The Cultures of Ancient Xinjiang, Western China: Crossroads of the Silk Roads
Edited by Alison V.G. Betts, Marika Vicziany, Peter Jia and Angelo Andrea Di Castro
Archaeopress Archaeology Archaeopress Publishing Ltd Summertown Pavilion 18-24 Middle Way Summertown Oxford OX2 7LG www.archaeopress.com
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Cover images come from the following chapters in this book: Chapter 3, Figure 79. Xiaohe Cemetery: Painted wooden face (photo Xinjiang Institute of Archaeology); Chapter 4, Figure 5. Adunqiaolu: House Site F1 (photo Chinese Academy of Social Sciences); Chapter 7, Figure 5. Berel (Altay, Kazakhstan): horse tack ornament in gilded wood in the shape of griffin and mountain sheep with curling mane of Achae- menid inspiration (photo Mission Archéologique Française en Asie centrale – MAFAC).
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This book is available direct from Archaeopress or from our website www.archaeopress.com Contents
List of Figures ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� ii Preface ����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� vii Contributors ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������viii
Chapter 1 Ancient Xinjiang at the International Crossroads ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������1 Marika Vicziany
Chapter 2 Xinjiang in Prehistory ���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������9 Alison Betts
Chapter 3 The Xiaohe (Small River) Cemetery and the Xiaohe Culture ���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������19 Yidilisi Abuduresule, Wenying Li, Xingjun Hu
Chapter 4 Tianshan as a Bridge: New Studies of Bronze Age Archaeology in the Western Tianshan, Xinjiang, China ��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������52 Dexin Cong
Chapter 5 A Report on Archaeological Findings in the Upper Yili Valley ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������64 Xuetang Liu
Chapter 6 Painted Pottery of the Late Bronze Age – Early Iron Age in Central Asia: New Data from Southern Uzbekistan ����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������84 Nikolaus G.O. Boroffka and Leonid M. Sverchkov
Chapter 7 Shifting Exchange Patterns During the Bronze and Iron Ages Between China and the West in Eurasia ��������97 Henri-Paul Francfort
Chapter 8 The Kashgar Oasis: Reassessing the Historical Record ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������113 Marika Vicziany and Angelo Andrea Di Castro
Chapter 9 The Kashgar Oasis in Buddhist and Pre Buddhist Times: the Archaeological and Environmental Record ����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������143 Angelo Andrea Di Castro, Marika Vicziany and Xuan Zhu
Chapter 10 Unravelling Farming and Metallurgy in Ancient China with Nuclear Science �����������������������������������������������������171 John Dodson, Pia Atahan and Xiaoqiang Li
Chapter 11 Early Wheat Cultivation and Plant Use in Xinjiang Prehistory: New Evidence Based on Starch Analysis ����181 Peter Jia and Florence Chau
Index �������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������200
i List of Figures
Chapter 1 M. Vicziany: Ancient Xinjiang at the International Crossroads Figure 1. Diagram showing some of the key archaeological sites and locations referred to in this chapter...... 1
Chapter 2 A. Betts: Xinjiang in Prehistory Figure 1. Diagram showing the key Xinjiang sites discussed in this chapter...... 9 Figure 2a and b. View of the pre-Bronze Age site of Goukou in the north-eastern Tianshan; stone tools from Goukou...... 10 Figure 3. Qiemu’erqieke stone stela, Xinjiang Altai...... 10 Figure 4. Ceramic vessels from the Adunqiaolu cemetery, Bortala Valley...... 12 Figure 5. Deer Stone Khirigsuur Complex, Xinjiang Altai...... 13 Figure 6. Chawuhugou cemetery, painted jugs...... 14
Chapter 3 Y. Abuduresule, W. Li and X. Hu: The Xiaohe (Small River) Cemetery and the Xiaohe Culture Figure 1. Diagram showing the distribution of the Xiaohe Culture in Xinjiang...... 20 Figure 2. Diagram showing the location of the Xiaohe Culture Cemeteries, Regions A and B...... 20 Figure 3. Cemetery 09LE50 located on the top of a yardang...... 21 Figure 4. Detail of Cemetery 09LE50...... 21 Figure 5. Plan of Cemetery 09LE4 showing the location of the graves...... 22 Figure 6. Cemetery 09LE4: General view looking south...... 22 Figure 7. Cemetery 09LE4: Burials 3-15, looking west...... 22 Figure 8. Cemetery 09LE4: Burial 1, looking south-west...... 23 Figure 9. View of Cemetery 09LE8 on top of the yardang...... 23 Figure 10. Cemetery 09LE8: Burial 1...... 23 Figure 11. Cemetery 09LE8: Mummified body. Burial 1...... 24 Figure 12. Cemetery 09LE8: Burial 2...... 24 Figure 13. Artefacts collected from Kongque River Delta Cemetery Burial 36...... 25 Figure 14. Mummified body found at Kongque River Delta Cemetery Burial 36...... 25 Figure 15. Basket collected from Kongque River Delta Cemetery 37...... 26 Figure 16. Tiebanhe Cemetery...... 26 Figure 17. Female mummy found at Tiebanhe Cemetery 2...... 26 Figure 18. General view of the Gumuguo Cemetery...... 27 Figure 19. Radial burial patterns in the Gumuguo Cemetery...... 27 Figure 20. Excavated burials at the Gumuguo Cemetery...... 27 Figure 21. Evidence of looting at the Gumuguo Cemetery...... 28 Figure 22. A timber enclosed burial chamber at LT Cemetery...... 28 Figure 23. Plan showing the location of graves at Xianshuiquan Cemetery No 10...... 29 Figure 24. View of Xianshuiquan Cemetery No 10...... 29 Figure 25. Timbers found at Xianshuiquan Cemetery No 10...... 29 Figure 26. Carved timber found at Xianshuiquan Cemetery No 10...... 30 Figure 27. Basket found at Xianshuiquan Cemetery No 10...... 30 Figure 28. The Xiaohe Cemetery before the excavations of 2002-2005...... 30 Figure 29. The Xiaohe Cemetery: view from southeast to northwest...... 30 Figure 30. The northern section of the Xiaohe Cemetery before excavation...... 31 Figure 31. A general view of the Xiaohe Cemetery before excavation...... 31 Figure 32. Plan of Xiaohe mound before excavation...... 32 Figure 33. Xiaohe Cemetery: timber coffins...... 33 Figure 34. Xiaohe Cemetery: timber poles with coffins...... 33 Figure 35. Xiaohe Cemetery: details of the timber poles...... 33 Figure 36. Xiaohe Cemetery: Burial 75. Coffin with clay shell covering surrounded by poles...... 34 Figure 37. Xiaohe Cemetery: Burial 75. Detail of the clay shell covering of the coffin...... 34 Figure 38. Xiaohe Cemetery: The horns of cattle (Bos taurus) from Burial 13...... 34 Figure 39. Xiaohe Cemetery: Plan of burials and timber poles in layers 1-3...... 35 Figure 40. Xiaohe Cemetery: Southern section. Burials in layer 2...... 36 Figure 41. Xiaohe Cemetery: Southern section. Burials in layers 4 and 5...... 36 Figure 42. Survey route for the Northern Cemetery...... 37 Figure 43. Coffins in Northern Cemetery...... 37 Figure 44. Coffin in the Northern Cemetery...... 38 Figure 45. Rescue work in the Northern Cemetery...... 38
ii Figure 46. Textile found in the Northern Cemetery...... 38 Figure 47. Female symbol on wooden pole in the Northern Cemetery...... 38 Figure 48. Basket found in the Northern cemetery...... 39 Figure 49. Phallic symbol found in the Northern Cemetery...... 39 Figure 50. Xiaohe Cemetery: Burial 13 covered in cattle hide...... 39 Figure 51. Xiaohe Cemetery: Burial 13. Female body...... 39 Figure 52. Xiaohe Cemetery: Pole with female symbol ...... 40 Figure 53. Xiaohe Cemetery: Burial 24. Poles with female and male symbols...... 40 Figure 54. Xiaohe Cemetery: Pole with male symbol...... 40 Figure 55. Xiaohe Cemetery: hafted stone axe...... 40 Figure 56. Xiaohe Cemetery: Burials 24 and 28. Wooden arrows with feathered fletching...... 40 Figure 57. Xiaohe Cemetery: Wooden arrow with bone tip...... 41 Figure 58. Xiaohe Cemetery: stone mace head...... 41 Figure 59. Xiaohe Cemetery: bronze arrowhead...... 41 Figure 60. Xiaohe Cemetery: Burial 13. Slivers cut from animal ears...... 41 Figure 61. Xiaohe Cemetery: Burial 75. Basket in a wooden bucket...... 42 Figure 62. Xiaohe Cemetery: Woven basket...... 42 Figure 63. Xiaohe Cemetery: Wooden bucket...... 42 Figure 64. Xiaohe Cemetery: Horn and leather container...... 42 Figure 65. Xiaohe Cemetery: Burial 13. Leather bag...... 42 Figure 66. Xiaohe Cemetery: Burial 13. String and bead bracelet...... 43 Figure 67. Xiaohe Cemetery: String and bead necklace...... 43 Figure 68. Xiaohe Cemetery: Golden earring on a bronze mirror...... 43 Figure 69. Xiaohe Cemetery: Felt hat with string, fur and feather ornament...... 43 Figure 70. Xiaohe Cemetery: Burial 13. Leather boots...... 43 Figure 71. Xiaohe Cemetery: Decorated feather...... 43 Figure 72. Xiaohe Cemetery: Phallic symbol in wood and string...... 44 Figure 73. Xiaohe Cemetery: Burial 24. Basket and twigs on top of coffin...... 44 Figure 74. Xiaohe Cemetery: Short strings made of animal tendons...... 44 Figure 75. Xiaohe Cemetery: Burial 11. Woven textile with tassels...... 45 Figure 76. Xiaohe Cemetery: Burial 11. Woven textile...... 45 Figure 77. Xiaohe Cemetery: Burial 13. Woven and embroidered textile...... 45 Figure 78. Xiaohe Cemetery: Burial 13. Human face carved from wood...... 45 Figure 79. Xiaohe Cemetery: Painted wooden face...... 45 Figure 80. Xiaohe Cemetery: Burial 2. Wooden replica of human body...... 45 Figure 81. Xiaohe Cemetery: Wooden figurine with clothing and earrings...... 46 Figure 82. Xiaohe Cemetery: Wooden sticks carved with human faces and string decoration...... 46 Figure 83. Table showing radiocarbon dates from the Xiaohe Cemetery: Southern Section...... 47 Figure 84. Table showing radiocarbon dates from the Xiaohe Cemetery: Northern section...... 48
Chapter 4 D. Cong: Tianshan as a Bridge: New Studies of Bronze Age Archaeology in the Western Tianshan, Xinjiang, China Figure 1. Diagram showing the Bortala River area and adjacent regions...... 52 Figure 2. General view of the site of Turigen...... 54 Figure 3. View of the site of Hu’ertuoleha from above...... 54 Figure 4. Table showing radiocarbon (AMS 14C) dates for the Adunqiaolu site...... 56 Figure 5. Adunqiaolu: House Site F1...... 57 Figure 6. Adunqiaolu: Pottery sherds found inside House F1...... 57 Figure 7. Adunqiaolu: House plan of F1, F2 and F3...... 58 Figure 8a and b. A stone cist burial at the Adunqiaolu Cemetery...... 59 Figure 9. Adunqiaolu: Stone enclosure of burial SM9...... 60 Figure 10. Adunqiaolu: The northern region of the cemetery (SM4 top centre)...... 60 Figure 11. Adunqiaolu: Burial SM4 from above...... 60 Figure 12. Adunqiaolu: Burial SM4-1...... 61 Figure 13. Adunqiaolu: Earring found in burial SM4-1...... 61 Figure 14. Adunqiaolu: Pottery vessel found in burial SM4-1...... 61 Figure 15. Adunqiaolu: Stone enclosure burial of SM50-1 and SM50-2...... 62
Chapter 5 X. Liu: A Report on Archaeological Findings in the Upper Yili Valley Figure 1. Diagram showing prehistoric sites in the Upper Yili River Valley...... 65 Figure 2. Qiongkeke: Ceramics from the settlement site...... 65 Figure 3. Qiongkeke: Ceramics from the settlement site...... 66 Figure 4. Qiongkeke: Microlithic cores from the settlement site...... 66 Figure 5. Qiongkeke: Burial in Cemetery No. 1...... 67 Figure 6. Qiongkeke: Ceramics in Cemetery No. 1...... 68
iii Figure 7. Qiongkeke: Ceramics in Cemetery No. 2...... 69 Figure 8. Tangbalesayi: Types of burials...... 70 Figure 9. Tangbalesayi: Ceramics and personal ornaments from the burials...... 71 Figure 10. Kukesuhexi: Types of burials...... 72 Figure 11. Kukesuhexi: Ceramics from the burials...... 72 Figure 12. Kalasu: Plan of house F1...... 73 Figure 13. Kalasu: Stone artefacts from house F1...... 73 Figure 14. Kalasu: Ceramics from house F1...... 74 Figure 15. Gongliu Shankou: Ceramics from the cemetery...... 75 Figure 16. Wu’ertangou: Plan and cross-section of stone mound burial...... 75 Figure 17. Jialegesiha’yinte: Ceramics from the burials...... 76 Figure 18. Bietebasitao: Ceramics and stone artefacts from the burials...... 77 Figure 19. Jirentuohai: Ceramic and metal artefacts from the burials...... 78 Figure 20. Sa’erbulakegou: Ceramics from the burials...... 79 Figure 21. Tiemulike-goukou: Ceramics from the burials...... 79 Figure 22. Examples of the animals depicted on the rock art of the Yili Valley...... 80 Figure 23. Examples of the animals depicted on the rock art of the Yili Valley...... 81
Chapter 6 N. Boroffka and L. Sverchkov: Painted Pottery of the Late Bronze Age – Early Iron Age in Central Asia: New Data from Southern Uzbekistan Figure 1. Diagram showing the distribution of Central Asia Yaz I type hand-made painted pottery...... 85 Figure 2. Diagram showing the location of Maydatepa in the Bandykhan microregion...... 85 Figure 3. Excavation view (from the east) of Yaz I architecture in the upper layers of Maydatepa...... 86 Figure 4. Detail of a complex fireplace in the Yaz I settlement of Maydatepa...... 86 Figure 5. Partial view of the southern profile at Maydatepa...... 87 Figure 6. Maydatepa: Hand-made Yaz I type pottery...... 88 Figure 7. Maydatepa: Hand-made Yaz I type pottery...... 89 Figure 8. Maydatepa: Wheel-made pottery from Yaz I contexts...... 90 Figure 9. Maydatepa: Various finds from Yaz I contexts...... 91
Chapter 7 H.-P. Francfort: Shifting Exchange Patterns During the Bronze and Iron Ages Between China and the West in Eurasia Figure 1. Diagram showing the Eurasian cultural areas and sites of the Bronze Age discussed in this chapter...... 97 Figure 2. Sarazm (Tajikistan): Stone implements of steppic (staff) or ‘oasis’ (with handles) types...... 98 Figure 3. Sarazm (Tajikistan): Painted pottery of ‘Balochi’ type...... 98 Figure 4. Diagram showing some of the Eurasian sites of the Iron Age discussed in this chapter...... 101 Figure 5. Berel (Altay, Kazakhstan): Kurgan No. 11 horse tack ornament...... 101 Figure 6. Berel (Altay, Kazakhstan): Kurgan No. 11 horse wooden ornament...... 101 Figure 7. Diagram showing main branches of the Silk Roads...... 103 Figure 8. Gandharan toilet tray with royal wine filtering and drinking ceremony seen frontally...... 104 Figure 9. Noin-Ula (Mongolia) tapestry with royal wine filtering and drinking ceremony seen in profile...... 105
Chapter 8 M. Vicziany and A.A. Di Castro: The Kashgar Oasis: Reassessing the Historical Record Figure 1. Diagram showing the location of the eight main archaeological sites in the Kashgar oasis...... 115 Figure 2. Former location of Pigeon House near Khan-oi...... 116 Figure 3. Road sign placed near the original location of the Kizil Debe Stupa in contemporary Kashgar...... 116 Figure 4. Satellite view of the area of Khan-oi in 2006...... 117 Figure 5. Agricultural encroachment on Khan-oi in 2012...... 117 Figure 6 a and b. Satellite images of the site of Topa Tim in 2005 (a) and 2013 (b)...... 118 Figure 7. The stupa of Topa Tim in the background, 2007...... 118 Figure 8. Satellite image showing the line of karez adjacent to the Mori Tim sacred area...... 119 Figure 9. One of the 48 karez wells in the vicinity of the sacred area of Mori Tim...... 119 Figure 10. Bulldozers removing part of the old wall of Kashgar in 2005...... 120 Figure 11. Tomb of Satuq Boghra Khan in Artush...... 132 Figure 12. Exterior of the tomb of Bibi Maryam with the female caretaker...... 132 Figure 13. Interior of the tomb of Bibi Maryam showing the tomb with ritual rods...... 133 Figure 14. Desert Shrine of Ordam Padshah in 1928. This is the grave (mazar) of Ali Arslan Khan...... 134 Figure 15. Remains of animal sacrifices outside the tomb of Satuq Boghra Khan...... 134 Figure 16. Exterior of the Tomb of Apa Khoja in Kashgar...... 135 Figure 17. Interior of the Tomb of Apa Khoja...... 136 Figure 18. Lithograph c. 1890 showing the types of costumes...... 137 Figure 19. Detail of the inscription on the cauldron outside Tomb of Satuq Bogra Khan in Artush...... 137
iv Chapter 9 A.A. Di Castro, M. Vicziany and X. Zhu: The Kashgar Oasis in Buddhist and Pre Buddhist Times: the Archaeological and Environmental Record Figure 1. Diagram showing some of the key archaeological sites discussed in this chapter...... 144 Figure 2a and b. Aerial view of the site of Yawaluk/Tegurman in 2002 (a) and in 2012 (b)...... 146 Figure 3. Plan of the ruins of Yawaluk/Tegurman surveyed by Pelliot in 1906...... 146 Figure 4. Mori Tim stupa A on the right and stupa B on the left...... 147 Figure 5. Fragment of a figurative stucco from the debris of the monastic site of Topa Tim...... 147 Figure 6. Tractor marks on the old structures of Khan-oi in 2013...... 148 Figure 7. Encroachment of irrigation canals on the old structures of Khan-oi in 2013...... 149 Figure 8. Sand dunes covering up part of the cemetery at Yopurga...... 149 Figure 9. Plan of the ruins of Eskishahar surveyed by Pelliot in 1906...... 150 Figure 10. Image of the ruins of Eskishahar as it appeared during the Pelliot expedition in 1906...... 151 Figure 11. Remains of the walls of Eskishahar in 2013...... 151 Figure 12. The caves of the Three Immortal Buddhas, on the cliffs above the Chakmak river...... 154 Figure 13. Plan and cross section of the caves of the Three Immortal Buddhas surveyed by Pelliot in 1906...... 154 Figure 14. Fragments of a Buddhist manuscript discovered in Yawaluk...... 155 Figure 15. Water well in old Kashgar in 2014...... 158 Figure 16. Water logged fields around Topa Tim in 2005...... 159 Figure 17. Ruins of a Buddhist stupa and monastery (Toukguzkaznakh)...... 162
Chapter 10 J. Dodson, P. Atahan and X. Li: Unravelling Farming and Metallurgy in Ancient China with Nuclear Science Figure 1. Diagrammatic representation of the three main isotopes of Carbon...... 171 Figure 2. General rules of isotopic fractionation...... 172 Figure 3. Representation of the basis of the radiocarbon dating method...... 172 Figure 4. Diagram showing Eurasia and Gansu Province...... 174 Figure 5. Photograph showing surface scatter at Huoshiliang site...... 175 Figure 6. Cation profiles in Huoshiliang sediments...... 175 Figure 7. Diagram showing the distribution of early wheat sites with robust AMS radiocarbon dating...... 176 Figure 8. Table showing AMS 14C dates for samples taken from the surface scatters at Huoshiliang and Gangangwa sites...... 178 Figure 9. Diagram showing plot of δ13C and δ15N data...... 178
Chapter 11 P. Jia and F. Chau: Early Wheat Cultivation and Plant Use in Xinjiang Prehistory: New Evidence Based on Starch Analysis Figure 1. Diagram showing sites discussed in this chapter...... 182 Figure 2. Table showing maximum length (mm) of starch granules...... 183 Figure 3. Table showing boxplots of starch granule maximum length of the comparative reference collection data...... 185 Figure 4. Starch granules of Leguminosae family...... 186 Figure 5. Gramineae starch...... 186 Figure 6. Other species of starch plants...... 187 Figure 7. Stone and specimen collection site...... 187 Figure 8. Specimen collection and stone tools...... 188 Figure 9. Table showing archaeological samples. Boxplots of starch grain maximum length...... 188 Figure 10. Wheat starch recovered from stone mortar...... 189 Figure 11. Wheat starch recovered from grinding stone...... 189 Figure 12. Wheat starch recovered from grinding stone at Kalasu site...... 189 Figure 13. Modern reference granules of wheat and barley...... 190 Figure 14. Modern reference starch granules: left – oats, right – broomcorn millet...... 191 Figure 15. Starch granules with multilateral/polyhedral shape found at Kalasu site...... 191 Figure 16. Modern reference starch granules – sorghum...... 192 Figure 17. Modern reference starch granules – buckwheat...... 192 Figure 18. Ancient starch granules...... 193 Figure 19. Possible suo-yang (Songaria Cynomorium) starch granules...... 194 Figure 20. Starch granules of da-yun (Cistanche deserticola) extracted from modern reference plant...... 194 Figure 21. Da-yun (Cistanche deserticola) starch granules...... 195 Figure 22. Ancient da-yun (Cistanche deserticola) starch granules found from stone tools unearthed at Luanzagangzi site...... 196 Figure 23. Table showing plant starches identified from the archaeological sites mentioned in this chapter...... 196
v Preface
This book had its origins in a collaborative The papers included in this volume are based on a project between the University of Sydney and the selection of lectures presented at a workshop, East and Archaeological Institute of the Chinese Academy West: Past and Future, sponsored by the China Studies of Social Sciences in Beijing. In 2006 Alison Betts Centre at the University of Sydney in May 2012. The and Peter Jia began, with Chinese colleagues from volume presents a fresh framework for the prehistory CASS, a study of the impact of the cultures of the and early history of Xinjiang that will be of value and Eurasian steppe on the rise of the state in central interest to all readers concerned with the role of Inner China through exploration of the prehistory Asia in world history. In addition to thanking our of Xinjiang. In 2014 the team was enhanced by European and Australian collaborators for their unique additional collaborators from Monash University, contributions, we are grateful to our Chinese colleagues Marika Vicziany and Angelo Andrea Di Castro, as for generously sharing with us their ground-breaking well as John Dodson, then Head of the Institute for original chapters about new discoveries based on Environmental Research, Australian Nuclear Science recent fieldwork in Xinjiang. and Technology Organisation (ANSTO). Funding for collaborative fieldwork from the Australian side has The editors are grateful to the Chinese Academy of been provided by the Australian Research Council Social Sciences (Beijing), the China Studies Centre through two major Discovery grants, East meets West: at Sydney University and the Arts Faculty at Monash an archaeological study of early contact between China University for their continued support of research on and Eurasia (DP0770997: 2007-2010) and The Silk Roads the early history and cultures of Xinjiang. We are also in the Bronze Age: critical links between Eurasia and grateful to Dr Uri Gilad for his support in preparing the China (DP150100121: 2015-2018). Additional funding 16 figures showing the location of the archaeological with smaller grants was provided by The University sites referred to in this volume. Funding for Dr Gilad’s of Sydney (through the China Studies Centre and work came from the ARC project on The Silk Roads in the Bridging Grants Scheme), Monash University’s the Bronze Age (DP150100121: 2015-2018). And finally, School of Philosophical, Historical and International we thank the editorial team at Archaeopress for their Studies (Faculty of Arts) and ANSTO. assistance in preparing these papers for publication. We are especially grateful for the support and patience showed by Dr David Davison.
Alison Betts, Marika Vicziany, Peter Jia, Angelo Andrea Di Castro
vi Contributors
Yidilisi Abuduresule is the former Director of the John Dodson is the former head of Environmental Xinjiang Bureau of Relics and Director of Excavations at Sciences at the Australian Nuclear Science and the world famous Bronze Age cemetery of Xiaohe in the Technology Organisation (ANSTO). He has undertaken Taklamakan Desert. extensive environmental field research in China and is currently based in Xian as a research professor with the Pia Atahan has a PhD in environmental change from Institute of Earth Environment, CAS. the University of Western Australia and until recently worked as a scientist at the Australian Nuclear Science Henri-Paul Francfort is a Member of the Institute of and Technology Organisation in Sydney. Her research the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres. He focused on early agriculture in China and the use of is Emeritus Director of Research for the CNRS – UMR isotopes for unravelling animal and human diets from 7041 ‘ArScAn’, The Archaeology of Central Asia. He has skeletal remains in China. had a long and distinguished career in the archaeology of Central Asia, particularly Afghanistan and more Alison Betts is Professor of Silk Road Studies at the recently Tadjikistan. University of Sydney. She has been working on the archaeology of Central Asia for more than two decades. Xingjun Hu is a Professor at the Xinjiang Institute Over the past decade she has been working with Jia of Cultural Relics and Archaeology. As a Director of on a collaborative field programme with the Institute Fieldwork, he has worked in Xinjiang for many years. of Archaeology, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences Most recently he has directed the excavation of a to study the Bronze Age of Xinjiang and the influence cemetery with Afanasievo burial features. of the Eurasian Bronze Age on early Chinese cultural development. Peter Weiming Jia is a Senior ARC Research Fellow at the University of Sydney. He has worked on starch Nikolaus G.O. Boroffka is a senior member of the residue analysis and other archaeobotanical studies Eurasia-Department, German Archaeological Institute/ in Xinjiang. He has been involved in archaeological Deutsches Archäologisches Institut in Berlin. He has fieldwork on the Bronze Age in Xinjiang for more than undertaken extensive archaeological fieldwork across a decade. Central Asia and Eastern Europe. He has a wide range of research interests including mining, metallurgy and Wenying Li is Professor and the Director of Xinjiang environment-human interactions. Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology. She has worked extensively on Xinjiang’s late prehistoric Florence Chau studied a Bachelor of Science and archaeology. Amongst her other work she has been Bachelor of Arts (Honours) at the University of Sydney, involved in the excavation of the Xiaohe cemetery majoring in Botany, Archaeology and English Literature. and is the only female archaeologist on the expedition She is currently working at the University of Sydney team. and the Australian National Maritime Museum. Xiaoqiang Li is the Deputy Director of the Key Dexin Cong is the Director of the Frontier Laboratory of Vertebrate Evolution and Human Archaeological Department, Archaeological Institute, Origins, Institute of Vertebrate Palaeontology and Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and co-Director of Palaeoanthropology of Chinese Academy of Science. He the Adunqiaolu Project at Bortala Valley, a major long- is also a Professor at the Graduate University of Chinese term study of late prehistoric archaeology in Xinjiang, Academy of Science. He has worked in the field of China. palaeo-environmental and environmental archaeology in China for many years. One of his teams is working on Angelo Andrea Di Castro is Adjunct Research Fellow of the Xinjiang and Central Asia area. the Centre for Ancient Cultures of Monash University. He has worked extensively on archaeological sites in Xuetang Liu is Professor and the Head of the School of Italy, Nepal, Australia and China and published various Ethnology and Sociology, Xinjiang Normal University. books and academic papers. His recent research projects He was the Director of a large scale archaeological include the cultural exchanges along the Silk Road, the excavation in the Yili River Valley at the Xinjiang archaeology of the Kashgar oasis and the goddess cults Institute of Cultural relics and Archaeology before of Gandhara. moving to the university.
vii Leonid M. Sverchkov is a senior member of the Fine has worked on Xinjiang since a consultancy with the Arts Scientific Research Institute of the Academy of Asian Development Bank and the State Council of China Sciences of Uzbekistan/San’atshunoslik Ilmiy-Tadqiqot in 2000. Her two major projects have been about the Instituti, O’zbekistan Badiiy Akademiyasi in Tashkent/ Buddhist culture and monuments of Kashgar and the Toshkent. He has undertaken extensive archaeological Bronze Age in the Bortala Valley. In 2008 she published fieldwork in Central Asia. His many publications range a monograph with George Michell, Yen Hu Tsui and from the history of the Neolithic to the Early Middle John Gollings: Kashgar-Oasis City on China’s Old Silk Road Ages. (London: Frances Lincoln).
Marika Vicziany is Professor Emerita and Director of Xuan Zhu is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Earth, the National Centre for South Asian Studies (Monash Atmosphere and Environment at Monash University Asia Initiative) in the Arts Faculty at Monash University and specialises in environmental decision analysis and a specialist on long term economic development in and modelling, geographical information systems and Asia. In addition to her work on South Asia, Vicziany remote sensing.
viii M. Vicziany: Ancient Xinjiang at the International Crossroads
Chapter 1 Ancient Xinjiang at the International Crossroads
Marika Vicziany
This book unveils the ancient secrets of Xinjiang, information on Xinjiang and surrounding lands meant western China, one of the least known but culturally that the mummies stood as an isolated phenomenon, rich and complex regions of the heart of Asia. Xinjiang lacking a broader context to explain their culture’s is perhaps most famous for its lethal desert, the unique features. In the intervening years, many studies Taklamakan (Figure 1), its name in the local Uyghur on specific aspects of the mummies have been published. language translating as ‘You can go in, but you will We now know that their DNA makeup signalled their never come out’. For those who have a good grasp of largely Eurasian ancestry (Li et al. 2010, 2015) rather than geography it may also be known as the core part of the earlier view that the mummies were of European the routes along the ancient Silk Roads, hazardous origins (Romgard 2008: 21, 36). Moreover, in the Li paths from one small patch of green oasis to another, 2010 study, the mixing of Asian and European features days apart across perilous sandy wastes. In recent has been traced to southern Siberia. DNA analysis, in years Xinjiang has also become known for its so-called other words, suggests far longer migration routes and ‘mummies’, remarkably preserved bodies protected not only in one direction. The foods of the mummies from decay by heat and saline sands. have also been studied (Yang 2014; Yang et al. 2014), as have their cattle (see Chapter 3 in this volume; Mai et Some two decades have passed since news of the al. 2016), showing that their domesticated antecedents remarkable Tarim Basin mummies was first publicised came from both Western Asia and China. So far, outside China (Barber 1999; Mallory and Mair 2000), however, core data on the archaeology of key sites such but as the world was introduced to this extraordinary as Xiaohe have not been published and without this Bronze Age marvel, the lack of further archaeological the other studies are essentially disembodied specialist
Figure 1. Diagram showing some of the key archaeological sites and locations referred to in this chapter.
1 The Cultures of Ancient Xinjiang: Crossroads of the Silk Roads
volume contains the long awaited first authoritative tomb when it was first built. One can suggest that the review of the archaeological framework for Xiaohe presence of dozens of goat and oxen horns and dried and related sites that constitute the Xiaohe culture, by snakes and eagles around the cabin/tomb (Abuduresule its chief scholars Yidilis Abuduresule, Wenying Li and 2008: slides 97 and 101) points to a totemic culture Xingjun Hu. The importance of Xiaohe lies in its age, involving a person of power (Abuduresule 2008: slide for together with Qiemu’erqieke and Tianshanbeilu it is 98 showing an ‘Unearthed Marble-head of a Staff of one of the three earliest Bronze Age cultures of Xinjiang Authority’). (see next chapter by Betts). Abduresule’s hypothesis assumed that Australian Chapter 3 reveals the unexpected geographical spread indigenous people lived only in temporary grass- of the Xiaohe culture in the eastern and southern parts wooden shelters, a view that was encouraged by of the Taklamakan desert, a culture which despite its other similarities he observed between Aboriginal many common features also incorporated unique and Xiaohe peoples in their animal skin clothing and characteristics at particular sites such as the Northern weapons. If the Xiaohe people lived in temporary Cemetery in the lower Keriya River area. The Xiaohe dwellings, it was hardly surprising that no evidence of culture in its various iterations remains a puzzle for this remained. On the other hand, if Hedin’s account of Abduduresule and his colleagues, as explained to us living conditions in Lop Country are to be believed, the during his first visit to Australia in 2008. He was attracted dwellings might have been substantial and permanent, to the indigenous Australian collections at the Museum but made of materials that have not survived into of Victoria because he hoped to solve the problem of the present day. When the Swedish explorer Hedin why the houses and other buildings used by the Xiaohe mapped the Tarim River at the turn of the 20th century people have not survived, even in ruined form. The he reported on the reeds used by the local people Xiaohe culture is understood entirely from coffins, the (‘Lopniks’) along the river banks of Lop country as mummies and their grave goods, although recently construction material and fibre for clothing. These work has also been undertaken to study the changing reed structures were substantial and towered over the environment of the region (Li et al. 2013). Until his visit local residents. Hedin’s photographs do not suggest to Melbourne, Abuduresule did not know that research that these were temporary structures.1 Perhaps reeds on Australian indigenous cultures had in recent years were also the primary building materials used by the moved away from notions about nomadic, wandering people of the Xiaohe culture at a time when the water Australian Aborigines and paid greater attention to resources of the Xiaohe areas were plentiful? permanent structures including the fish dams and basalt stone houses used by indigenous Gunditjmara Thanks to new research reported in the present people in the Condah Lake areas of southwestern collection, we know that the Bronze Age people used Victoria (McNiven 2015; Mirtschin 2013). As a result a variety of construction materials determined by the of new research, indigenous Australian subsistence nature of locally available materials. In Chapter 4 by economies have increasingly come to be defined as Cong, we have documentation about the enormous size societies of ‘hunter-gatherer-cultivators’ (Keen 2004: of the Andronovo-type houses which were built by the 95-96). Recognition of the ingenuity of Aboriginal Bronze Age residents of Adunquiaolu. These houses used engineering and environmental management has the plentiful supply of rocks in the upper Bortala Valley, accelerated since the earliest eel dams of Lake Condah in contrast to the environmental conditions of the were dated back to some 6,600 years (Hinchliffe 2018; Taklamakan desert-based sites of Xiaohe. Irrespective McNiven 2015). of the size of houses or the building materials used, the permanence of such habitations does not mean that the The lack of any comparable discoveries about the Bronze Age peoples resided there all year around. nature and patterns of human settlements in the Xiaohe culture has only served to increase the puzzles Chapter 3 by Abuduresule et al. leads us into the first about the lives of the Bronze Age peoples of the part of this collection which includes the work of other Taklamakan desert. The largest structure found so far Chinese archaeologists in Chapters 4 and 5. These three in the case of the Xiaohe sites is a sizeable wooden ‘hut’. chapters are based on excavation reports that have never In 2008, Abuduresule at a public lecture in Melbourne before been published in English except in summary speculated that this ‘mysterious cabin’ might have been form for a few international conferences. Publication of constructed for the use of a local shaman who may have officiated at the Xiaohe burials (Abuduresule 2008: 1 Hedin’s report of his journey down the Tarim River into Lop Country speaks of the extensive use of the river reeds which were slides 94, 95, 96, 98). The illustration, however, describes so high and prolific that on at least one occasion his crew had to this large cabin as a ‘special tomb,’ although no human burn off a considerable area in order to clear a channel through the remains were found in it. Given the history of looting waterways. His account is accompanied by numerous photographs of his workmen and the local villagers standing in front of their in the area, together with physical degradation caused substantial reed huts towering over the heads of the residents (Hedin by sand storms, the structure might well have been a 1903: 321, 325, 420-423, 437,439, 443, 449).
2 M. Vicziany: Ancient Xinjiang at the International Crossroads
this work in this volume was a time consuming process in the deep winters to the settlers and the care of their and had to await, in the first instance, completion of valuable animal herds in this shared accommodation. the individual reports to the Chinese Bureau of Cultural Relics. Once that had happened, the difficult task of Liu’s chapter complements that by Cong in focussing translation, checking and cross checking began in order away from the Bortala River Valley to archaeological to ensure that these unique chapters are as accurate sites in the upper Yili River Valley. Together, the as possible and unambiguous in their statements. It broadening perspective provided by Liu and Cong was essential to do this because other non-Chinese are dramatically enhancing our knowledge of the writings have sometimes misunderstood and then prehistory of the western Chinese regions in going misrepresented the nature of the evidence. Chapter 3, beyond the previous focus of research on the desert therefore, represents the first, much awaited, full official areas of Xinjiang. Not only are these scholars providing summary of the excavations and cultural context of the geographical and topographical benchmarks for sites by the primary excavators involved in elucidating documenting the Bronze Age, they are also starting the evidence thrown up by the remarkable excavations to map out the unique connection of these settlement of the Bronze Age cemeteries of the Xiaohe culture with sites, graves and rock paintings to the western, their extraordinary levels of organic preservation. The southern and northern regions beyond China – a arduous task of collecting and analysing the scattered theme also elaborated by Francfort in his contribution evidence has taken more than 30 years. The people to this volume. More specifically, Liu presents a broad of Xiaohe emerge from this analysis as remarkable chronology for the known sites of the Bronze and Iron humans whose daily habits, judging by their grave Ages based on excavations at Qiongkeke. Qiongkeke, goods, bear an uncanny resemblance to modern day he suggests, provides a base reference point by which living. Their animal skin boots, as protection against to assess other archaeological sites in the Yili Valley the extreme cold of the winters, are little different that appear to be interrelated. It is significant that in from modern day ugg boots, while the ephedra twigs these first ever investigations into the pre-history carried in their grass-woven pouches remind us of the of the far western part of Xinjiang both Cong and Liu medicinal properties of the same plant which remains provide not only detailed reports about their findings an essential component of the modern nasal and sinus but also benchmarks for human settlement patterns decongestant called Sudafed. Even the name Sudafed stretching beyond China into eastern Kazakhstan. This is based on the word ephedra, a herb that has many painstaking, comparative documentation is helping us properties including the ability to act as a dramatic to understand how the Bortala and Yili river valleys stimulant. Perhaps the Xiaohe peoples followed a served as gateways from Eurasia into western Xinjiang form of shamanism in which ephedera’s medicinal and to the far east. Exactly when and how these Bronze properties helped them to achieve heightened levels of Age settlements spread across such a wide area is still, awareness? however, to be revealed by new research. Chapter 2 by Betts in this collection addresses some of this The next two chapters by Cong and Liu shift our by providing an overview of the important cultural attention away from the eastern, desert regions of connections that linked up the human settlements of Xinjiang to the even less studied western, river valleys the vast spaces of Xinjiang during the Bronze Age. defined by the glacier-covered Tianshan Mountains that separate China from Kazakhstan. Cong focuses Bronze Age settlers, it seems, protected their precious on one of the most important new archaeological animals and other assets not only from the weather excavations in western China, namely the site of as described by Cong but also other threats to their Adunqiaolu, some 17 kms from the border of China and security. A paper published by Jia et al. in 2018 describes Kazakhstan, in the Bortala River Valley.2 He provides the ruins of three fortified hills found only a few years the first properly documented, absolute dates for the ago in the Bortala River Valley, dating from the Late Bronze Age in this part of Xinjiang. The characteristics Bronze Age. They are located at strategic positions of the excavated mounds, houses and cemeteries bear that provide a look-out over expansive, green fields, a strong relationship to excavated sites further to the one of the ‘richest areas of seasonal pastures in the west, beyond the borders of China rather than to the upper Bortala Valley’ (Jia 2018: 70). The authors suggest eastern parts of Xinjiang, specifically with those of that the inhabitants of these fortified hill stations the Andronovo cultural style (see also Ruan 2013). were defending their interests against competitor The huge houses and the width of the walls suggest pastoral groups. The question yet to be answered, strong relationships between the protection provided however, is ‘who was being protected from whom’? These fortifications also reinforce the nature of Cong’s 2 In 2015-2018 the editors of this book were involved in an Australian findings in the Bortala Valley, for they indicate that the Research Council funded project, DP150100121, that collaborated with large houses built by Bronze Age people were not the Professor Cong and his team in analysing the evidence uncovered by the excavations in Adunqiaolu and bringing the findings to only construction projects of that period. Again, this international attention. new evidence for the far western Bronze Age sites at
3 The Cultures of Ancient Xinjiang: Crossroads of the Silk Roads
the foot of the Tianshan Mountains underscores the argues that the limited focus of previous research on puzzle that remains with the lack of any settlement west to east exchanges needs to be expanded and take data for the Xiaohe culture described in Chapter 3. into account the exchanges between Central Asia and South-Afghanistan and the Indus-Baluchistan regions. Liu’s account of the Iron Age in the Yili Valley is The need for this extended perspective agrees with complemented by the chapter by Boroffka and arguments put by other authors in this collection (see Sverchkov. Their study helps us to understand the the two chapters on Kashgar). The special features transition between the Bronze and Iron Ages through of the Late Bronze Age and Iron Age emerge from an analysis of the painted pottery that spanned both the enormous diversity and complexity of the goods eras in southern Uzbekistan. Their unique German- and artefacts that Francfort has studied over such Uzbek collaborative excavations of Bandykhan, a wide region. He suggests this reflects the growing especially the site of Maydatepa, began in 2005 and elaboration of the technologies, social structures and continue to challenge the idea that distinctive cultural religions that supported such production and exchange. forms emerged in particular regions and reflected Moreover, the exchange of goods and ideas accelerated. self-contained technological and artistic formations. Both production and trade appeared to feed a greatly Instead they point to the convergence of cultural styles expanded demand by diverse regional elites for more from southern Uzbekistan to the Ferghana Valley and raw materials, especially metal, stone and clay/plaster Xinjiang. Even the unfired bricks of the Xintala site in casting. The value of speedy communications has, for Xinjiang closely resemble those of Maydatepa, not to millennia, been recognized by scholars to be important mention the overlapping chronologies and the shared in the survival of societies. But carefully documented characteristics of the painted pottery. This evidence cases such as those by Francfort are not easy to find. reflects not only close cultural contacts between such In his chapter, horsemanship replaced Bronze Age elite dispersed sites but also, possibly, influences transferred chariots and played a transformative role in ‘permitting by human migrations. The authors plead for the notion ….speed of movement in long distance treks and raids, of human migrations to be taken seriously, and draw and speed in delivering showers of arrows by noblemen on information about changing climates to propose or laymen riding their horses’. Francfort argues that that the settlers from Xintala moved to the upper the nomadic populations thrived in mountainous Bandykhansay delta in response to the desertification and semi-desert areas, without having to invest the of north-western Xinjiang. This is an important laborious effort required by the sophisticated but hypothesis because, in contrast to the majority of fragile agrarian empires of the Greeks and others. But scholars working on the cultural links between Eurasia when nomadic armies did successfully conquer the and Xinjiang, Boroffka and Sverchkov propose the oases of South and Central Asia and Xinjiang, they movement of people and ideas from Xinjiang into the acculturated and adopted the lifestyles of the agrarian Eurasian regions to the west of the Tianshan Mountains centres like Bactra. Such cultural adoptions form a rather than from the west to the east. A similar east-west long running theme in the history of the regions movement of ideas and technologies is documented by mapped out by Francfort. His unique contribution is Dodson, Atahan and Xiaoqiang in their chapter. to give equal weight to the exchanges that occurred along the north-south axis (i.e. between the steppes In searching for explanations about the cultural of central Asia and the southern Bactrian-Hindukush affinities between Xinjiang and southern Afghanistan regions) and the west-east exchange routes which are Boroffka and Sverchkov make an observation that more typically discussed by other scholars of the Silk needs to be taken seriously: Road.
It seems that the separation of regions with highly Francfort’s knowledge of this extensive terrain and similar archaeological complexes is due rather to time scale is based on in-depth excavations that he has the history of research, caused by the order in which been involved with for many decades – for example, phenomena were studied by different research the Sarazm site in the upper Zaravshan river valley of teams located within different contemporary modern day Tadjikistan has been studied since 1984. administrative borders. The artefacts found on this site alone speak to long distance trade and the exchange of ideas with Iran, Francfort’s chapter develops this point further by Baluchistan, the Indus Valley and the Siberian steppes. drawing on an even wider canvas for interregional The images on the petroglyphs of the Karakoram- comparisons ranging from the Mediterranean to the Himalayan regions correspond to designs on engraved eastern part of Xinjiang and from South Asia to the wood and woven textiles in the sandy parts of Xinjiang Altai Mountains and Russia. While acknowledging that that lack stone, while in the Bortala and Upper Yili a critical feature of the transition from the Late Bronze River Valleys the rock art corresponds to designs found Age to the Iron Age in Eurasia ‘was the emergence of on the rocks of the Altai Mountains (see Cong and Liu horse harnessing and mounted pastoral nomadism’, he in this book). In contrast to Boroffka and Sverchkov,
4 M. Vicziany: Ancient Xinjiang at the International Crossroads
Francfort places less importance on human migrations Unlike the other chapters in this collection that draw to explain the appearance of parallel artefacts, on evidence from many excavation sites, Kashgar’s designs and raw materials across a vast expanse. archaeological record has suffered from long term Human migrations assume ‘too many migrations neglect. In Chapter 9, Di Castro, Vicziany and Zhu argue from too many places to too many other places’. for the urgent need to conserve and study the ancient International trade networks seem to hold the key monuments of Kashgar for they are rapidly disappearing but there remain many gaps in the evidential record as a result of the combined pressures of agricultural and for complete certainty. The third period discussed by urban development. Using photographs taken since Francfort begins c. 250 BC and the cultural influences 2005, observations from on-site visits, satellite images of the Greeks. Whether the Hellenistic styled artefacts and interviews with local curators such as Mr. Qadir (the discussed by Francfort came from Greece or were former Director of the Kashgar Museum) they suggest fashioned by local artists in the Grecian tradition that some of the Buddhist sites might be amongst remains unknown but both cases testify to the long the earliest in western China. In particular, they have distance trade and cultural links between northern identified eight key archaeological sites (Mori Tim, Topa Xinjiang and the Mediterranean, mainly as a result of Tim, Khan-oi, Yawaluk, the Three Immortal Buddha the demands by elite nomadic societies. Elite tastes, it Caves, Upal, Ancient Shule and Eskishahar). The Mori seems, were not restricted to goods of military value Tim site also appears to have the remnants of an ancient but also a wide variety of personal items. The Chinese irrigation system – but its date and the corresponding chronicles portrayed the nomadic tribes of Eurasia dates for the stupas is yet to be determined. Their as ‘barbarians’ but the archaeological record speaks arguments for new research on Buddhist Kashgar to their cultural sophistication, much of it based on are based on their study of the Buddhist economies adopting and adapting technologies, ideas and styles of Sanchi in India, Anuradhapura in Sri Lanka and from agrarian empires. Angkor Wat in Cambodia. Not only were these three great centres of Buddhist learning and practice but The importance of preserving the archaeological they were also outstanding examples of how Buddhist record of Xinjiang is taken up in the next two chapters monasteries managed the land and water systems that about the Buddhist monuments in the oasis town of sustained these cultures. In contrast to Kashgar, where Kashgar which sits at the meeting point between the the absence of comprehensive excavations means Tianshan and Pamir mountains. These chapters go that we have no dates for any of the eight sites, in well beyond the Bronze and Iron Ages into the period these other centres the parameters of knowledge are c. 200 CE up to the Islamic era starting in c. 1000 CE. In constantly expanding thanks to the application of new Chapter 8, Vicziany and Di Castro argue that in contrast technologies such as Lidar. For this reason, the authors to imperial narratives that focus on the rise and fall of have identified a range of methodologies that are kings and warriors, the history of Kashgar needs to be needed for the study of Kashgar’s Buddhist heritage and understood as an integral part of international trade fragile oasis environment, if the cultural achievements routes that benefited the local populations, irrespective of this significant Buddhist centre are to be recognised. of the identity of the overlords. In this sense, this chapter speaks to the themes raised by Francfort’s Dodson, Atahan and Li are also concerned with chapter. By reviewing examples of the literature in demonstrating the value of particular technologies in Chinese, Persian and European sources, Vicziany and documenting the history of Xinjiang. Using nuclear Di Castro suggest that the rise of Kashgar as a centre techniques they have provided absolute dates and, for Buddhist culture was only possible, in the first therefore, unique insights into the mineral and instance, because of the location of the Kashgar oasis agricultural industries of the Bronze Age in the Hexi on crossroads flowing not only west-east but also Corridor of Gansu. Their hypothesis is that the Corridor south-north. The authors also question the usefulness was an important conduit for the transfer of ideas from of writing the history of western China by being overly Mongolia into the Hexi region and further on. The dependent on the Chinese chronicles which focus on excavated mineral remains show that bronze making in imperial histories. Drawing on the new scholarship Gansu is at least some 4000 years old. While not as old about Indian empires such as the Mughals, for example, as bronze manufacture in Mesopotamia, the mineral they argue that the fall of empires does not typically richness of the area is demonstrated by the continued disadvantage the local elites or people because the rise mining for copper over the very long run. of smaller successor states kept the fabric of society together in a familiar way, without ordinary people In this as in the other chapters, a research priority has having to bear the burdens of an exploitative imperial been to establish reliable dates for the archaeological superstructure. Small states were less demanding of the sites and the material evidence that they have economic surplus than larger political formations with revealed. In addition to providing absolute dates for the result that local people benefitted from the end of the manufacture of alloys they have also estimated empires. reliable dates for the presence of wheat in Gansu. The
5 The Cultures of Ancient Xinjiang: Crossroads of the Silk Roads
earliest wheat seeds in this area were collected from about the nature of prehistoric pastoralism. The sediments at Xishanping (Dadiwan) near the Xi River. authors show that Bronze Age people did not depend The wheat and barley seeds are dated from about on their animal herds alone. This evidence agrees with 4650 cal. years B.P. The sediment section shows that the latest insights we have into the lifestyles and diets millet and rice cultivation are even older – some 5100 of the people of the Xiaohe culture. Using human hair/ years. The presence and dates for wheat are especially dentin and animal bones Qu and colleagues concluded important, given the role that wheat has played in that while the ‘initial settlers of the Xiaohe culture diversifying the agricultural base of the emerging primarily engaged in animal husbandry’ their diets Chinese empires. Dodson et al. maintain (see Figure 7 became more complex over time and included, in some and related discussion in Chapter 10) that robust AMS cases, surprisingly large quantities of wheat (Qu et al. radiocarbon dating shows that wheat entered Gansu 2018: 2010-2012). and further north-west some 4000 years ago and from there moved to the central, southern and western Conclusion parts of China including Xinjiang. For many scholars, the role of Mongolia as a transition zone remains The main conclusions of this collection can be controversial (Spengler et al. 2016; Stevens et al. 2016). summarised as follows. First, this monograph brings Without engaging in this debate, the importance of this to public attention the first detailed and systematic chapter is that it compels us to reassess the relationship account by Chinese archaeologists of the new, recently between Xinjiang, Gansu and Mongolia – something discovered Bronze Age sites of Xinjiang stretching from that has not attracted much attention until now. the Tianshan Mountains to the far eastern part of the Taklamakan desert. This contrasts with the previous The last case study offered by Dodson et al. uses nuclear literature that was focussed on the eastern desert region. isotopes to analyse bone collagen from humans and Three chapters in this volume provide an important animals found at sites in the Hexi Corridor. Their corrective to previous understandings of the Bronze analysis shows that, despite the presence of some Age by assessing the recent archaeological findings in wheat in the palaeobotanical remains, millet was the the mountains bordering China and Kazakhstan. This main component of the diet of local Bronze Age people refocus draws attention to western China’s river valleys in the period from the late 3rd millennium to the early and mountain passes as conduits for the transmission 2nd millennium cal. BC. By contrast, they did not find of cultures, technologies and peoples from further much evidence for the consumption of protein in the west, in Central Asia, to western China and eastwards. diet of the Bronze Age settlers. They do not suggest that None of this diminishes the importance of Chapter 3 by this ‘intriguing’ diet was typical of Xinjiang or Gansu Abuduresule et al., for this is the most comprehensive but it certainly justifies their call for further analysis of published discussion in English about the complexities bone collagen from other sites. of the Xiaohe culture located in the Taklamakan desert. Chapter 3 is critical for providing the essential context In the final chapter Jia and Chau also analyse the for ongoing work by this team and their colleagues in consumption habits of the Bronze Age peoples addressing the ever growing puzzles about the Xiaohe of Xinjiang, but this time their focus is on four culture whether it is about its desert-based oasis archaeological sites in the far west of Xinjiang, near environment (Li et al. 2013) or the world’s oldest glue the Tianshan Mountains. Their methodology involves (Rao et al. 2015) and paint brushes made of cattle heart an analysis of the ancient starch granules found on muscle (Mai et al. 2016) identified amongst the grave eight grinding stones. This is the first work for Xinjiang goods of the mummies. using the identification of ancient starches to study the plants used by Bronze Age peoples who lived here c. Secondly, our findings stress the powerful and enduring 2300-1000 BC. The starches found by Jia and Chau came cultural links between western China and the regions to from cultivated and wild plants and food and non-food the west, north and south. There were many Silk Roads plants, including medicinal species. In showing the along many routes, not only those along a west-east multiple character of the starches found on grinding direction. Moreover, the direction in which innovative stones, we can conclude that some mixed farming was cultural and technical ideas flowed remains complex and practiced at that time but that the grinding stones by multi-layered. The archaeological history of Xinjiang themselves do not prove that farming dominated. This is still too young and scattered to allow us to resolve supports the work of other scholars showing that wild debates about which entry points mattered more than plants were also processed (Liu et al. 2010; Liu et al. others. Rather we prefer to consider multiple entry 2013; Liu et al. 2011; Yang et al. 2012). Moreover, cereals points for the same or similar ideas and technologies. were also traded as noted by Francfort in this volume The porous nature of Xinjiang’s borders then and now, and Frachetti (2004: 206-207, 242-243, 368) in the case together with the incomplete archaeological record, of eastern Kazakhstan and southern Russia. Most makes it hard to assume that one particular corridor significantly, this chapter addresses the controversies was more important than another.
6 M. Vicziany: Ancient Xinjiang at the International Crossroads
Thirdly, our understanding of pastoralism in the Bronze waves of new migrants arrived bringing with them Age has been expanded by these chapters demonstrating wheat from the west and millet from the east (Qu et al. that Bronze Age herders, like their east Kazakhstan 2018: 2012). The next chapter by Betts takes up some counterparts, were brilliant environmental managers of these themes by mapping the range of pre-historic and multi-skilled in combining herding with farming, cultural sites in Xinjiang and identifying features that artisanal, trading and security-oriented activities relate to other parts of Eurasia and China. as a way of minimising the risks of living in difficult, extremely cold, semi-arid and desert environments. References Fragile ecologies needed special management skills for survival. Abuduresule, Y. 2008. Treasures in the Tarim Basin, Xinjiang, China: Looking for the Ancient Fourthly, different chapters have emphasised different Civilisations. Public Lecture for the Monash Asia mechanisms of cultural-technological transfers. We feel Institute and the National Gallery of Victoria. that instead of focussing on the debate about whether Melbourne: NGV, May. trade was more important than human migration, we Barber, E. 1999. The Mummies of Ürümchi. London: Pan need to recognise that both were possible and could Books. serve as substitutes for each other depending on what Fletcher, R. 2011. Low-Density, Agrarian-based was opportune at particular points in time. Urbanism: Scale, Power and Ecology in Michael E. Smith (ed.) The Comparative Archaeology of Complex Fifthly, many chapters emphasised the need to solve Societies. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press: the remaining puzzles of Xinjiang’s long historical 289-381. connections with bordering regions by expanding Frachetti, M. 2004. Bronze Age Pastoral Landscapes the research technologies that investigators use. of Eurasia and the Nature of Social Interaction in Archaeological findings have made major contributions the Mountain Steppe Zone of Eastern Kazakhstan. to increasing the parameters of our understanding of Unpublished PhD dissertation, University of the processes of long-term interchanges of people, Pennsylvania. goods, technologies and ideas but they need to go hand Hedin, S. 1903. Central Asia and Tibet: Towards the Holy City in hand with a re-examination of documents which of Lassa, Vol. 1. London: Hurst and Blackett. can now be approached with fresh eyes. The case of Hinchliffe, J. 2018. How smoked eel is at the heart of Kashgar, however, is exceptional, for here we urgently Australia’s next World Heritage bid. The Age, 9 need systematic archaeological investigations before December, viewed on 8 March 2019,
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China. Nature Scientific Reports 6:18939. DOI: 10.1038/ Romgard, J. 2008. Ancient Human Settlements in srep18939. Xinjiang and the Early Silk Road Trade. Sino-Platonic Mallory, J.P. and V.H. Mair 2000. The Tarim Mummies: Papers 185: 1-126. ancient China and the mystery of the earliest peoples Ruan, Q. 2013. Studies on the discoveries of Andronovo from the West. London: Thames & Hudson. affiliation found in Xinjiang, China. Western McNiven, I. et al. 2015. Phased redevelopment of an Archaeology 7: 125-154 [阮秋荣:《新疆发现的安 ancient Gunditjmara fish trap over the past 800 德罗诺沃文化遗存研究》，《西部考古》2013 years: Muldoons trap complex, Lake Condah, 年，7 期, 125-154 页] southwestern Victoria. Australian Archaeology 81: 44- Spengler, R. et al. 2016. The spread of agriculture into 58. northern Central Asia: Timing, pathways, and Mirtschin, A. 2013. The Aboriginal Stone Huts of environmental feedbacks. The Holocene 26/10: 1527- Lake Condah. YouTube video, 16 Dec, viewed on 1540. DOI: 10.1177/0959683616641739. 8 February 2019,
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