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Masters of the Steppe: the Impact of the Scythians and Later Nomad Societies of Eurasia

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Masters of the Steppe: the Impact of the Scythians and Later Nomad Societies of Eurasia Masters of the Steppe: the Impact of the Scythians and Later Nomad Societies of Eurasia Proceedings of a conference held at the British Museum, 27-29 October 2017 Edited by Svetlana V. Pankova and St John Simpson Archaeopress Archaeology Archaeopress Publishing Ltd Summertown Pavilion 18-24 Middle Way Summertown Oxford OX2 7LG www.archaeopress.com ISBN 978-1-78969-647-9 ISBN 978-1-78969-648-6 (e-Pdf) © Archaeopress and the individual authors 2020 Cover illustration: Petroglyphs from the post-Scythian period at Moiseikha mountain on the right bank of the Yenisey, Minusinsk Basin (photograph: E. Miklashevich) All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the copyright owners. This book is available direct from Archaeopress or from our website www.archaeopress.com 7KHUR\DO6F\WKLDQ$OH[DQGURSRONXUJDQEDVHGRQQHZUHVHDUFKGDWDRI² ..........................................444 Sergei Polin, Marina Daragan 1HZLQYHVWLJDWLRQVRI6F\WKLDQNXUJDQVDQGWKHLUSHULSKHU\LQWKHORZHU'QLHSHUUHJLRQ QRQGHVWUXFWLYHPHDVXUHPHQWVDQGDUFKDHRORJLFDOSURRI ....................................................................................472 Sergej Polin, Marina Daragan, Kseniia Bondar 7KHIRUPDWLRQRIWKHHDUO\6F\WKLDQFXOWXUDOFRPSOH[RIWKH.HOHUPHVFHPHWHU\LQWKH.XEDQUHJLRQ RIWKHQRUWK&DXFDVXV ......................................................................................................................................................483 Tatyana V. Ryabkova 7KHUHVXOWVRIQHZVFLHQWLILFDQDO\VHVRIJROGEUDFHOHWVIURP7DNVDLDQGDQLURQVZRUGIURP,VV\N LQWKH1DWLRQDO0XVHXPRIWKH5HSXEOLFRI.D]DNKVWDQ ........................................................................................498 A. K. Satubaldin, S. A. Yarygin, A. Mongiatti, D. O’Flynn, J. Lang 6HFUHWVRI$FKDHPHQLGSURGXFWLRQRISHUVRQDORUQDPHQWVDQGYHVVHOV ..................................................................509 Ekaterina A. Shablavina -LDQJ<XDQDQGQRUWK&KLQHVHQRPDGV ...............................................................................................................................520 Daniil P. Shulga 0\VWHULRXVWUDQVIRUPDWLRQVRIWKH6F\WKLDQFXOWXUHVLQWKHWKDQGUGFHQWXULHV%& ......................................522 P. I. Shulga (WFKHGRUEOHDFKHG"7UDGHGRUFRSLHG" &RPPHQWVRQWKHGDWLQJDQGGLVWULEXWLRQRIDGLVWLQFWLYHW\SH RIGHFRUDWHGFDUQHOLDQEHDGIRXQGIURP,QGLDWR(XUDVLDIURPWKHHDUO\VWPLOOHQQLXP%& WRWKHHDUO\PHGLHYDOSHULRG ..........................................................................................................................................525 St John Simpson ,QKRFVLJQRYLQFHVWKHYLFWRU\RIWKH6F\WKLDQVRYHUWKHRIIVSULQJRIWKHLUVODYHVDVDPDQLIHVWDWLRQ RIGLYLQHSURYLGHQFH +HURGRWXV7KH+LVWRULHV>@ ..................................................................................544 Nikolay Yu. Smirnov 7HVWLQJ+HURGRWXVOHDWKHUVSHFLHVLGHQWLILFDWLRQRI6F\WKLDQTXLYHUVXVLQJQHZVFLHQWLILFPHWKRGV ...........551 Luke Spindler, Margarita Gleba, Marina Daragan, Matthew Collins 6DGGOHVRIWKH+XQ6DUPDWLDQSHULRG ...............................................................................................................................561 Elena V. Stepanova 7KHZRRGHQFRPERIWKH¶JROGHQODG\·DQHZEDWWOHLPDJHIURPWKH7DNVDLNXUJDQ ZHVWHUQ.D]DNKVWDQ ......................................................................................................................................................588 Lâtife Summerer, Yana Lukpanova )LQGVIURPWKH1RLQ8ODNXUJDQVDWDQH[KLELWLRQLQ%HUOLQLQ EDVHGRQPDWHULDOVIURP WKHDUFKLYHRIWKH5XVVLDQ$FDGHP\RI6FLHQFHV,QVWLWXWHRIWKH+LVWRU\RI0DWHULDO&XOWXUH .................605 Natalia A. Sutiagina, Daria A. Kukina 7KH6F\WKLDQHPSLUHUHDVVHVVLQJVWHSSHSRZHUIURPZHVWHUQDQGHDVWHUQSHUVSHFWLYHV .................................616 Timothy Taylor, Christine M. Havlicek, Christopher I. Beckwith $QWHQQDHRI6F\WKLDQDNLQDNDLIURPDEVWUDFWLRQWRUHDOLVPWKHUHDQGEDFNDJDLQ .............................................627 Denis Topal 6HWWOHGUDWKHUWKDQVDGGOHG6F\WKLDQVWKHHDVWHUQPRVW6DNDV .................................................................................643 Burzine Waghmar iii Finds from the Noin-Ula kurgans at an exhibition in Berlin in 1929 (based on materials from the archive of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Institute of the History of Material Culture) Natalia A. Sutiagina,1 Daria A. Kukina2 Abstract The discovery in 1924/25 of Xiongnu burials in the mountains of Noin-Ula in northern Mongolia caused a revolution in the knowledge of Russian and foreign researchers about the art, diplomacy and politics of ancient China. The exhibition of ancient Chinese art in Berlin was the first time that the Noin-Ula collection had been shown in Europe. For the first time European scholars were able to read the inscriptions on the Chinese cup which determined the dating of the kurgans. Photographs of the artefacts taken during the preparations for the exhibition enable us to reconstruct some of the archaeological complexes. The material in this article provides information about the initial stage of international museum collaboration in the Soviet state.3 Keywords: Noin-Ula; ancient Chinese art; lacquered cup; foreign exhibition; archaeological complexes Introduction123 kurgans excavated at Noin-Ula appeared in European publications in the form of translations and rehashes Among the most outstanding archaeological discoveries of Kozlov’s articles and short analytical articles.6 in the first half of the 20th century were the rich burials Letters with requests to inspect the archaeological of the nobility of the Xiongnu in the mountains of Noin- materials from Mongolia, requests for photographs Ula in northern Mongolia. The burials were excavated of the artefacts and for the publication of the finds by the Mongolia-Tibetan Expedition led by Pyotr Kozlov arrived from various European countries. However, in 1924–1925. Several thousand artefacts were found in permissions were granted reluctantly: the matter of the ancient tombs, including those made by Chinese the future storage of the artefacts was being decided, it masters. The materials discovered in northern Mongolia was necessary to fulfil the obligations to the Mongolian immediately attracted the attention of Russian and side, and a catalogue of the finds was in preparation. foreign archaeologists, orientalists and art historians. Pyotr Kozlov, a brilliant orator and popularist, gave The great scientific importance of the archaeological a great deal of information about the excavations in 4 monuments discovered in the mountains of Noin-Ula reports to various scientific gatherings and in print. and the desire to see materials from the excavations led However, contrary to established tradition, he did German specialists from the Society of East Asian Art not write a final account at the end of the expedition. to submit an official proposal to the USSR government Instead ‘Short Accounts of the Expedition for the to take part in an exhibition of Ancient Chinese art in Exploration of Northern Mongolia in Connection with Berlin in 1929. There is virtually no mention of this the Mongolia-Tibetan Expedition of P.K. Kozlov’ were exhibition in Soviet scientific literature,7 though it was published: a short summary of the explorations and a unique opportunity to show the artefacts from the a few photographs of the most attractive finds.5 The Noin-Ula kurgans in Europe before they became part absence of a full scientific account of the discoveries of the permanent collection of the State Hermitage made, which completely changed scholars’ concepts Museum. There are documents in the Manuscript of the ancient history of central Asia, caused a certain Department of the Institute of the History of Material tension in scientific circles. Information about the Culture of the Russian Academy of Science (henceforth IHMC RAS) which fully reflect the preparations for ૮ Oriental Department, The State Hermitage Museum, 34 Dvortsovaya nab., St. Petersburg, Russia, 190000; email: na.sutiagina@ the exhibition: correspondence between scientific gmail.com institutions and government bodies, lists of exhibits ૮ Institute of the History of Material Culture, Russian Academy of with their numbers in the Book of Acquisitions of Sciences, 18 Dvortsovaya nab., St. Petersburg, Russia, 191186; email: [email protected] the State Academy of the History of Material Culture, ૮ The study was supported by the Russian Academy of Sciences papers concerning the restoration of artefacts and their Foundation for Basic Research (Project No. 0184-2018-0002, awarded transportation to Germany. There are photographs of to D.A. Kukina) and the RFBR and MECSS (Project No. 20-59-44005, awarded to N.A. Sutiagina). ૮Kozlov 1925: 7–11; 1926: 51–56; 1928: 1–4; Yusupova 2011: 24–41. ૮Yetts 1926ã; 1926E. ૮.UDWNL\H2WFK\RW\1925. ૮Bernshtam 1951: 33; Sutiagina and Kukina 2017. 0ජྦྷྸเྑྦྷག๲ྸຢเྦྷྸเོོเ $ྑทຢජเགོྑเྦྷྦྷ : 605–615 605 1$6࿍ྸ໇ජງ໇༧ජ'$.࿍໱໇༧ජ objects taken during the mounting of the exhibition in incomplete and suffer from gaps if we were to be Berlin in the Photographic Department of the Scientific unable to give an idea of the exceptional research Archive of the IHMC RAS.8 work in this field in the USSR. The main purpose of this paper is to bring these archival Above all, it is the excavations of Kozlov and his documents into the academic domain. The inventories colleagues in Mongolia which interest us in this and photographs of the artefacts make it possible to regard. They have aroused enormous
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