of their civilization, scapulimancy.

Scapulimancy is a form of divination which employed flat animal bones in its execution; the plastrons of tortoises or the shoulder bones, scapulae, of catt~e. Creel describes the process:

Heat was applied to the back of the shell or bone, and this caused a T-shaped crack to appear on its face. From this crack the diviner decided whether the answer of the spirits was favourable or unfavourable, and announced the result to the king or other person for whom he was divining.29

The oracle thus controlled the prophecy through both technique and interpretati-on~ One· can deduce- from the- for-ego- ing that the diviner held a position of power and importance in the Shang hierarchy.

The communications with the spirits involved a wide range of interests. They were consulted about the

27 Watson, op. cit., p. 60. 28 Creel, op. cit., p .. 128. 29 Ibid., p. 24. 65

proper form of sacrifices; about the advisability of travel; about war, the weather, crops, and health. They were expected to act as hunting and fishing guide; the oracle questions asked where to hunt or fish as well as whether success would follow. Announcements concerning affairs of family and state were frequently made to the spirits, probably in the hope that once informed of a descendant's difficulties, the spirits would provide . 30 ass1stance.

It was for the observance of rites associated with the cult of ancestor worship that the Shapg craftsmen created their most renowned product: ritual bronzes. The vessels which were required for the care and feeding of the ancestral spirits came in many shapes and sizes, and they fulfilled many functions.

Michael Sullivan provides a concise description of form and function:

For cooking food . . the chief vessels were the li tripod and the yen (or hsien) steamer, consisting of a li with a vessel having a perforated base resting on it . . the ting, which has three or four straight legs, is a variant of the li, and like it generally has fairly large handles or-'ears' to enable it to be lifted off the fire. Vessels made for serving food included the two-handled kuei and the yu (basin). Among those for fluids (chiefly wine) were the hu (a vase or jar with a cover), the yu (similar but with a swing or chain handle and sometimes fitted with a spout), the chih (a cup with a bulbous body and spreading lip), the ho (kettle), the tall and

30 Creel, op. cit., pp. 194-195. 66

elegant trumpet mouthed ku for pouring libations, and its fatter variant, the tsun ... , the chia and the chio for pouring and probably also for heating wine, and the kuang, for mixing wine, shaped like a gravy boat, generally with a cover and provided with a ladle. Other vessels, such as the i and p'an were presumably made for ritual ablutions.31 ----

An analysis of the decorative motifs found on these

bronzes indicates that there were a limited number of basic

themes which were repeated over and over again. Variety

lay in improvisation upon them. The most common form seen 32 on Shang bronzes is the t'ao-t'ieh mask, the symmetrical

animal shape whose refined stylization has imbued it with

a puzzle-like quality (Plate 15). The two eyes are always

the monster's most apparent, most easily identifiable

feature. The remaining pieces of the puzzle are sometimes

less obvious, and are open to interpretation. The t'ao 33 t I 1e' h plays tr1c' k s on t h e eye; at t1mes' t h e f ronta 1 h ea d

of an animal is seen, but another look at the same mask will show two animals in profile facing each other.

Li Chi-maintains that~ it ~is an· attempt to illustrate a three-dimensional animal on a two-dimensional surface by splitting the he~d in two and then joining the severed

31Michael Sullivan, The Arts of China (Los Angeles: University of C~l~fb~hia Pr~ss, 1973), p. 32. 32 creel, op. cit., p. 115, points out that the term was not applied to the motif until many hundreds of years after the Shang period.

33 W1'11' 1ams, op. c1t.,. p. 3 7, notes t h a t 1 . t 1s . sometimes called the glutton, as the Chinese character for t'ao t'ieh is the same sign as that for the word "avarice." Plate 15: Shang Dynasty bronze ritual vessel from the 12th century B.C. showing the t'ao t'ieh mask.

(j\ -..] 68

parts in a symmetrical composition.34 Other observers see

the whole animal as being split and rejoined in the same

manner, so that the viewer is presented with a front view

of the face and a pr0file view of the body. 35 The t'ao

t'ieh motif does not limit itself to one species of animal;

many mammals were formed into the partially abstracted 36 shape of the monster mask. Half of the perfectly symmet-

rical mask sometimes can be divined as the next most impor-

tant motif on Shang bronzes, the k'uei dragon. (Plate 16)

These mythical beasts are seen in profile on Shang bronzes,

and they are often placed facing or following each other in

a continuous pattern of stylized animals. Among the other

decorative designs on Shang vessels is the rising or hang-

ing blades motif. These are usually seen on liquid con-

tainers, and sometimes incorporate another common symbol, 37 the cicada pattern.

3 4 L1' ch·l·-, .op. c1' t ~, p. 3 2 •

35walter A.- Fairservis, Jr_,_ The_Origin of Oriental Civilization (New York: The New American Library, 1959), p. 122.

36The present study agrees with Creel, op. cit., p. 115, who maintains that the monster mask employed many different animals as the basic form from which to abstract the motif, and disagrees with RostovtzeV.i. The Animal Style in South Russia and China (New York: Hacker Art Books, 1973), p. 70, who sees only a feline which he identifies tentatively as a lion-griffin. 37H. F. Collins, "Decoration, Function and Contour in Early Chinese Bronzes," Oriental Art (Summer 1966), p. 114. Plate 16: Drawing of t•ao t 1 ieh mask and k'uei dragon. 70

A motif which is typical of both nomadic art and the art of the Shang Dynasty is the opposed bird motif.

The nomadic use of this composition can be seen in the two cut-out leather cocks which decorate a ceramic vessel from

Pazyryk. (Plate 17) A Shang bronze ting (Plate 18) demonstrates one use of the motif by the Shang artist.

Two confronted birds make up the nomadic design, and sets of two opposed birds appear in the Shang composition.

Another typically Shang treatment of the animal shape which was also characteristic of nomadic art, was the superimposition of small animals upon larger apimal figures and the finishing off of the extremities of the large animal 38 with the heads of birds or mythical beasts. (Plate 19)

The Shang marble sculpture in Plate 20 illustrates both the opposed bird motif and the superimposition method; two confronted cocks are carved onto the chest of the sculp- tured owL

Shang art is linear, an art of pattern. Watson links it to what would later be known as the animal art of the steppes. It is derived by composing, resolving and recombining patterns which have their basis in animal forms. 39 The prototype for many Shang bronze designs is found in woodcarving. This observation has been made by

38 w. P. Yetts, "Chinese Contact with Luristan Bronzes," Burlington Magazine (August, 1931), pp. 76-77. 39 Watson, op. cit., p. 106. 71

Plate 17: Earthenware bottle decorated with cut-out leather cocks from barrow 2, Pazyryk c. 5th century B.C. 72

Plate 18: Bronze ting from An-yang, 11th century B.C., Shang Dynasty. 73

Plate 19: Bronze kuang with superimposed dragon design from An-yang, 11th century B.C., Shang Dynasty. 74

Plate 20: White marble owl from tomb at An-yang, Shang Dynasty. 75

numerous scholars in the field, and among the most descrip- tive is that by Fairservis:

The best bronzes are all corners and angles; the grooves square-cut, not rounded; the symmetry precise; the composition exact but flowing withal. It is this angularity of the cutting of the design that calls to mind the art of the woodcarver and suggests the ancestry of the design technique.40

The complex sophisticated designs which ornament the ritual bronzes of the Shang Dynasty indicate a long line of development. The earliest bronze vessels that have so far been uncovered date from the Shang Dynasty, but literary sources credit the Hsia Dynasty with the distinction of introducing the art of met~l working into 41 China. Chang even suggests the possibility that metal 42 lurgy existed during the Lung-shan period. The advanced stage of metallurgy and the technical ability to produce the exceedingly fine pieces points to generations of learning~ invention, and technical advancement. Both, however, seem-to appear full-blown~in the Yellow River valley with the coming of the Shang civilization, There is, of course, speculation that the techniques of bronze casting came to the early Chinese from the great civilizations which had developed in the Near East, but it appears

40F a1rserv1s,. . op. cit., pp. 120-121. 41 williams, op. cit., p. 50, relates that nine tripods were supposedly cast from metal which had been sent as tribute to the Hsia from nine of its provinces. 42 Chang, op. cit., p. 138. 76

that the Chinese and the western methods of bronze casting

are completely different. Chinese procedure was a foundry

craft, related neither to the lost-wax method of the Near

East, nor to the blacksmith methods of the bronze culture 43 in early Europe. Chang posits:

A bronze casting is simply a replica in bronze of a model created in another medium. In the Western tradition this model has typically been made of wax on a clay core, then sheathed in a solid clay outer mold, melted out and replaced with molten bronze (the so-called lost-wax method).44

In ancient China the tecnhique included the use of a clay mold. The complex method is described quite simply by

Hearn and Fong:

A clay matrix was built around a clay core; the decorative designs were then carved in the clay matrix, around which clay piece molds were built. Subsequent ly the matrix was removed, creating the space to be filled by molten bronze.45

The bronze civilization of the Shang has some interesting links with the emerging cultures in Southern

Siberia, which as we have ·seenr·conta-ined--the 'Seedscof the- great nomadic cultures which would dominate a large segment of Eurasia centuries after the Shang had passed into history. The Karasuk people who inhabited the Minusinsk

43 Hay, op. cit., p. 65. 44 chang, op. cit., p. 257, maintains that other materials, wood or bone, for example, could have been used to construct the model, as well as clay. 45 M. Hearn and W. Fong, "Arts of Ancient China," Metropolitan Museum Bulletin #2 (1973-1974), pp. 231-276. 77

region of Southern Siberia from the 13th to the 8th cen-

turies B.C., used a piece mold technique similar to that

used by the bronze-casters of the Shang Empire. There is

evidence that double-sided molds were used. These molds were made of clay, but instead of the carved clay model which was used by the Shang, the Karasuk bronze-maker used

as his model another bronze object which had originally 46 been cast in a carved stone mold.

The bronzes of the Shang point to another possible

link with the Altai tribes; the need for minerals. Bronze

is an alloy of copper and tin. Both of ~hese elements were found as outcroppings in the High Altai where the

Karasuk culture flourished.47 Such easy availability of both metals was not the case in the Yellow River valley.

They did, however, have copper. Li Chi tells us that:

The copper supply seems never to have worried the Bronze Age people of the area since the Shang dynasty.· Old gazetteers recorded many copper mines in this region;~ a recent.::compilation of these records shows· that,_ within- a radius of --30-Q--kilometers.:::o£-·- - An-yang, no fewer than nineteen copper mines were mentioned. 48

The ancient availability of the one metal seems to be supported by geological studies.

46Mikhail P. Gryaznov, The Ancient Civilization of Southern Siberia, translated by James Hogarth (New York·:· Cowles Book Company, Inc., 1969), p. 102.

47Rudenko, op. cit., p. 207.

48Li Chi, op. cit., p. 48. 78

The same gazetteers 49 tell of tin ·production close to the Shang capital, but geologists have not been able to substantiate such claims. Li Chi provides archaeological evidence which indicates that during the Shang Dynasty tin had to be obtained some distance from the production site. He points to the fact that at the An-yang site, tin was found in ingot £orm; this suggests the probability that the mineral had to be imported from some distance away. 50 The suggestion can be made here that the relatively close Altai mountains were the source for the tin ingots at An-yang, and that this trade ralationship was one basis for the apparent contact between the Shang and the

Karasuk cultures.

Another luxury item which was the basis for commercial contact between the river valley agriculturalists and the peoples to the north and west of early China was

Ja. d e. 51 Jade was not available within the confines of

49A gazetteer is either a geographical dictionary or a government appointee who keeps a journal. The exact meaning is not denoted in Li Chi's text.

SOL.1 Ch"1, op. c1t.,. pp. 36 - 37 • 51 Creel, ~op.- cit~, PP~-~-98---99, explains that the designation

Jade . is properly applied to stone of more than one colour and more than one variety of chemical composition. But it is used to translate the Chinese word yii, to which it is not always a complete equiva lent.--In actual practice the Chinese frequently apply the term yii to almost any varient of hard, fine grained stone which takes a high polish. 79

ancient China, and the fact that it was valued and desired by the inhabitants there stimulated trade relationships with Siberia and the mountainous lands of what is now

Chinese Turkestan. The stone was thought to possess magical powers; it was valued even in Neolithic times. The jade rings which were found in Lung-shan burials came from the Lake Baikal region of Siberia. 52 Dynastic China seems to have obtained its supply of jade from riverbeds in

Turkestan,53 in the mountainous regions 'of Yarkand and

Khotan.

Not only trade but burial practices seem to link " early China to her barbarian neighbors. We have already seen evidence for horse burials in the settled, agricultural Shang culture, a fact which promptsthis study to disagree with a statement made by M. W. Thompson in his preface to Rudenko's work. In describing the appearance of the phenomenon of horse burials at the end of the

Bronze Age in Siberia,~he states:

52 Prusek,• II op. c1t.,' p. 98, re f ers to S. V. K1selev,• the Russian archaeologist, who has proposed the theory that an eastern arm of the Karasuk culture, which he calls the Ting-ling tribes, existed in the area between Lake Baikal and the Ob River. He ties these people to the tribes which had been.1riven from China as early as the 12th century B.C. Prusek adds, however, that Kiselev had made "very definitive conclusions based on very insuffi cient material." It is interesting to speculate, however, that tribes which may have had close contact with the Shang finally settled in the region around Lake Baikal. 53Basil Gray, "Treasures of Chinese Art: Recent Archaeological Discoveries in the Peoples Republic of China," Apollo (August, 1973), pp. 126-137. 80

The main change at the end of the Bronze Age is the burial of horses in the tomb, a practice that is assumed to mark the abandonment of a settled, and the adoption of a 'nomadic' way of life.54

The adoption of the practice of horse-burial obviously did

not take on this meaning in Shang China.

Pru~ek follows the same reasoning pursued by

Thompson. He says that the burial of a warrior with his

horse signals a change in culture and heralds the beginning

of a new era. He states that it is seen for the first time 55 in the Maiemiric culture. In order to call this the

first horse and warrior burial, one must discount the Shang • burials which date between 1550 and 1030 B.C. This study

does agree with Pru~ek when he affirms that:

• it always requires a long time before new elements are incorporated into the conservative ritual of burial, and this is always a reflection of some fundamental need in the life of the society concerned. 56

Is it not possible that influences from the Chinese civili-

zations to the south had penetrated these emerging nomadic

cultures, and that, because of the growing importance of

the horse within these societies, horse-burial was one of

the Chinese cultural features which was adopted by them?

54 Rudenko, op. cit., p. xxiv.

55 Prusek,·~ op. cit., p. 92. Rudenko, op. cit., p. 308, has tentatively dated this culture between the 7th and 6th centuries B.C. 56 •v Prusek, op. cit., p. 92. 81

There is also an interesting similarity in human burial practices between stock-raising Altai tribes and peoples of early China. Human burials at Ch'i-chia culture sites show that many.graves contained both a male and a female. The male lies upon his back and the female lies flexed upon her right side. The dates for these graves are tentative, but Chang places them somewhere after the painted pottery culture and before the Chou dynasty, 57 in other words, during the time of the Shang. The Southern

Siberian culture which shows similar methods of entombment is the Andronovo Culture which was prevalent in the Altai region in the middle of the 2nd millennium B.C. Double burials here show regional variations:

In the Minusinsk basin the woman always lies fac ing the man, who has his back to her. In the Ob Valley, on the other hand, the man lies in the usual position on his left side, while the woman lies facing him on her right side.58

At this location, the reason for the change in burial practices is attributed to the changing economic base. An agricultural community was in the process of alteration into a stock-rearing community, with the associated adjust- ments in the relative status positions of men and women.

It could also represent contact between the two emerging cultures of nomad and agriculturalist.

57 Chang, op. cit., pp. 171-172.

58 Gryaznov, op. cit., p. 94. ! ' 82

Before leaving the subject of burial similarities,

one more should be ~ncludedi that is the interment of dogs.

Pru~ek describes the phenomenon as it is seen in Siberia:

A very significant feature of the Karasuk culture . was the importance of the dog. While every barrow contains sheep bones, some have beside them a special barrow for the dog.59

At An-yang some burial pits contained large dogs who were

accompanied in their sacrificial death by large men.

These holes were always placed beneath the burial chamber

where the royal body lay. 60 The dog was also used as the

most common sacrificial animal in the rites which conse- crated a building. In these ceremonies, either.. one dog or 61 a group o f f 1. ve was o ff ere d to t h e sp1r1 . . ts. This

burial ground peculiarity seems to have been one of the

traits shared by the Shang, the Karsuk culture, and later

by the Scythians. Burials in the Dnieper region of South-

ern Russia which ·date c-. 5th to 3rdccenturies B.C. some-.

times contained the remains of dogs. In a tomb in Chertom-

lyk one such animal=.seemsec.to hava:beerLplaced. at .±he_~en-

trance to the chamber to guard its contents throughout . 62 etern1ty.

59 . y Prusek, op. cit., p. 83. 60 Li Chi, op. cit., p. 25.

61Tregear, op. cit., p. 154.

62M. I. Artamonov, The Splendor of Scythian Art (New York: Frederick A. Praeger, 1969), p. 63. 83

The many similarities between the cultures in the

Minusinsk region and the culture of Shang China have been 63 remarked upon by observers in the field. By modern

standards the two cultures were not far apart geographi-

cally, but if one considers the di.fficulties which were

associated with travel in the ancient world, they were in

fact widely separated. Obvious links have been observed

·between them, however. In order to explain this phenome- ; . non, Prusek. proposes that the reg1on along the northern border of China, where the Great Wall would one day be built, played an important role. .. This belt along the Great Wall must have formed a bridge across which articles from the one belt found their way to the other--unless, of course, this inter lying belt was the centre from which they found their way into both the northern and the southern areas.64

63 Loehr, Karlgren, and the Russian scholars Clenova and Kiselev are referred to in this respect by Pru§ek, op. cit., p. 102. In his extensive bibliography, Pru~ek refers the reader to:

B. Karlgren, "Some Weapons and Tools of the Yin Dynasty," BMFEA 17 (1945), pp. 101-144.

Max Loehr, "Ordos Daggers and Knives. New Material, tlas sification and Chronology," Artibus Asaiae. Vol. 12, 1-2 (1949) 1 PP• 23-83.

N. L. Clenova, Karasukskaja kul'tura v juznoj Sibiri, Sibiri, Akademija Nauk SSSR, Sibirskoe otdelenije. Ulan Ude (1964), pp. 263-279.

S. V. Kiselev, Drevnjaja istorija Juznoje Sibiri. 2. ed., Moskva 1951. 64 Ibid. .I ' 89

Plate 24: Carved wooden bridle decorations from Pazyryk, barrow 4, c. 5th century B.C. 90

Plate 25: Bronze tsun, 12th-11th c~ntury B.C. Shang Dynasty. 91

dimensional surface. That is the exact description of the

more obviously split animal form seen in the carving which

is reproduced in Plate 26. The carved riding gear decora-

tions from barrow 1 at Pazyryk are described by Rudenko 67

as two rams facing one another (Plate 27), but they could

more easily be interpreted as the presentation of one

animal in a split form. The fact that both interpretations

can be made by two different observers of the piece indi-

cates another relationship with the t'ao.t'ieh: both can be read either as one front-facing, split animal or as two animals in profile facing each other.

Another visual similarity between~Shang and Pazyryk work is the treatment of the human face. The Shang faces

appear on a bronze ting and may be portraits of barbarian slaves who had been victims of sacrifice. 68 (Plate 28)

This depiction of the human face in Shang art is unusual because in the essentially ani~al art of the Shang, the human animal was rarely used. 69 The human face is also rare in the art of the nomadic peoples, but it does appear as the wooden cut-out decorations on a bridle from barrow 1

67 Rudenko's description can be found with Plate 83, op. cit. 68Basil Gray, "Treasures of Chinese Art: Recent Archaeological Discoveries in the People's Republic of China," Apollo (August, 1973), p. 134. 69 Ludwig Bachhofer, "On the Origins and Development of Chinese Art," Burlington Magazine (December 1935), p. 58. 92

Plate 26: Carved horn frontal plate from Pazyryk, barrow 2, c. 5th century B.C. Plate 27: Carved woodem pendants from Pazyryk, barrow 1, c. 5th century B.C.

\.0 w 94

Plate 28: Bronze ting, 11th century B.C. Shang Dynasty. 95

at Pazyryk. (Plate 29) In making a comparison between

the two, one fact becomes obvious: the Shang bronze did

have a wooden proto-type. The faces in both examples are

flattened out, so that the rounqed head becomes a two-

dimensional object. The treatment of the features is the

same, including the stylization of the ear. The basic

difference lies in the fact that one set of faces is

bearded while the other is beardless.

The remarkable remains at Pazyryk supply another

area for speculation in the form of the tattooed body

which was preserved there. (Plate 30) Ip it not possible

that the white marble tatooed figure which was carved in

the Shang era depicts one of the ancestors of the northern

nomads? (Plate 31) We have seen that the Shang hunted

tribesmen who had a similar culture to the Karasuk of the

HighAlta~. Might not tattooing have been a part of that culture? Li Chi maint~ins that:

The~ sou theFne- origin--of ~thi~s~p:articular__:_cus_tom is probably indisputable, as many of the aboriginal tribes south of the Yangtze River are still tattooing their bodies.70

The present study suggests that, from the evidence we have of the Shang Dynasty, their cultural contacts were primarily - 71 northern and western, not southern. It is much more

70 Li Chi, op. cit., p. 35. 71 It must be noted that there is wide variation be tween the designs on the two figures. The Pazyryk man is decorated with typical animal style art, while the Shang piece is covered with "disintegrated patterns around an eye design near the joints." Ibid., p. 34. 96

Plate 29: Wooden bridle decorations from Pazyryk, barrow 1, c. 5th century B.C. 97

Plate 30: Drawings of tattoos on the body in barrow 2, Pazyryk, c. 5th century B.C. '·

~ (~

fL i )r; ;I /1

Plate 31: Human figure carved in marble found at An-yang. Shang Dynasty.

\.0 a:> 99

likely that the marble figure is a northern rather than a

southern character.

Admittedly, there are unanswerable arguments which

can be raised to refute the comparisons which have been

presented in this chapter. One must recognize the histori-

cal realities: the Shang were separated by distance and

time from the Altai nomads and their cousins on the steppe.

On the other hand, one must recognize the art historical

realities: there are definite parallels between the two.

The present study must share the plaint of T. G. Frisbh:

. certain specifically Scythian ~arly beast types, stylistic conventions and art motifs has provided evidence of close analogy with beast types, stylistic conventions and art motifs in Chinese art of the Shang-Yin and early Chou period . . at the present state of archaeology there exists no link to join the two civilizations so far apart in time and space.72

72 T. G. Frisch, as quoted in Pru§ek, op. cit., p. 135. Chapter 4

THE CHOU DYNAST~, WESTERN PERIOD (c. 1027-771 B.C.)

In his 52nd year, which was kang-yin (27th cycle), Chow made its first attack on Yin. In the autumn, the army of Chow camped in the plain of Seen. In the winter, in the 12th month, it sacrificed to God. The tribes of Yung, Shuh, K~ang, Maou, Wei, Lao, P'ang, and Puh, followed Chow to the attack of Yin. 1

In this manner, the Bamboo Books describes the beginning of

the end of the Shang Dynasty. 2 The reason for the downfall

is presented in the form of a speech by the leader of the

·chou to his officers in the Shu ching, the" Book of Histori- 3 cal Documents:

Oh! my valient men of the west, Heaven has enjoined the illustrious courses of duty, of which the several characters are quite plain. And now Show, the king of Shang treats with contemptuous

1James Legge, The Chinese Classics, _Vol. III, ~Hong Kong-:-~ Hong Kong Universit-y Press~,-~l-960}y p. ~l-41.-- Prusek ---· asserts that the Chou king was also aided by the Ch'iang who had been the prey of the Shang for centuries, Chinese Statelets and the Northern Barbarians in the Period 1400- 300 B.C. (Dordrecht-Holland: D. Reidel Publishing Company, 1971)' p. 39. 2 Dr. George Kuwayama points out the difficulty in assigning a date to this event, as at least eleven choices are available which range from 1122 to 1018 B.C. The year 1027 B.C. seems to be the date agreed upon by modern schol ars, and that is the date which is accepted for this study, Ancient Ritual Bronzes of China (Los Angeles: Far Eastern Art Council of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1976), p. 6. 3 This work is one of the Five Classics of Chinese literature, a semi-historical record which has been a con troversial source for 2,000 years.

100 101

slight the five constant virtues, and abandons him self to wild idleness and irreverence. He has cut himself off from Heaven, and brought enmity between himself and the people . • God will no longer indulge him but with a curse is sending down on him this ruin.4

There is little information about the Chou before 5 they received the Mandate of Heaven, and replaced the

Shang Dynasty with their own. There is some mention of

them on the oracle bones which indicates that they were a

subject people who inhabited the region to the west of the

Shang. According to traditional sources, the Chou capital

was located south-west of the modern city of Sian on the • Feng river. It is a plains area between the Tsinling

Mountains and the Wei River which Pan Ku, the Han historian

described in the first century A.D.:

In abundance of flowering plants and fruits it is the most fertile of the Nine Provinces. In natural barriers for protection and defense it i~ the most impregnable refuge in heaven and earth.

4Legge, op. 294-295.

5The concept of the Mandate of Heaven became basic to Chinese philosophy. The Chinese believed that in order to rule, a dynasty must have the approval of heaven (t'ien); such approval was given and taken away. One of the roles of the ruler was that of intermediary between his people and the gods of nature;_ it was a holy office. If a dynasty became corrupt, the Mandate was taken away and bestowed upon a successful challenger who proved his right to it by defeating the obviously god-forsaken incumbent.

6Pan Ku as quoted in Kwang-chih Chang, The Archae ology of Ancient China (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1968), p. 264. 102

The history of early dynastic Chou is also cloudy.

It is known that their area of control was more extensive

than that of the Shang; to the south it reached beyond the

Yangtse River, to the west beyond the Wei River, and north

to Chihli. This expansion involved the incorporation of many diverse cultures under the sway of the ruling house of the Middle Kingdom. Soon after the establishment of the dynasty, the capital was moved eight miles north of the original site to a city called Hao. ·

The government of the Chou seems to have differed somewhat from that of the Shang. Succession was from father to son rather than from brother to brother, whereas among the Shang, a member of the next generation inherited the throne only if no royal brother were available. 7 A feudal system of sorts had been employed by the preceding dynasty, but the rapid and extensive expansion of the Chou necessitated the refinement and elaboration of the system under their hegemony. · There was a vassal and overlord relationship much as existed in Europe in the Middle Ages.

The king's responsibility was:

• to see to the external defense of the realm, to keep the peace among his vassals, and to see that his vassals did not become so powerful as to menace~his supremacy.8

7wolfram Eberhard, A History of China (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1968), p. 264.

8H. G. Creel, The Birth of China (New York: Frederick Ungar Publishing Co., 1954), pp. 231-232. 103

The Bamboo Books give ample evidence that external defense was a major preoccupation of the Chou. A few quotations which cover a span of about 200 years will be included here to give some indication of the temper of the times:

In his 7th year, the hordes of the west invaded Haou . . In his 21st year, the duke of K'woh led his forces north, against the hordes of the K'iuen, by whom he was defeated and put to flight.9

In his 3d year, the king ordered the great of ficer Chung to attack the hordes of the west.lO

In his 5th year, the duke Seang of Ts'in led his forces against the western hordes, and died on the expedition.ll

In his 25th year, in the spring, in the 1st. 12 month, some of the northern hordes attacked Ts'ln.

One can assume from the above that there wasmighty pressure from the western and northern barbarians upon the

Chou Dynasty. There is a view held by some traditional

Chinese scholars, including Ssu-ma Ch'ien, that the Chou peoples were not far above the horse-rearing hordes themselves, and that culturally -they were much behind the Shang

9 Legge, op. cit., p. 152, gives an approximate date of c. 869 B.C. 10 Ibid., p. 155, gives an approximate date of c. 826 B.C. 11 Ibid., p. 158, gives an approximate date of c. 769 B.C. 12 Ibid., p. 163, gives an approximate date of c. 650 B.C. 104

whom they replaced.l3 Another view put forth by Wang

Kuo-wei suggests that they had a progressive culture of their own, distinct from that of the Shang.l4 One feature of that culture was an advanced technology which aided them in their successful effort to defeat their overlords.

It is true that the Chou had been close to the tribes in the Minusinsk region, and that they had raised horses on their grassy uplands. The western, south Siber- ian style of some of the Shang chariot decorations leads

Watson to believe that the Shang might have employed Chou charioteers with their gear to serve with the Shang • forces.l5 The westerly location of the Chou in the river valleys of Shensi Province made them the recipients of cultural influences from both Shang China and the cultures of Southern Siberia.

The Chou had originally been horse-breeders and horses were an integral part of the warrior-aristocrat's lif-e. The fifth---cnm:r ruler, Mu Wang, was famous fo-r his steeds; traditionally there were eight of them and each bore a distinctive name: "Spurn the Earth" and "Mount

13 w1 ·11· 1am watson, Ear 1 y C1v1· · 1·1zat1on · 1n· Ch 1na· (New York: McGraw Hill Book Company, 1966), p. 63. 14 wang Kuo-wei as mentioned in John Hay, Ancient China (New York: Henry Z. Walck, Inc., 1973), p. 70.

15watson, op. cit., p. 64. '. 105

16 the Clouds" were two. In speaking of his reign, the

Bamboo Books record, "In his 8th year, the chief of the

northern T'ang came to do homage, and presented a very 17 swift mare, which produced the famous Luh-urh." Other

Chou kings received tribute in the form of horse-flesh.

During the reign of King Heaou, the Bamboo Books describe

one such occasion: II he ordered the prince of Shin

to smite the hordes of the west. In his 3d year, the . 18 hordes of the west came, and presented horses." Maspero

provides a small piece of data which sheds much light upon

the position held by the animal at the time. It concerns • the personnel who provided special services for the horse:

"Il y avait des V~t~rinaries . . et de plus des Sorciers 19 pour les chevaux."

Chariots as well as horses were still necessary war materiel for the Chou. They did not take up the practice of fighting from horsebac~ although this seems

16 c. A. S. Williams, Outlines of Chinese Symbolism and Art Motifs (Rutland, Vermont: Charles E. Tuttle Company, 1974), p. 225. 17 Legge, op. cit., p. 150. 18 Ibid. I p. 152. 19 H enr1 . Maspero, La Ch.1ne Ant1que,. rev1see, . , d I apres' les corrections et additions laissees par l'auteur et pourvue de caracteres chinois par Paul Demi~ville (Paris: Presses Universaitaires de France, 1965), p. 117. 106

to have been the method used by their rivals in the surrounding steppeland. Creel posits that it was a reluctance on the part of the Chinese to abandon the long robe of the man of status and adopt the short jacket of the horseman which accounts for the late appearance of horse-back riding among them. 20 Chariots were indispensible, however. The

Chou author of a work entitled, Art of War, advised:

Operations of war require a thousand fast four horse chariots, a thousand four-horse covered wagons, and a hundred thousand mailed infantry.21

Many of these war chariots found their way into burial pits, as during the Chou era chariot-burial became a . . 22 common e 1 ement 1n grave r1tes. The chariot burial at

Chang-chia-p'o consisted of military chariots, but later finds, such as the one at Hui-hsien, are without armament 23 and 1n. d. 1cate t h e use o f t h e c h ar1ot . f or c1v1 . "1 purposes.

As may be discerned from the existence of the feudal state and the warrier elite which have just been described, the class structure had not changed perceptably with the replacement of the Shang by the Chou. Maspero

20 H. G. Creel, "The Role of the Horse in Chinese History," The American Historical Review, Vol. LXX, No. 3 (April 1965), pp. 647-672. 21 Sun-tzu as quoted in Hay, op. cit., p. 71. 22 Hay, op. cit., p. 72. Creel, op. cit., p. 344, mentions a Chou innovation: horses, but not men were sacrificed with the chariots. 23 . . Ibid. I p. 72. 107

tells us that:

La societe chinoise, telle qu'elle apparait a l'&poque des Techeou, ~tait divis&e en deux classes distinctes: en bas la plebe paysanne, en haut la classe patricienne, les nobles.24

Possession of land was the key to wealth in agrarian

China, and land was possessed by those strong enough to hold it. The ruling house parceled out the acres, but the recipient was left with the task of holding on to it.

Given these conditions, it is not surprising that each landholder maintained his own army; he was threatenea by the possibility of revolt by hfs inferiors and conquest • by his superiors.

There were some changes in religious attitudes. 25 The concept of heaven (t'ien) joined that of Shang Ti; the Chou, it will be recalled, claimed the Mandate of

Heaven when they took the throne. Rituals involved with ancestor-worship became more complicated. Ancestral temples became centers of family life, and-the-ancestral temple of the royal house became the center for affairs

24 Maspero, op. cit., p. 89. 25M. E d ouar d Blot . as presente d 1n . Legge, op. c1t.,. Vol. IV, p. 127. The Book of Poetry, which provides many glimpses of life during the Chou era, contains references to both concepts. Biot feels that Shang Ti, the Supreme Ruler, and T'ien, Heaven, are interchangeable, and that both can be translated as having the meaning "God" in the same sense that "Elohim" in Hebrew and "Theos" in Greek mean God. 108

26 of state. Shang records which refer to temples, on the other hand, mention only that they were places where sacri fices were performed. 27 An increase in the use of ceremony and ritual was not the only religious development during the Chou Dynasty; a moral code was also evolving. The concept of virtue and the idea of submission to the will of . . . 28 heaven both began at t h 1s t1me.

Creel maintains that there was a priesthood of sorts made up of retainers who performed.religious offices.

They had charge of keeping up the temples, they composed and recited prayers, and they were skilled in ritual and often assisted and even guided their lords in performing the prescribed ceremonies. But they were always of lesser rank and status than.the person who took the chief part in the ritual.29

The role of the priest as interpreter of oracle bones was no longer required, and this fact must have greatly reduced the power of the priesthood. Eberhard goes so far as to state, "The Chou had no priests." 30 His analysis, however, agrees in substance-:wi th:.. the_ opinion expressed-- in Creel.

It was the use of oracle bones to commune with gods and spirits which has supplied us with much of our

26 Creel, op. cit., p. 336.

27rbid., p. 2or.-

28Michael Sullivan, The Arts of China (Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1973), p. 41. 29 Creel, op. cit., p. 338.

30Eberhard, op. cit., p. 34. 109

information regarding everyday concerns and activities of the people of the Shang Dynasty. It was the early Chou predilection for bronze inscriptions which provides much the same information with regard to them. The situation is provident, but Creel is possibly a bit presumptive when he says, "Indeed there is a sequence which seems almost ordained by providence for the benefit of the archaeolo g1s. t . ,31

The ceremonial Chou vessels were cast for a variety of reasons and contain inscriptions which reflect this diversity. They were made to honor an ancestor, to commemorate a wedding, or to announce a military victory, among other reasons. Some were cast with the same motivation which prompted the aristocracy of the European Middle Ages to commission stained glass windows to be installed in cathedrals; it was a material expression of piety which hopeq to be rewarded with blessings~ The bronze inscrip-

_- -· . -·-"-h-~-H . 32 tions have leftni-storica-1 aata concernlng 1:. ... e __ sl-ting-nu menace, yet another of the perennial nomadic threats from the-North.

31 Creel, op. cit., p. 261. 32 Th e name 1s. seen 1n . a var1ety . o f f orms. Legge, op. cit., p. 259, in a footnote explains the confusion:

I suppose the two sounds are imperfect phonetic expressions of the same sound, which we also have adopted in Huns. Wang Taou says that the Heen-yun of Yin and Chow, the Heung-noo of Ts'in and Han, and the Tuh-keueh of Suy and T'ang, all refer to the same tribes. 110

The conflict between the Chou and the Hsiung-nu is also recorded in the Shih ching. Soffi.e of that record will be excerpted here, as it gives a vital picture of the world of Chou and its contact with the world of horsemen:

Wife and husband will be separated, Because of the Heen-yun. We shall have no leisure to rest, Because of the Heen-yun.33

The four steeds are yoked, The four steeds, eager and strong; The confidence of the general, The protection of the men. The four steeds move regularly, like wings;- 34 The business of the Heen-yun is very urgent . • The son of Heaven had charged us To build a wall in that northern region. Awe-inspiring was Nan Chung; The Heen-yun were sure to be swept away!

When we were marching at first, The millets were in flower. Now that we are returning, 35 The snow falls, and the roads are all mire.

With our prisoners for the question and our captive crowd. We -return, Awe-inspiring 1s Nan Chung~ The Heen-yun are pacified. 6

In the sixth month all was bustle and excitement. The war carriages had been made ready, With the four steeds [of each], strong and eager; And the regular accoutrements had been placed in the carriages.

33 Legge, op. cit., p. 258. 34 Ibid., p. 261. 35 rbid., p. 263. 36 rbid. , p. 265. 111

The Heen-yun were in blazing force, And thence was the urgency.

The Chou Dynasty literature has provided us with historical evidence of contact with the nomads, and their art provides visual evidence. The inscriptions speak of battles, but the style and the motifs speak of another form of cultural contact. Although Early Western Chou bronzes are much like those produced during the late Shang, there are innovations which can be observed. One, which has already been mentioned, is the change in the style and . . . 38 1 ength o f t h e 1nscr1pt1ons. There seems. to have been a growing preference for the use of confronted animals and birds. A number of examples of this phenomenon can be observed in the illustrations in Watson's Ancient Chinese

Bronzes, of which one was chosen to be shown here. (Plate

32) The design which decorates the head of the main animals on this Chou kuei of the late 11th century B.C., is strangely reminiscent- of the exaggerat-ea-antl~ers- of tne

Scythian stag seen in Plate 5. One of the new forms which is credited to nomadic contact is an interlacing animal 39 form. A forerunner of this composition is seen in the

S-shap~~ crested beasts which encircled the Middle Western

37 Legge, op. cit., p. 281. 38 sullivan, op. cit., p. 45. 39 rbid., p. 47. 112

Plate 32: Kuei from the Western Chou period, 11th century B.C. 113

Ch ou t1ng. 40 1n. P 1 ate 33. These early Chou pieces show only

the beginnings of the artistic influence of the nomad upon

the art of China which will inc~ease in the periods to

follow.

Changes in the decoration of ritual bronzes give

one indication of the results of Chinese/nomadic contact;

archaeological finds give another. Even before an excava-

tion begins, the archaeologist can observe the nomadic

influence which came to early dynastic China with the

advent of the Chou Dynasty; the shape of the burial place had undergone a drastic alteration. Shang.. tombs had been huge cross-shaped excavations, but the entombment sites of the Chou were large mounds erected in the manner of the

steppe nomad. 41

Excavations at Chou and nomadic sites have provided additional data, some of which concerns the decoration of the horse. As horsemen met charioteer in battle, each no doubt noted the accoutrements· of the··other~ The ·headgear on Chou horses of c. 8th century B.C. consisted of an ornate face mask and a decorated crest between the ears. (Plate 34) The crest takes the form of the ubiquitous

·t'ao.t'ieh.design yqhich has been noted on Shang bronzes.

The reconstruction of such an ornament was made from

40 Kuwayama, op. cit., p. 54. 41 Eberhard, op. cit., p. 34. 114

Plate 33: Ting from the Western Chou period. 115

Plate 34: Horse's head gear from Chang-chia-p'o, 8th century B.C. Chou Dynasty. 116

42 materials found at Chang chia p'o. From the tombs at

Pazyryk in Southern Siberia, c. 500 B.C., an example of

nomadic headgear has come to light. (Plate 35) It is an

antlered decoration with a face mask and a crest, but here

the crest is shaped to resemble a horned lion-griffin rather than a t'ao t'ieh mask. The similarity between the

two could indicate that the ancestors of the Pazyryk tribes had copied the idea of the decorated headdress from the

Chou. An alternate explanation is that the Chou horsemen received the decorative impetus from the nomad. If one disregards the temporal relationship between Chou and • Pazyryk, the latter analysis may be the more logical of the two. We have seen that the reindeer was probably the first mounted animal among the Siberian nomads, and it is reasonable to assume that a battle mount might be decorated to commemorate that relationship.

It is appropriate that a discussion of the Western

Chou- Dynasty--shmJ.-ld=I-in::tsfi~,wi,th=ca -consideration of the - decoration of war-horses, as the end of this era signaled the beginning of a new and war-like period in northern

China. The barbarians on the borders and the rebellions of strong vassals prompted the removal of the Chou Dynasty 43 capital city further east to Loyang in the year 771 B.c.

42watson, op. cit., p. 65. 43 Eberhard, op. cit., p. 36. 117

P·1ate 35: Horse's head-dress from Pazyryk, c. 5th century B.c. 118

This move heralded the beginning of political and artistic change. Chou power was at ebb tide, but its dynastic position remained. It had not yet lost the Mandate of

Heaven. Chapter 5

CHOU DYNAST~, EASTERN PERIOD (770-256 B.C.)

The good old rule, the simple plan, That they should take who have the power, And they should keep who can.l

That verse tells in simple form the political and social

situation in China during the Eastern Chou period. The

feudal system which had been established by the early Chou

rulers was in the process of disintegration, and the weak- nesses of the Chou governmental plan became.. apparent . After the Shang conquest, feudal boundaries had been

established; mutual trust, friendship and cooperation were

supposed to exist among the many vassals of the king. If

some infraction of boundary or trust did occur, the king's

forces-were charged with correcting the wrong. It was a

beautiful theory; it did not work. The strong devoured

-the '\•leak ,and became stronger.- The Chou ruling house was 2 itself too demoralized to enforce justice. The situation

which bordered on anarchy can be seen in the following

1James Legge, The Chinese Classics, Vol. V (Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press, 1960), p. 114.

2Ibid., p. 113.

119 120

quotation from the Ch'un ch'iu, the Spring and Autumn 3 Annals:

In his tenth year, in spring, in the king's second month, the duke had a meeting with the marquis of Ts'e and the earl of Ch'ing in Chung-k'ew.

In summer, Hwuy led a force, and joined an officer of Ts'e and an officer of Ch'ing in an invasion of Sung.

In the sixth month, on [the day] Jin-seuh, the duke defeated an army of Sung at Kwan.

On the day Sin-we, we took Kaou; on the Sin-sze, we took Fang.

In autumn, an army of Sung and an army of Wei entered Ch'ing.

The army of Sung, the army of Ts'ae, and the army of Wei attacked Tae. The earl of Ch'ing attacked and took them [all].

In winter, in the tenth month, on the day Jin-woo, an 4 army of Ts'e and an army of Ch'ing entered Shing.

The Spring and Autumn period5 was characterized by the absorption of the smaller states by the -larger ones.

The-- second temporal_ division_oL-t.he_ Eastern Chou Dynasty

\•las- called--the Warrin~~States-I_:)er-iod-, anEL-isarbitrarily

3This work is the record of events in the state of Lu between 772 and 481 B.C. The Annals were compiled by Confucius from records which were available to him. In spite of its distortions, this chronicle is a major cource of information~- Wolfram -Eberhard,-- A History of China (Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1969), p. 43. 4 Legge, op. cit., Vol. V., Book I., p. 29. 5 This first temporal division of the Eastern Chou dates from 770 to 480 B.C.; it receives its designation from the Spring and Autumn Annals just cited. 121

dated from 480 to 221 B.C. It was essentially a continua- tion of the previous period, but a shaky balance of power had developed among the seven states who emerged from the years of internecine warfare: the states of Ch'i, Ch'u,

Yen, Han, Chao, Wei, and Ch'in. The fighting continued, but no one of the remaining combatants was strong enough to destroy the other. 6 The Mandate of Heaven remained with the weak state of Chou, which was no longer in contention for real power.

In addition to the feudal conflicts within the society, there were the usual threats fro~ without in the form of barbarian tribes. The surrounding hordes were designated by their geographical locations: the Jung in the West; the Teih in the north; the E in the east; and the Man in the south. The Jung7 tribes were active over a wide area and were not strictly confined to the dynasty's weste-rn -c:bo!O'der:-:s~."-~ _Seven dif-ferent di visions"::uf~--the -Jung. are-~-~- mentioned in the .chronicles of the::Eastern Chou period.

6 chiao-min Hsieh, Atlas of China (New York: M6Graw Hill Atlases, 1973), p. 223.

7Rene Grousset expands on the identity of one of the Jung tribes: Les Hou connus des Chinois a l'aube de l'histoire sont ceux qui habitaient sur la frontiere de la Chine d'alors, dans L'Ordos, le nord du Chan-si et le nord du Ho-pei. H. Maspero suppose que les "Jong du Nord," Pei-Jong, establis a l'ouest et au nord-ouest de l'actuel Pekin, etaient une tribe de ces Hou. Rene Grousset, L'Empire des Steppes (Paris: Payot, 1969), p. 53.

.I 122

The Teih tribes were eventually differentiated as the Red

Teih and the White Teih. 8

The internal and external warfare stimulated tech-

nical development. Horse-power was made more effective by

the invention of a breast-strap harness. 9 The early years

of the Warring States period saw the invention ofthecross-

bow, a weapon similar to the conventional bow, but equipped with a bronze trigger mechanism which enabled it to dis- 10 charge heavy missiles at high speed. Swords made their appearance at this time. It is important to note that the type in use in the 4th century resembles ..the akinakes used 11 by the nomads of the steppe. At some time in this period,

iron was introduced; its early usage was not for weapons of war, however, but for agricultural implements.

One of the most far-reaching changes was introduced by the Ch'in state: the replacement of the heavy chariot by the more mobile mounted cavalry. The location of the

8 Legge, op. cit., Vol. V., pp. 123-126. 9M. Tregear, "Animals in China," Animals in Archaeology, edited by Houghton A. Brodrick (New York: Praeger, 1972), p. 159. Such harnesses did not appear in Europe until about 700 years later, however. 10 John Hay, Ancient China (New York: Henry Z. Walck, Inc., 1973), p. 75. 11 william Watson, Early Civilizations in China (New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company, 1966), p. 85. 123

state of Ch'in on the borders of the Ordas region made it

vulnerable to attack by the mounted nomads, and also

exposed to the new techniques which such contact might

offer. The adoption of horseback riding involved a change

in costume. Not only was the technique of mounted warfare

borrowed from the nomads, but the specialized outfit was

borrowed as well: trousers, peaked cap, and belts with

ornate buckles became part of the uniform of the Ch'in warrior.l2

The volatile Eastern Chou period produced an atmos-

phere of intellectual excitement. The Chinese Classics

were compiled during these years, and philosophy flourished

Confucianism and Taoism were but two of many schools of

thought which were developed during the late Chou. In the

arts it was a time of renaissance.l3 A definite stylistic

change occurred in the 8th and 7th centuries B.C., and

Sullivan attributes it_to the contact with the barbarians.

He points- to-the introduC:tionofcomplex patterns--of-inter-

lacing animal shapes which covered the Chou bronzes of this

period.l4 (Plate 36)

12Grousset, op. cit., p. 52. This reform eventual ly spread-all over China, and caused a revolution in cloth ing style. Grousset tells us in a note on the same page: Le promoteur officiel de cette reforme vestimentaire fut, d'apres Sseu-ma Ts'ien, le roi de Tchao, Wou-ling, en 307.

13Kwang-chih Chang, The Archaeology of Ancient China (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1968), p. 339.

1 4Michael Sullivan, The Arts of China (Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1973), pp. 46-47. Plate 36: P 1 an from the Late Western Chou or early Spring and A'Ut'timn period.

1-' N ,j::>. I 125

Kalgren finds that the new style which developed

c. 650 B.C., the Huai style, was based upon artistic

inspirations emanating from namadic art. 1 5 The Chou/nomad

contact took place during the time when the civilization of

North China was expanding into the Ordos region. Some com-

mon features are pointed out by Chang:

The warfare scene, . is common to the Huai . and the Ordos; both of these styles, further more, contained such curious and specific elements as pear-shaped cells or figures, comma-shaped fig ures, circles on the body of animals, and so forth, indicating an exchange of artistic ideas during this period.l6

William Watson also notes the debt which the Huai style owes

to the art of the nomadic culture to the north.l7 Some of

the features which he credits to the northern source are

the rope and plait patterns, granulation, parallel strokes

on animal bodies, and the use of the spiral convention

when depicting an animal. Many of these patterns and tech-

niques can be observed on the 5th century B.C. chung which

is shown°-in~Plate-37._ The two felines_ atop the bel~l, are a

reflection of nomadic art also. The same pose was employed

by the artist who crafted the animals on the golden cup

from Peter the Great's Siberian collection. (Plate 8) In

addition to the artistic motifs, a change in bronze shape

15Karlgren as mentioned in Kwang-chih Chang, The Archaeology of Ancient China (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1968), p. 338. 16rbid., p. 339 ,. 17william Watson, Ancient Chinese Bronzes (Rutland, Vermont: Charles E. Tuttle Company, 1962), p. 62. 126

Plate 37: Chung from the Spring and Autumn period, first quarter of the 5th century B.C. 127

can be traced to nomadic inspiration. The pien-hu, a bronze vessel design which appeared during the Warring

States period, seems to derive both form and decorative motif from the nomad's flask.l8 (Plate 38)

The buriais at Pazyryk provide evidence of nomadic ties to the civilzation in North China. We have mentioned some of the tentative links in our discussion of the Shang

Dynasty, but with the Eastern Chou Dynasty the association is undeniable. In two of the barrows, silks of Chinese origin were discovered, and in another barrow a Tsin type mirror was found.l9

The exquisite embroidered silk from barrow 5 is decorated with cock and hen pheasants set in a delicate plant motif. (Plate 39) In the nomadic culture it was used as a shabrack covering, but in the Chinese culture silks of this type were specially woven and embroidered for the aristocracy. According to Alekseev, such a cloth may have been prepared for a ' princess on the occasion of her marriage. 20

l8sullivan, op. cit., p. 53.

1 9serge± I. Rudenko, Frozen Tombs of Siberia, translated and with a preface by M. W. Thompson (Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1970), p. 304.

20Alekseev as mentioned in Rudenko, op. cit., p. 30 6. 128

Plate 38: Pien Hu from the Warring States period, 5th-4th century B.C. 129

Plate 39: Embroidered Chinese silk found at Pazyryk, c. 5th to 4th century B.C. 130

The presence of a Chinese mirror in the nomadic barrow is very suggestive. (Plate 40) The mirror does not become a common article of grave furniture in China until the late Chou period; it used to be believed that the item 21 was an Eastern Chou innovation. Later finds have uncovered a primitive mirror at a Shang site which shows the traditional form of round bronze disc with a perforated 22 knob in the center of the back. (Plate 41) The Scythian mirror is much the same type, and before the Shang find, it was assumed by some scholars that it was an example of

Chinese borrowing from the nomadic source. The early date of the first Chinese dynasty suggests that a modification of that interpretation must be made. D. Dohrenwend does suggest that:

. the similarities in decoration between the Chinese openwork mirrors and openwork plaques from the Steppe testify to Sino-Siberian contacts in the late Chou period and to Chinese knowledge of West Asian styles through the intermediary art of the northern nomads.23

Centra-l Asianand-Chinese beliefin the magical properties of the metal mirrors is also a shared feature which suggests that cultural borrowing is present. Taoism became popular during the Eastern Chou period, and it was

21 Chang, op. cit., p. 334. 22 Watson, op. cit., p. 118. 23 . D. Dohrenwend, "Early Chinese Mirror," Artibus Asiae (1964), #1-2, pp. 79-98. 131

Plate 40: Chinese mirror from barrow 6 at Pazyryk. 132

Plate 41: Bronze mirror from the Eastern Chou period. 133

the Taoist superstition concerning the mirror which is used

to explain their abundance in graves of the time. One of

the Taoist ancients is quoted in a later work as describing

the belief:

The essences of the ancient things of creation are all capable of assuming human shape and can deceive men's eyes by the illusion; and often they put mankind to the test. However, they are unable to change their true form in a mirror.24

In present-day Central Asia, the shaman's most common

ritual object is the metal mirror; with it he is supposed 25 to be able to perceive the souls of the dead. The tribal

shaman is the repository of tradition and tribal belief;

as such, his equipment has value as an indication of

archaic shamanistic practice. It might be suggested that

there was an ancient exchange between shaman and Taoist,

and that the exchange is reflected in the metal mirror.

Another item with strong ties to the civilization

of Northern China was found in barrow 5 at Pazyryk, a

spoke-wheeled carriage. The carriage was drawn by four

horses who wore the primitive horse collar which was

developed in China during the Eastern Chou period. The

horses were harnessed in a similar manner, also: one pair

yoked in the center and the other pair linked to thetraces.

24 Watson, op. cit., p. 116. 25 (T)urrell (V.) (W)ylie, "Central Asian Peoples, Arts of," Encyclopaedia Britannica (15th ed.), III, 1122- 1143. 134

Construction of the vehicle shows many features in common

with Eastern Chou types; Rudenko here describes the latter

as compared to his Siberian find:

The wheels of these vehicles are multi-spoked, with twenty to thirty spokes on each wheel, with naves just as in the Pazyryk carriage and with untyred felloes. The draught-pole with forks at the yoke for a pair of horses is also of the same type. In addi tion, the bridles of the draught-horses with bronze, two-piece bits and antler cheek-pieces with a pair of holes are similar to those found in Pazyryk barrows 3 and 4.26

A different find at Pazyryk is linked to a Chinese

cult object which displays deer antlers as part of its

makeup. (Plate 42) The stag antler motif does not appear

in Chinese art until the period under consideration. It is

apparent from an observation of Scythian Art, however, that

the stag was one of its most common subjects. Salmony

rejects the idea that the antler was used symbolically in 27 t h e steppe reg1on. o f sout h ern Russ1a,. b ut t h.1s s t u d y

tends to differ with him on that point. One need only look

upon~_the~-exagg~erated __ antlers_ of _the_gold_ stag from-Kostrom .... --

skaya (Plate 5) to realize that there must have been some

symbolic reason for the dramatic extension of the beast's

antlers. The stag was a revered animal among the Scythians,

26 Rudenko, op. cit., p. 191. 27 Alfred Salmony, Antler and Tongue: An Essay on Ancient Chinese Symbolism and its Implications (Ascma, Switzerland: Artibus Asiae, 1954), p. 20. 135

Plate 42: Tomb guardian from Hsin-yang. Warring States period. 136

an attitude which may have come to them from contact with the remains of the Hittite culture in which the deer was 28 also considered a holy anima1. The symbolic use of the antlers is seen in a wall-hanging at Pazyryk (Plate 43), in which a mythical beast is crowned with a set of stylized horns. Extensive evidence has been presented in this study which indicates that there was contact between the nomadic tribes which produced this piece and the Chinese culture which adopted the symbol. Salmony states without equivoca- tion that, "the motif entered China from the steppes to the 29 northwest during the Late Eastern Chou period."

The antler motif seems then to have made the jour ney from the steppes of southern Russia to the Yellow River valley civilization. Another striking example of such a journey can be seen in the relief model for a clay mold unearthed at Shansi. (Pla-te 4 4) In it the horns of the t'ao t'ieh are being held- by the talons of a bird of prey; only the-talons. are,presentedcas-_representa-tive of -the- complete bird. This reduction of an animal to its aggressive parts is most typical of Scythian art. An example is seen in the design of bridle pieces which have come to us from finds in the western steppe around the Black Sea.

(Plate 45) Both the bridle parts from the west and the

28 rbid., p. 19. 29 Ibid., p. 20. 137

Plate 43: Felt wall-hanging from Pazyryk, c. 5th century B.C. .,· .. ,. '.A. . ~ . ·~ ·. ''~.:,...... i,,~ . .· ·\ '· ' .... ' ,; ·~·.\ ., i t~ r ·}''· i.: .• .' ·,, I ·~;,l; "'''- • - rJ.. •• .. ~.. ~ .. ·:· :~£!:~!..« .. ---.;._ :• ~ ~-, ·>-.. '. . : ;:._.. ~:.· ... , ... . . ---~ I ,..,.,.:..·,_...... ~ ...... lo/'. '··· -·· . "'-'" -· , . . • .. k1::· > •. ~N' , .. :...... --~- .. ·-- *;. • . __J-· ~ ...... _ ...L ..

P.late 44: Pottery relief' model from the Warring States period.

f-' w en

. ' 139

Plate 45: Ornaments from horse-trappings found in the Black Sea region. C. 5th century B.C. 140

pottery model from the east are dated in the 5th century

B.C.

Between the years 230 and 221 B.C., the Ch'in state 30 conquered each of th~ other six powers. It had already put an end to the charade of Chou rule by destroying that state in 256 B.C. The Ch'in, it will be remembered, were the people who introduced the use of cavalry into China.

It is instructive to observe that it was a nomadic technique which influenced one of the most momentous events in Chinese history: the Ch'in unification of the empire.

30H . h s1e 1 op. cit. 1 p. 223. Chapter 6

CH'IN DYNASTY (220-207 B.C.)

HAN DYNASTY (202 B.C.-220 A.D.)

Ch'in has the same customs as the barbarians. It has the heart of a tiger or wolf. It is avaricious, perverse, eager for profit and without sincerity. It knows nothing about etiquette and virtuous conduct and if there be any opportunity for material gain, it will disregard its relatives as if they were animals.l

Such was the judgment of a defeated aristocrat. The Ch'in,

like the Chou before them, were looked upon as semi-

barbarians who erupted from the obscurity of the Wei River

valley, the borderland with the mounted nomads of the

steppe, and wrested the power from the more cultivated, if

more effete rulers of the east. The short dynasty, 221-

206 B.C., was brutally pragmatic. This feature was the

reason for both the success and the failure of the Ch'in.

Centralization of .. the powers of government was

the most important innovation in the Ch'in period. Rather

than the independent states of the Eastern Chou or the

feudal system of the Western Chou, the Ch•in rulers estab-

lished an imperial, centralized government. Along with

centralization came standardization; standards were set for written language, coinage, weights and measures, and axle

1 John Hay, Ancient China (New York: Henry Z. Walck, Inc., 1973), p. 79. The original source of the quotation is not given by Hay.

141 142

lengths on wagons. Standards were also set for thought:

of the Hundred Schools of philosophy which had blossomed

during the Eastern Chou, only one, the Legalist philosophy '2 was allowed to exist. The texts of the others were burned

and discussion was banned. The only material which openly

remained after the burning of the books dealt with techni-

cal subjects, or with medicine, divination, or agriculture.

The centralized power wielded by the Ch'in allowed

them to perform fantastic feats of construction. The Great

Wall was completed which linked the defensive fortifica-

tions begun by border states. The Wall was about 1400 miles long; it began in the southwestern part of Kansu

province and ended in southern Manchuria. In addition to

the protection which was afforded by the huge undertaking,

it also provided a physical expression of the separation

between-the Chinese -an~ the-non-Chinese cultures.

The GreatcWall was one of the wonders_of the

ane-i:en-t:-wor-ld,=but::-ano-ther:--practical exploit which was performed under the Ch'in was the building of a system of roads and canals which hastened transport and facilitated 3 the supply needs of the growing urban populations. The

2 The Legalist philosophy was as pragmatic as the Ch'in state in which it was reflected. Their idea of an ideal state was one in which the citizens were uneducated and blindly obedient to the will of an omnipotent ruler. Wolfram Eberhard, A History of China (Los Angeles: Uni versity of California Press, 1969), p. 66. 3chiao-min Hsieh, Atlas of China (New York: McGraw-Hill Atlases, 1973), p. 227. 144

So successful were they that later generations of Chinese refer to themselves as "men of Han," even though the word

China finds its root in Ch'in, the dynasty which forceably 6 shaped it,

The machinery of centralized government was main tained, but some vassal kingdoms were reinstituted in the distant border regions of the empire. The exaction of harsh taxes, massive forced labor, and severe punishments, which allowed the relentless Ch'in to shape an empire in the space of fifteen years, could be reduced by the Han now that the empire was a reality. The bureaucracy which is so much a part of any large, centralized governmental structure was very much a part of Han China, and its mem bers constituted a new elite. An honored place in the bureaucracy was obtained through a merit system which 7 greatly resembles the civil service system of today.

Another basic change which came with the establishment of the Han Dynasty was the replacement of the Legalist philosophy with that of Confucius. We have seen that

Confucianism was one of the ethical systems which was developed during the Late Chou period; it was this system, in an altered form, which became the basic Han governmental philosophy. Confucian scholars became public servants

6Hay, op. cit., p. 86. 7 Eberhard, op. cit., p. 78. 145

and the philosophy which stressed morality, loyalty, 8 propriety, and benevolence helped to solidify Han rule.

One important feature which did not change between

Ch'in and Han was the expansionist posture of the state.

Conquests were made in the territories to the south of the empire which were then controlled through local supporters.

The nomadic peoples in the north and west were frequently encountered and defeated as the Han Empire expanded into their territories. Hsieh mentions the most important of these tribes:

These peoples included the Yueh-chih in Liang, the Tung Hu in present Manchuria, and the Hsiung-nu in Mongolia. Of these, the Hsiung-nu, who inhabited the cold steppe and semidesert of the Mongolian Plateau, presented the greatest threat to the Hans.9

The tactical maneuverability of the mounted Hsiung- nu had posed a threat to the agricultural Chinese ever since they first appeared on the borders in the 5th century

B.c. 10 The menace increased when they were able to form a triba;Lconfederation which_ was centered in the Ordos to match the newly unified Chinese empire beyond the Great

Wall. The first Han ruler discovered a stratagem by which

8 rbid.

9Hsieh, op. cit., p. 227.

10 • If Prusek posits that the Hsiung-nu replaced the "Ordos culture" in the east just as the Sarmatians suc ceeded the Scythians in the west. Jaroslav Pru~ek, Chinese Statelets and the Northern Barbarians in the Period 1400-300 B.C. (Dordrecht-Holland: D. Reidel Publishing Co . , 19 7 1 ) , p . 114 . 146

he was able to buy time in the contest: he offered a

Chinese princess as marriage partner to the leader of the

Hsiung-nu.ll The wars continued intermittently, neverthe

less, with great loss of life on both sides until the Han

emerged as the victor in the struggle, and the last of the

Hsiung-nu surrendered in 52 B.c. 12

Expansion westward brought the armies of the Han

Dynasty through the Kansu Corridor into the Tarim Basin.

In order to hold this commercial gateway, the Han estab

lished fortified garrisons at oases along the way which were manned by both permanent settlers and armed warriors.

The presence of these outposts increased tension between

the Chinese and their nomadic neighbors. 1 3 It was a pre view of the westward movement across the American plains: except that silk-laden camel caravans rather than settler

laden wagon_trains were the object of contention~

Trade-and-commerce had become vital to the life of the -Hari~~Dynas ty ~- · Chines-e &ilK---wa&:--t.-he-:---i-Eieal.---predu-et: it was unique, desirable, valuable, and most important, light.

It became a necessary luxury in the wardrobes of the Roman

Empire, the western counterpart of the Han. What came to be known as the Silk Road is described by Hay:

11Eberhard, op. cit., pp. 75-76.

12rbid., p. 90.

13Hsien, op. cit., p. 229. 147

The camel trains laden with silk-bales that left the Han capital trekked out along the Kansu corridor, through Wu-wei and Tun-huang and onwards north and south of the Tarim Deser4 basin, through Samarkand and on to Antioch •• 1

The outside world's demand for silk was one basis for Chinese foreign contact during the Han Dynasty, and the Chinese need for horses was another. The fact that the cavalry method had been adopted increased the need for horses, as did the sudden expansion of Chinese military might. Nomadic and Chinese need outstripped the supply of the small local breed, so another source was tapped: Fer- ghana. This land lay two thousand miles west of the Han border, in modern-day Afghanistan; it was the land of the

Heavenly Horses. As a result of a vast military·expedition in the year 102 B.C. the famous "blood-sweating horses" 15 were introduced into China.

W. Perceval Yetts, in an essay which deals with the similarity between Chinese and Luristan bronzes, suggests that the importation_of the western breed into Han China resulted in an artistic as well as an equine cross-: breeding~

He connects the original breeding ground of the celestial horse with the territory occupied by the people who produced the Luristan bronzes, and goes on to state:

14 Hay, op. cit., p. 99. 15 Ibid., p. 101. 148

The final argument for Chinese contact with Luris tan bronzes is, of course, the plausible surmise that the superior horses captured in Ferghana were accom panied with the trappings peculiar to their place of origin.l6

As the photographic comparisons show (Plate 46), the sleek-

ly curving heraldic animals on the Han and Luristan bronzes

are strikingly similar, and do suggest the possibility of

adaptation of a theme.

The bronze finds at Luristan present archaeologi-

cal, chronological, and art historical problems which can

only be mentioned briefly in this study. They first came

to the attention of the art world in the late 20's and

early 30's of this century. The objects did not come to

light as the result of scientific excavation rather they

were the fruit of treature hunts by the Lur tribesmen

themselves. There has been little organized digging in

the area, but much tribal treasure hunting. The origins

- of c:_the-~peopl"e who=-±nhabi-t-- the .:Lur,istan region -ef the Zagros

mountains; the descendants-of the bronze-makers,-has-not

been determined. A 1931 suggestion linked them to the

Kassites, but the majority of the objects seem to date

from about the 9th to the 7th century B.C., which is well beyond the -Kas-si~e-s 1n -tim.e-. 17 ~-rt--was--i:n--th:e early--yea-rs

16 w. P. Yetts, "Chinese Contact with Luristan Bronzes,'' Burlington Magazine (August, 1931), pp. 76-81. 17 R. M. Carless, "Notes on Luristan Bronzes," Apollo (July, 1965), pp. 26-31. 149

Plate 46: Top, Han bronze ceremonial axe-head. Left, Luristan bronze object. Right top, Han bronze object. Right bottom, 2 Han bronze buckles. 150

of the 8th century B.C. when the Scythians swept across

the Caucasus Mountains, and their presence was felt

throughout the Near East for the hundred years which fol-

lowed. It will be remembered that for a quarter of that

century they inhabited the region around Lake Urmia which

is located just to the north of Luristan. The suggestion

must be made that the bronze-workers in Luristan may have

been an off-shoot of the Scythian peoples whose artistic

motifs may have already been influenced by those of China.

Li Chi has proved that as early as the Shang 18 Dynasty the Chinese employed the heraldic animal theme.

(Plate 47} In this early Chinese representation of the

motif, the two animals are shown with open mouths which

seems to be a Far Eastern addition to the Near Eastern motif. The earliest representations of this composition

come from the Sumerian civilization in southern Mesopo-

tamia. __ • Here the nature of the motif .lent itself to the

illustration of -an important episode in -the Gilgamesh -

Epic, and it seems to have been employed for that purpose

in the mosaic design on the famous Harp of Ur from Early

Dynastic Sumer (c. 3000-2340 B.C.). The fact that the purpose was -to -illustrate seems to have -dictated a natural-,_ • istic approach to the Sumerian artist.

18 Li Chi, The Beginnings of Chinese Civilization (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1957), p. 29. 151

J' ._., ...... ~~'i' ·~··J,;

Plate 47: Ink rubbing from Shang period. 152

A comparison between Plate 48, a bronze talisman

from Luristan, and Plate 49, a Han sabre~guard, points to

a China/Luristan rather than a Sumer/Luristan association.

In both the Chinese and Luristan examples, the motif is

used in a symbolic rather than an illustrative manner.

The figures have been abstracted in both. Animal forms

spring from the temples of the human head in eachrendition.

The animals are open-mouthed. Because of these surprising

links between the two expressions of a motif, it might be

assumed that some flow of influence must have existed

between the two cultures. The discovery of the early

expression of the motif in China prompts this study to

disagree with CarlessJ suggestion of a simple Luristan

influence on Han China. She states:

. the typically Luristan motif of heraldically confronted animals continued to find expression in the East ~-±n southern-Siberia and in China, where it is thought to have had an influence on the bronze work of the Han period.l9

by way of the Scythians. Another explanation should also

be considered: the possible re-introduction of the theme

into China from Luristan which resulted in the Han hybrid.

Plate 50 provides still another artistic tie between Han China and the nomadic cultures. The animal body of the jade ring has been forced into the same

19 Carless, op. cit., p. 28. 153

Plate 48: Bronze talisman from Luristan. 154

;"-,

, /· ,_

:. ~, ),~_

·'

.. 155

Plate 50: Jade ring in the form of a curled beast, Han period. 156

unnatural coil which is often seen in nomadic representa-

tions. (Plate 10) The surface decorations on the body of the beast are done in the same manner which a nomadic

artist commonly employed to define an animal's rib-cage.

(Plate 8)

A link of another sort is provided by a comparison

of the reserve carvings which decorated the walls of the 20 tomb of Wu Liang-tz'u in Shangtung and a golden frontal

which adorned a Scythian bridle in Southern Russia. The

bottom register of the Wu Liang Tz'u illustration contains

the figures which are of interest to this study. (Plate

51) They are the two mythological characters, Fu-hsi, who is seen holding the square, and his sister Niu-kua, who holds the compass. According to a Chinese myth, these 21 two were t h e co-f oun d ers o f ClVl. "1" lzatlon. . . T h e b elngs . are half-human and half-snake; their snake-like tails

intertwine.

20 The illustration from the Wu Liang-tz'u tomb is an ink rubbing of the reserved figures. The sculptor had hollowed out the stone from around the design and the plane surface which remained has been transferred to paper or a like material. 21 Rene- Grousset-,---The--eivilizations of t:he East: China, translated by Catherine Alison Phillips (New York: Cooper Square Publishers, Inc., 1967), p. 131. Thematerial which is used here to support the theory of early Chinese/ nomadic exchange in the field of art was obtained from the source cited, but that does not mean that Grousset agrees with the hypothesis. He is one of the scholars who is opposed to the theory. 157

Plate 51: Ink rubbing of the relief from the tomb of Wu Liang-tz'u, Han Dynasty. 158

A half-human and half-snake creature also figures

in Scythian mythology, not as the founder of civilization,

but as the ancestress of the Scythian people. The story 22 is told by Herodotus in Book rv. Heracles, while search ing for his lost mares, encountered a strange female whose

form from the waist upward was that of a woman, and from

the buttocks downward was that of a serpent. The creature

successfully schemed to become pregnant by the always

obliging Greek hero, and in due time she became the mother

of Scythes, progenitor of the race of Scythians. It may

be this snake-bodied goddess who is portrayed in the bridle

piece which is illustrated in Plate 52.

A shared mythical, half-snake personage may be considered a tenuous link, but the most apparent examples of the borrowing of artistic motifs also occurred during the Han period. These took the form of a new naturalism

which became a part--of tlie -Han- styl&i- and. which owes its c- existence to the nomadic tradition. (Plate 53) It is seen quite clearly in the eager adoption of the animal style by the Chinese bronze~caster. Expressions of the

Han animal style are obvious in the harness mount which depicts a wolf-pack attack upon a deer; this is a 1st century B.C. work which was unearthed at Shih Chai Shan,

22 Herodotus, IV. 8-10. 159

Plate 52: Scythian bridle frontlet, 4th century B.C., found at Tsimbalka kurgan. Greek workmanship. 160

Plate 53: Bronze deer from the Han Dynasty period. 161

. . 23 1n Yunnan Prov1nce. (Plate 54) The same conventional

presentation is seen in another bronze ornament which can

be regarded as a total repetition of the motif with the

only change being in the cast of characters; in this work,

the carnivores are tigers, artd the victim is a boar.

(Plate 55) This piece is dated at about the same time,

2nd to 1st century B.C., and was found at the same site.

The most direct contact between the nomads of the

steppe and the agriculturalists of the Yellow River valley occurred during the Han Dynasty. The Hsiung-nu of the

Ordos region were ever-present: the constantly changing relationship was either one of conflict, of negotiation, or of detente. Cultural exchange between China and the nomad was no longer a nebulous possibility, it was a demonstrable fact.

23 Wat-Son, op. cit., p. 113.---=- 162

.. +ls:: 111 ~ s:: 1-t 0

(J) Ns:: 0 1-t Ill.. 163

•• Chapter 7

SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS

A number of things should be distilled from this

gathering of data. The element of geography is not the

least among them. The geography of the steppe allowed,

indeed invited, population circulation and with it the

circulation of ideas; both flowed from east to west and

from west to east for millennia. The swirling designs on

Neolithic painted pottery made the trip at an early date

and the invention of the spoke-wheeled chariot in the west did not precede by many years its appearance in the

east. When the region became the domain of nomadic

tribes, communication quickened. Advances in horse tack,

the improved bridle designs and the invention of the

stir::r_up, . spread rapidly from the::-eastern -~nd of the··

steppeland to the western end.

Geography was also the basis for the choice of

life-styles among the peoples under consideration. The

Yellow River basin molded an agricultural population while the steppe demanded the adaptation of its inhabi tants to a nomadic existence. The development of the two cultures occurred within the same geographical region, and therefore critical contacts were made during the formative years of each culture, and contacts continued

164 165

when the cultures reached maturity. The result was the

existence of contiguous cultures whose modes of living

differed considerably, but who shared features in common.

The tribes of the steppe exhibited what has come

to be called the "Scythian culture" because most of the

information concerning the habits of the nomadic people

comes from Herodotus' account of that tribe. The fact

that these people inhabited a range of territory which

stretched from the shores of the Black Sea to the border

land of China has allowed common traits to be observed

among groups who were far apart geographically. It has

been the aim of this study to provide evidence of contact

between the people of the steppe and the people of early

dynastic China, and to demonstrate how the art of both

reflected the contact.

The "animal style" was an element in Scythian

and Chinese art, but it is not the mere portrayal of

animals which links nomadic art with the art of the Yellow

River; the similarity lies in the manner of that protrayal.

Animal life was a common element in all ancient art. Man's first artistic efforts, the cave paintings of the

Palaeolithic era, are depictions of animals. The first civilizations are rich with animal art. It must be remembered that man was the endangered species before his organizational and technical expertise placed him in the position to control the stronger, more efficiently 166

reproduceable animals. Before this time, man and his

civilizations had·only a toe-hold on the planet. It

belonged to the beasts which he portrayed in his art.

This disputed dominion was acknowledged i"n the art of

early man.

Archaeological and literary as well as artistic

factors indicate a rel'ationship between the nomadic

culture of the steppe and the agrarian culture of the

Yellow River valley. During the early dynasties, the

relationship is admittedly hazy, but by the Han Dynastic

era, the interaction is stark and supportable. Three

possible conclusions can be considered to explain the

obviously long-term interrelationship between the nomads

and early China. The first is that there was direct

contact and direct cross-cultural influence. Second,

that there was an intermediary culture which received and

passed on influences from both groups. Third, that there

was a corrlliion source which was the fountainhead for the

artistic performance in both cultures.

Many clues have been presented which indicate that

contact took place between China of the Shang dynasty and her neighbors in the steppeland, in the Altai mountains, and in the region around Lake Baikal. The nature of the contact is problematical. It is postulated that an as yet-to-be-discovered cultural source was the fountainhead for the culture of the Shang and for that of her neighbors 167

to the north and west. An alternate theory which proposes that the contacts were made through intermediary groups is a tempting one for this earliest of the dynasties.

The Shang trade in tin and jade may have stimulated the activities of an intermediary link in a trade chain which transferred more than metal and shell between the two groups with which it dealt. Either theory could explain the existence of common cultural traits, artistic motifs, and technical skills within groups which were separated by such great distances. There is primary evidence of direct touch between the Shang and her pastoral neighbors; the oracle bones, early China's first written communica tion, speaks of it. However it was accomplished, there is a wealth of evidence which says that liaison of a kind took place.

Burial practices of the Shang, her Altai neighbor~ and the later Scythian culture exhibit traits in common.

The burial of a female with a male was one element which was seen in all three, and mass sacrifice was a feature shared by the Shang and the Scythian cultures, alike.

Horse and dog interments were part of the burial cult of the Shang, the Altai tribes, and the Scythian people.

The Shang and the Karasuk metal craftsmen used a similar bronze-casting procedure: the piece mold tech nique. Some of the bronze items which were cast exhibited related shapes and decorative motifs. The art of the 168

Shang Dynasty and nomadic art are related through basic approach to composition, through technique and through motif. In composition nomadic and Shang artistic produc tion is basically symmetrical. The two are linear in technique and both can be linked to a woodcarving ancestry.

A number of common motifs have been observed.

The most suggestive ties between the art of the nomad and the art of the Shang appear in finds from the tombs at Pazyryk which date about five hundred years after the Shang Dynasty passed into history~ The relationships were too strong to ignore, however, and they have been discussed as art historical realities while keeping in mind the temporal separation. The t'ao t'ieh mask, that hallmark of Shang bronzes, was echoed in the woodcarvings at Pazyryk. Carvings of wooden faces at the southern

Siberian site are surprisingly similar to those found on a Chinese tingccccof~=-Shang_ date-.-- The_ preserved tattoos on a nomadic body suggest a link with the tattoos carved on a marble statuette from An-yang.

In a consideration of the nomadic contacts with the Chou Dynasty, an unproven common source theory need not be considered. Strong evidence exists which points to direct contact. The western Chou Dynastic period shows increased nomadic influence in the culture. The Chou, as a people, were close to the nomadic tribes geographi cally and culturally. They introduced the use of the 169

turnulus grave, a nomadic burial custom, into China proper.

The patterns on ritual bronzes began to change as the

Chinese craftsmen adapted nomadic designs and absorbed

them into their own artistic vocabulary. The Eastern

Chou era is rich with evidence of cross-cultural influence.

The Chinese adopted both the manner of dress and the method

of warfare of their nomadic enemies; pants replaced long

robes, and mounted warriors replaced charioteers. The

sword, much like the Scythian akinakes, became part of

Chinese weaponry. Trade between the sedentary Chinese

and her nomadic neighbors must have been extensive during

this time. Tangible evidence is seen in the burials at

Pazyryk. The artistic renaissance which occurred during

the Eastern Chou period is in part attributed to influence

from neighboring people; new patterns, motifs, techniques,

and bronze shapes were introduced which echo the nomadic

source.

During. the: :expansioni-st,- trade--.oriented.Han Dynasty

there was an explosion of contact. Han caravans moved across nomadic territory on their trek west, and Han growth absorbed tribal lands on her northern borders. A new diplomatic relationship was achieved which altered the nature of the association; the Chinese bride was

introduced to the nomadic leader. The daughter of a

Chinese aristocrat frequently became an element in negoti ations as the possible nuptial partner for a tribal 170

chieftain. A new motivation, the Han need for horses, extended both the primary contact with nomadic groups and the secondary contact with civilizations further to the west. Han art exhibits the total adoption of the animal style, not merely the adaptation of motifs. There is general agreement that the Chinese of this period associ ated with and were influenced by their nomadic neighbors.

Much evidence has been furnished in this study which lends strong support to the thesis of nomadic/

Chinese contact and cross-cultural influence from the

Shang to the Han eras. ·It has come from both literary and archaeological sources. The most important confirma tion, however, has been seen in a comparison of the art

0f the steppe horseman and the art of the early Chinese.

Contact occurred. Influences have been observed.

The nature of the contact which caused the influences is st·ill an-open-cquestion, -but some~conclusions can be drawn from the evidence presented. During the Han Dyna$ty, communication between the nomad and the Chinese was direct and the borrowings extensive. During this period, there are indications that China borrowed from the far western tribes as well as from the border people; these borrow ings undoubtedly came from secondary contacts. The Chou were in constant touch with the border tribes; the remains at Pazyryk also indicate a transference of goods by some means. The contact between the Chou Dynasty and the main 171

body of steppe peoples must have been through the inter mediary of the border tribes who had contact with both the. sedentary Chinese and with their tribal relatives further to the west and north. There is undeniable evidence of

Shang links to the nomadic peoples and to the groups who inhabited Southern Siberia before the development of nomadism. Direct contact is unlikely. The possibility of an older culture which influenced both groups cannot be totally discounted, but the transmission of traits by indirect contact is the most likely conclusion. BIBLIOGRAPHY

172 173

SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY

1. General

Andersson, J. Gunnar. Children of the Yellow Earth. Studies in Prehistoric China. London: Kegan Paul Trench, Trubner and Co., Ltd., 1934.

Artamonov, M. I. The Splendor of Scythian Art. New York: Frederick A. Praeger, 1969.

Borovka, Gregory. Scythian Art, trans. by V. G. Childe. New York: Paragon Book Reprint Corp.oration, 1967.

Braidwood, Robert I. "The Agricultural Revolution." Reprinted from Scientific American. San Francisco: W. H. Freeman and Co., Sept. 1960. Canby, Courtland and others, eds. The Epic of Man. New York: Time Incorporated, 1961. Carter, George F. Man and the Land. New.York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1968. Chang, Kwang-chih. The Archalology of Ancient China. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1968. Creel, H. G. The-Birth of China. New York: Frederick Ungar_ ..Publishing--Co. ,-1954~.---

Dent, Anthony •. n ·The Horse' Through'Fifty Centuries of Civilization. New York: Holt, Rinepart and Winston, 1974. Eberhard, Wolfram. A History of China. Los Angeles: University of Cali~ornia Press, 1969. Fairservis, Walter A. Jr. The Origins of Oriental Civilization. New York: Vantage Books, 1959. Fessler, Loren and the Editors of Life. Life World Library. China. New York: Time Incorporated, 1963.

Frankfort, Henri. The Art & Architecture of the Ancient Orient. Baltimore: Penguin Books, Inc., 1970. 176

(W)ylie, (T)urrell (V.) "Central Asian P~oples, Arts of." Encyclopaedia Britannica. 15th ed., Vol. III.

2. Catalogs

"The Chinese Exhibition. A pictorial record of the Exhibition of Archaeological Finds of the Peoples's Republic of China." Kansas City, Missouri: The Nelson Gallery - Atkins Museum, 1975.

"From The Lands of The Scythians." The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, No. 5, 1973/1974.

Hearn, M. and Fong, W. "Arts of Ancient China." The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin; No. 2, 1973/1974.

Kuwayama, George. Ancient Ritual Bronzes of China. Los Angeles: Far Eastern Art Council of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1976.

3. Journals and Periodicals

Bachhofer, Ludwig. "On the Origins and Development of Chinese Art," Burlington Magazine, December 1935, pp. 250-64.

Carless, R. M. "Notes on Luristan Bronzes," Apollo, J~ly 1965, pp. 26-31.

Collins, -H. -E.- -"Decoraticon 1 -Function~-:and_Contour in -

Early c_Chinese --Br-en-zes-:t-::11; Orienta~Art,- Summerc~-1-9 66-=; Co pp. 114~17.. '

Creel, H. G. "The Role of the Horse in Chinese History," The American Historical Review. LXX, No. 3. (April 1965)' 647-72.

Dohrenwend, D. "Early Chinese Mirror," Artibus Asiae, 1964, No. 1-2, pp. 79-98.

Gray, Basil. "Treasures of Chinese Art: Recent Archaeological Discoveries in the People's Republic of China," Apollo, August 1973, pp. 126-37.

Hartman, J. M. "Animal Style Art at Asia House, New York," Oriental Art, Summer 1970, pp. 186-90. 177

Klein, E. "Barbarian Art of Scythia," Graphis, 29, No. 167 (1973-4), 260-67.

Loehr, Max. "Ordas Daggers and Knives. New Material Classification and Chronology," Artibus Asiae, 1949, pp. 23-83. '/ Prusek,. Jaroslav. "The Steppe Zone in the Period of the Early Nomads and China of the 9th-7th Centuries B.C.," Diogenes, 54, Summer 1966, pp. 23-46.

Tizac, H. d'Ardenne de. "R~v~lation d'un style animal Archaique: les bronzes du Louristan," Art et D~coration, January 1931, pp. 13-20.

Yetts, W. P. "Chinese Contact with Luristan Bronzes," Burlington Magazine, August 1931, pp. 76-81. APPENDIXES

178 i:'

1. Tarim Basin. 2. Yarkand (Soch'e). 3. I

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..... co 0 • Voronezh •Frequent Kurgan

~ ~ Kharkove Ilyintsy r • Cherkassy • Zhurovka• b,,,..;.,.,"'

Kirovogra) • ~-1'· • D nepropetrovsk Melguno ra~nokutsk• . Ale. ndropol• ZAPOROZHE h mlyk • Solok · K "'T·st a lk a '\ Olb;, 0 M

BLACK SEA

1-' 00 1-' ,,. THESHANG OR YIN DYNASTY, CA. 1110 B.C.

H1ghways to the Royal Residence

Waterways ---- to the Royal Residence

The 9 Provir;ces (chou) with their T• t-· :•' according to the Geography of the Tnbute of YD (Yii-kung), ""' c!at'"g from 1125 B. C. (according to A. Herrmann)

Other dcta occorJ'"g to the Bamboo Annals

1-' 00 N .,...... ,.._,..,.,.~,..,....~~-~~!'r-r_'""r.'""''"--..,...... ~-~

SIBERIA -.:,

- Chou Empire lith Century B.C. Han Empire lOOA.D. """"' T'ang Empire 750 A.D. •• Ming Empire 1415 A.D. - Manchu Empire 1760A.D. - China today I'

t-' co w r, ..- ....,/ '···· r·~-..J·····,..) t ·. '

I. ,...... / - "·~:::r . (' ....,.-···~ \ ...... // ) ··...... ······)

/.~

..\ ~

Key ; o 9 Shih-Chai-shan

10. Huan River. 11. Ta Ssu K'ung Ts'un and Hsiao sites NW of An-yang. 12. State of Lu. 13. Feng River. Chang-chia-p'o is located southwest of Sian on the banks of this river.

1-' co ~ CHINA

S IN K ill iiiG-

TIB ~T

... kilo me ter

C\un/ .. 0 1i"Dh Y ()

1. Lin-hsia. Ch'i-chia culture site at Ch'in- wei-chia. 2. Shang-ts'un ling at Shan Hsien. (San-rnen-hsia). 3. Hui-hsin.

I-' (X) U1 Maps

Source Page

"From the Lands of the Scythians," The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin~o. 5, 1973/1974, pp. 10-11 ....•.•.•.. 179

"From the Lands of the Scythians," The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin~o. 5, 1973/1974, p. 10...... •. 180

"From the Lands of the Scythians," The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin~o. 5, 1973/1974, p. 11...... •...... 181

Albert Herrmann, An Historical Atlas of China, Chicago, Aldine Publishing Co., 1966, p. 4. . . .. 182

Loren Fessler and The Editors of Life, Life World Library, China, New York, Time Incorporated, 1963, p. 31 ...... 183

M. Tregear, "Animals in China," Animals in Archaeology, ed. Houghton A. Brodrick, New York, Praeger, 1972, p. 151 ...... 184

Outline map of China from the Geography Library, California State University, Northridge. Completed by Geraldine Hussman 185

186