Volume 5 Number 1 Summer 2007 “The Bridge between Eastern and Western Cultures” From the Editor’s Desktop In This Issue Richthofen’s ‘Silk Roads’ ...... 1 Richthofen’s “Silk Roads”: Toward Special feature on food: the Archaeology of a Concept Georgia: A Culinary Crossroads...11 Food, Medicine & the Silk Road . 22 Seeking Mongolian Barbecue .... 36 In the year now drawing to a close a scholarly discipline (Oster- we are marking the 130th hammel 1987, p. 150). Trained Xiongnu Royal Grave at Tsaraam 44 anniversary of Ferdinand Freiherr especially in geomorphology, he
Tsaraam Chinese Inscription ...... 56 von Richthofen’s publication of the studied areas of East and
Ancient Anatolian Tracks ...... 59 term “die Seidenstrasse,” the Silk Southeast Asia, and then between Mongolia exhibition book ...... 66 Road. Almost any discussion of the 1862 and 1868 worked in the Dunhuang Centenary ...... 68 Silk Road today will begin with the American West. Today a 3944 m Upcoming programs ...... 73 obligatory reminder that the noted peak in Colorado bears his name. German geographer had coined Between 1868 and 1872, he spent the term, even if few seem to much of his time traveling in Next Issue know where he published it and China; his initial observations from what he really meant. For some those travels already appeared in Hermann Parzinger on Eurasian time now I have wondered exactly an English edition in Shanghai in archaeology what the good Baron said, which, 1872. While the political dis- Reports on the 2007 Silkroad as it turns out was something both turbances in Xinjiang prevented Foundation-Mongolian National narrower and broader than what his visiting that region, the range Museum excavations and survey those who invoke him have tended of mountains bordering the Gansu in Khovd aimag by Bryan Miller, to suggest. Corridor on the south (Qilianshan) Jessieca Leo, Veronica Joseph for a long time bore his name. His and James Williams Rather than use my space initial academic position was as a primarily for editorial comment on Odbaatar on a Uighur cemetery geologist, but in 1886 he became the contents of this issue of our chair of the Geography De- near Kharbalgas journal, I decided to undertake a Lin Ying on the Boma cup kind of archaeological investi- and more… gation, digging a test pit to discover what is in the layer containing Richthofen’s original About formulation. Readers should be warned that, like Heinrich The Silk Road is a semi-annual publi- Schliemann at Troy, I am going to cation of the Silkroad Foundation. The ignore most of the intervening Silk Road can also be viewed on-line at
2 environment but is also influenced director (1902-5) of the Institut archaeological, and he was further by exchange between areas of für Meereskunde (Institute for the limited by having to rely on human settlement. Thus Richt- Study of the Seas) in Berlin. translations of the Chinese texts.3 hofen is taking a “geosystems” Richthofen noted that following approach to writing human The specific context for the establishment of a Han economic geography, in which Richthofen’s use of the term presence in Inner Asia in the exchange creates conditions for “Seidenstrasse” in his China, Vol. second century BCE, references the development of more complex I, is his examination of the history by the western sources to the societies. The emergence of nodal of geographic knowledge in the Serer increased in frequency. After points for exchange is a direct West with regard to China and a period of decline toward the end consequence of their occupying conversely, in China with regard of the former Han, under the latter key positions on the routes of to the West. He devotes particular Han the trade revived to flourish communication. Communication attention to the earliest acquisition for about a century down to ca. invariably involves the intersection of this geographic knowledge in 150 CE. As we now know, of routes, the points of inter- the relatively narrow period subsequent publications of section often joining land routes encompassing the Han Dynasty additional primary source texts with water routes. As Jürgen and Imperial Rome. In this large and especially the new ar- Osterhammel has suggested, in section of his book, Richthofen chaeological discoveries would certain ways Richthofen’s ideas analyzes the evidence in Greek soon substantially revise many about socio-economic develop- and Roman sources which first details of Richthofen’s analysis ment anticipated “modernization speak of the Serer, those (see especially Herrmann 1910, theory” as it would emerge in the connected with the trade in silk, 1938). The revision of the writings of Max Weber (Oster- or Serica, the land of silk. He “standard” history of the Silk hammel 1987, p. 189). examines as well the evidence in Roads continues today. the Chinese annals concerning the Of particular interest here is the first missions to the Western Of particular importance in fact that for Richthofen in the Regions and the consequent Han Richthofen’s narrative are the longer historical view communi- campaigns leading to expansion geography and world map of cations by water seem, if into Central Asia. Much of this is Marinus of Tyre, known to us only anything, to have been more the now familiar story of the indirectly through Ptolemy important than communications beginnings of the “Silk Road.” In (Richthofen 1877-1912, Vol. I, pp. by land. He admits though that we citing some of the pioneering 477ff). Marinus’ information about lack sources to say anything analyses of exchange with China the overland route from the concrete about those routes in (notably by Joseph de Guignes Mediterranean to the borders of East Asia before the time of and Jean Baptiste Bourguignon the land of silk derived from an Ptolemy, whose evidence is d’Anville in the 18th century), account by the agents of a difficult to interpret and seems in Richthofen acknowledges that Phoenician merchant Maës fact to reach only as far as the Gulf much of what he has to say about Titianus. While Richthofen of Tonkin. The initiative in using the trade routes is not new admitted the difficulty of matching the sea routes seems to have (Richthofen 1877-1912, Vol. I, pp. Marinus’ and Ptolemy’s place come from the West, not from 460-462, 476). He also drew names with ones known from the China, although in the fourth and heavily upon the publication a Chinese sources, he nonetheless fifth centuries, Chinese ships decade prior to his own book of identified “Issedon Serica” with made their way into the Indian Cathay and the Way Thither by Khotan [Fig. 2] and “Sera Ocean. The sea trade blossomed Henry Yule, in the Islamic period and in Mongol whose engraved times, but seems to have been portrait oc- controlled largely by the cupied a place of westerners. It is perhaps in- honor in Richt- dicative of Richthofen’s priorities hofen’s Berlin that, when he delivered lectures apartment to the German Geological Society (Hedin 1933, p. anticipating some of the themes 33), and the of the first volume of his China, translations of the lecture on communication by early Chinese sea (Richthofen 1876) preceded sources by Emil the one on communication over Bretschneider. the Silk Roads (Richthofen 1877).2 Richthofen’s The father of the “Silk Road” sources were Fig. 2. Richthofen’s Issedon Serica (detail of map, concept was also the founding textual, not China, Vol. I, facing p. 500).
3 “Strassen” (roads or breadth of Eurasia from China to routes), “Haupt- the Mediterranean. Clearly the strassen” (main idea of trade in stages fits within routes) or “Handels- his scheme. strassen” (trade routes), even as he At first blush, we might be stresses that it was puzzled by Richthofen’s assertion the trade in silk that, for several centuries after the which fueled the Han withdrew from Central Asia in development of the the second century CE, overland Inner Asian con- exchanges of any consequence tacts.4 When he ceased. His own evidence seems later discusses the to contradict this, where he takes overland trade up (granted, in a rather routes in the Islamic compressed way) developments period and Pego- such as the spread of Buddhism lotti’s 14th-century into China, the rise of the Türk description of the Empire, and evidence in the Sui route to China, annals and in accounts such as Richthofen mapped those of Faxian and Xuanzang. In them respectively as fact, when he talks of cessation of the “Hauptverkehr- exchanges he seems specifically strasse” and to be referring to the trade, if “Haupt-Handels- diminished, now being in the Fig. 3. Richthofen’s caption to his map showing strasse,” the latter hands of merchants other than the Marinus’ “Silk Road.” running from north Chinese (Richthofen 1877-1912, of the Caspian, Vol. I, p. 523). The other Metropolis” with Chang’an, and south of the Aral Sea and then important factor in his view was concluded that the route north of the Tien Shan to Barkol, that the transmission of the secret described was that passing south Hami, and the Gansu Corridor of silk to Byzantium in the 6th of the Taklamakan desert. Where (Richthofen 1877-1912, Vol. I, century and consequent rise of a Richthofen differed from some facing p. 566 and p. 672). silk industry there diminished earlier commentators was in his significantly in the West demand questioning whether the route This is not to say that in focusing for Chinese silk. through the Pamirs went via on the routes beginning in the Han Samarkand and the Ferghana period Richthofen is oblivious to He thus justifies his assertion Valley. On the basis of the latest interactions across Eurasia earlier, that when the Tang Dynasty re- Russian geographical explora- but he portrays the earlier trade conquered Central Asia, the very tions, he felt there was reason to contacts as episodic exchange nature of the silk trade had think that the early silk merchants from hand to hand, not as changed. By this time, silk was had traveled in a more direct line something organized and not just a form of luxury textile, it from Bactria to the east through involving long distance travel and was also a form of currency, in the Pamir-Alai. large quantities of goods (Ibid., p. central China and in the Chinese 458). Only with the extensive northwest. The changes in turn While this discussion introduces results of modern archaeology affected Chinese interest in the term “Seidenstrasse” in the across Inner Asia are we now fully geographical knowledge. While singular specifically with reference appreciating how widespread were new information about the West to Marinus’ route [Fig. 3], it also those earlier contacts which was being acquired under the uses the term in the plural for moved in a great many directions Tang, there was no longer an effort routes both east and west of the (for a good overview, see to integrate it with the old into a Pamirs (Parzinger 2005 notes that Parzinger 2005). For Richthofen larger picture of world geography. Richthofen used the plural). He it is important that, during what Even though there was a takes pains to emphasize that “it he considers was the relatively concerted government effort to would be a mistake to consider brief flourishing of the Eurasian gather information, especially that it [Marinus’ route] was the trade under the Han, Chinese about Inner Asia, Chinese horizons only one at any given moment or merchants (presumably he means shrank to that which immediately even the most important one.” In ethnic Chinese) were traveling all adjoined their borders, and with general, rather than “Seiden- the way into Central Asia. the Tang withdrawal from Central strassen,” Richthofen prefers the However, he does not claim that Asia after the middle of the eighth terms “Verkehr” (communication), merchants traveled the whole century, those horizons them-
4 selves diminished (Ibid., pp. 547, traditional kinds of compilation, unlimited range of economic and 578).5 The rise of Islam capped despite the evidence for the cultural exchanges across Eurasia. this fundamental shift away from significant presence of Chinese in While the title of his lecture to the the kind of interaction across western parts of the Mongol Geological Society included the Eurasia that had taken place Empire where they must have had term “Silk Roads,” the substance centuries earlier. In short, as he ample opportunity to learn about of the lecture reiterated the concluded in his presentation to the wider world (p. 587). arguments of the book.7 By the the Geological Society in Berlin, time he read his general lectures “The concept of the trans- Finally, regarding Richthofen’s on settlement and communication continental Silk Roads had lost its treatment of the East-West a number of years later, he did not meaning” (Richthofen 1877, p. exchange of geographical even use the term “Seiden- 122). knowledge, I might note the strasse.” Indeed, trade in silk oddity of his sweeping comments occupied less than a page in that At very least we might point out about Ming isolation (p. 619). He narrative, where, in his discussion that Richthofen’s analysis for the himself understands that such was of ancient human “Handels- th Tang era ignores the over- not the case in the early 15 verkehr,” gold, precious stones whelming evidence of pervasive century, when there were and spices merited more foreign influences and contacts in embassies exchanged with the attention. Nor did Richthofen use that period. He is simply wrong Timurids. Even though he is the term “Seidenstrasse” in his about an absence of evidence for acquainted with Clavijo, he correspondence with Hedin, the cultural interaction between Persia ignores what the Spaniard tells us last letters of which date from the and China in the pre-Mongol about the Chinese in Samarkand. time when Hedin’s discoveries and period (p. 556). Yet at the same And there is only a passing those of Aurel Stein and the time, he makes it clear that the mention in Richthofen’s account German archaeologists under the sea trade flourished, and evidence concerning one of the great sands of the Tarim Basin were in the Chinese annals indicates Chinese fleets in the Indian Ocean becoming known. So Richthofen th Chinese vessels made it all the during the first third of the 15 both denied that the concept of way to Siraf in the Persian Gulf. century. transcontinental “Silk Roads” had Idrisi (12th century) even has them Richthofen’s use of the term any broader application at the visiting Aden (p. 568). For the same time that he never most part though, this trade was “Silk Roads” is really quite limited. He applies it, sparingly, only to the subscribed to a narrow concept of in the hands of Arabs and Persians an ancient East-West super- (p. 578). Han period, in discussing the relationship between political highway where the central part of It may be easier to agree with expansion and trade on the one the route was of little consequence Richthofen that during the post- hand and geographical knowledge except as a transmission belt Han period, the West in effect on the other. The term refers in between the civilizations of East forgot what it had known about the first instance to a very specific and West. His narrow interest China.6 Indeed the establishment east-west overland route defined pertained to analysis of specific of a Nestorian presence in China by a single source, even though written sources, whereas his under the Tang seems to have left he recognizes that at that time concept of human geography was no trace in Western geographical there were other routes in various in fact much broader than those knowledge (p. 555). While Islamic directions (pp. 459-462) and at who invoke his “Silk Road” seem geographical works would least to some extent appreciates to have understood. eventually include much new that silk was not the only product information about Central and carried along them. If the Silk Once he had enunciated the idea East Asia, little of this became Road of Marinus was a of “Silk Roads” though, did it catch known in medieval Europe. Hauptstrasse, it is only because on? This is a subject for a separate that is the route which his lone study, but let us look quickly at Even though the conditions for informant used. some evidence. Reviewers of his travel and cultural exchange China seem to have been little changed dramatically under the This limited use of the concept interested in the phrase, focusing Mongol Empire the impact of this served Richthofen’s immediate their attention instead on whether on geographical knowledge was purpose of explaining the or not he was correct in his far more pronounced in the West transmission of geographical discussion of dating and precision than in China. Richthofen knowledge and the evidence of a of the information contained in the expresses disappointment in not few ancient sources. In fact he ancient texts (e.g., Gutschmid finding a conceptual change in the never uses the term in discussing 1880). There is no indication that Chinese understanding of the the later part of that history, nor Hedin in his early books paid any world. Instead, he finds geo- did he intend that the concept be attention to the concept. In fact graphical inquiry limited to extended to other periods and an when he went off to Central Asia,
5 he evinced little understanding of the early sources, reconstructing Silk Roads sparked an interest in the cultural history and human (somewhat controversially, I the broad reading public. If not geography which was so important believe) the ancient Chinese maps Herrmann then, what about Hedin to Richthofen. This, despite the and including in his still useful or Stein? Any analysis of their fact that Hedin had been Historical and Commercial Atlas of impact will need to take into introduced to China, Vol. I, before China several maps on which the account what seems to have been he went to study in Berlin in 1889, quite numerous branches of the an insatiable appetite of large and despite Richthofen’s urgings “Silk Roads” are illustrated audiences in the late nineteenth that he pay attention to Inner (Herrmann 1935).9 and early twentieth centuries for Asian human history. As we shall lectures and books on exploration, see, Hedin eventually invoked his Herrmann’s work culminated in adventure travel, and archaeo- mentor’s phrase, albeit inci- a second “silk road” volume logical discovery. We may well ask dentally to other priorities. (Herrmann 1938) which left only whether the explorers and shreds of the original detail of academics invented the “Silk The scholar who seems first to Richthofen’s scheme intact and Road” as a popular phenomenon have done something with presented at least the illusion that or whether, instead, the impetus “Seidenstrasse” was August one might really be able to was public demand. Stein’s Herrmann, a proper analysis of quantify distances in the ancient explorations were often reported whose work cannot be my task texts. In particular, following on in the London Times (Wang 2002); here. Herrmann’s 1910 book was the first reviews of Richthofen, Hedin’s collection of newspaper the first to use “Seidenstrasse” in Herrmann emphasized how his clippings concerning his exploits its title. Its use of the term, as in predecessor had misconstrued the extends over several meters of Herrmann’s subsequent writings, reference points used by Ptolemy archival shelving.10 In the days seems to have been consistent and failed to understand that before television, the lecture tour with Richthofen’s limited original Ptolemy had arbitarily halved the was a significant form of public intent. That is, the task Herrmann distances on the eastern part of entertainment. Hedin had the set himself was to review the his map. Marinus, his source, had ability to mesmerize audiences earliest evidence concerning East- committed the opposite mistake with tales about his foolish West geographical knowledge, the of overextending them. Herrmann escapade of trying to cross the emphasis being on the relatively thus set about to reconstruct more Taklamakan in 1896. Stein, I think short period embracing the Han accurately Marinus’ lost map. much more reluctantly, also Dynasty. Herrmann had in hand a Probably the most significant lectured. good many texts which had not conclusion he reached was that been available to his predecessor, Marinus’ route was not the incorporated new information from southern one around the From his earliest days as an exploration and archaeology, and Taklamakan but rather the two explorer, Hedin was successful in seems, by and large, to have had intersecting northern ones. finding good publishers for his a much deeper knowledge of According to Herrmann, Issedon narratives. Richthofen expressed Greek and Roman geography than Serica referred not to Khotan, but amazement at how quickly the did Richthofen. to the region farther east, Shan- young Swede could write up his Shan/Kroraina (i.e. including travels and have them in print Only in passing (Herrmann Charchlik and Lou-Lan), even (e.g., Hedin 1933, p. 82); 1910, p. 10) did Herrmann though, somewhat illogically it producing the books became kind comment on Richthofen’s seems, Sera Metropolis was not of a Hedin family business formulation “Seidenstrasse,” Chang’an, as Richthofen had it, enterprise. Both Hedin and Stein suggesting (not entirely but Wu-Wei, farther to the west. produced rather bulky “popular accurately) that Richthofen had By 1938 Herrmann was using the narratives” of their explorations as confined it to describing the term Seidenstrassen (plural) quite well as dense scholarly compendia Chinese route into Central Asia, freely in his text. Probably the with technical details. Modern even though it might also be only reason he did not do so in readers often find themselves put extended to describe as well the the title of the monograph — off by even the “popular route westwards to Syria. where he used “Land der Seide” narratives.” I happen to like Stein Herrmann justified his “correction” to refer to the ancients’ China — for his detail about excavating with reference to work published was the fact that his colleague ancient garbage dumps and dislike by Friedrich Hirth in 1889 Sven Hedin (who wrote a brief Hedin for his tiresome reminders regarding the eastern trade. preface to Hermann 1938) had of temperatures, stream flow, Following the appearance of his published two years earlier his altitude and bad weather. I have monograph, Herrmann published own book entitled The Silk Road. heard exactly the opposite opinion in 1915 an essay on “The Silk from others. Hedin was a Roads from China to the Roman It is a bit difficult to imagine that publishing sensation in Germany Empire.”8 He continued to work on Herrmann’s dense analyses of the after he was taken on by the firm
6 of Brockhaus in Leipzig, which Otherwise, but for a few compassed much of what we find issued long, intermediate length photographs and sketches of parts in the more expansive definitions and short versions of the same of the Great Wall and watchtowers of “Silk Roads” today. He wrote books and reprinted them in large and a paragraph or two on the well and his magisterial pages numbers (Hedin 1933, p. 43; Sino-Swedish discoveries, there is breathe a willingness to tackle Waugh 2001). There was some nothing. The book is really about large ideas. True, his lectures on competition between Stein and Hedin’s extended motor journey settlement and communication Hedin in terms of publication.11 from 1933-35 in the last stages of are textbookish, an accurate the multi-year expedition he had reflection of their genre. To a Of course much of the Hedin organized. The book is typical degree though that impression material had little to do with the Hedin, largely a travel tale derives from the fact that what we ancient silk roads, but by the involving occasional exciting find in them is ideas that we now 1920s there were compactly adventures during the period of take for granted, even if when first written popularizations (not the civil unrest in Xinjiang. The mirage enunciated they may have stuck earlier so-called “popular nar- of the title notwithstanding, it is his listeners as new. In contrast, ratives”) which would have led hard to imagine that with this his China is anything but readers to the subject, if not focus the book could have served simplistic. For its time, despite its necessarily to the specific term as the catalyst for the more biases, internal contradictions and “Silk Road.” Among them was modern overblown enthusiasms the limitations of its source base, Hedin’s autobiography, with its for the Silk Road. The modern it tells the story of the Silk Roads colorful verbal excess about his developments include such amazingly well. Possibly re- discovery of Dandan Oilik, where excesses as the NTK-CCTV multi- reading Richthofen would he “won, in the heart of the desert, million yen 30-part television encourage us to excavate in the a new field for archaeology” and spectacular of the 1980s, full of lower layers of the cultural stood “like the prince in the blowing dust, the quickly deposit, which conceal the works enchanted wood, having wakened stultifying music of Kitaro, and of his eminent predecessors who, to new life the city which has often inane commentary, even if like Richthofen, are nowadays little slumbered for a thousand years” some of the footage is quite read. We just might discover that (Hedin 1925/1996, p. 188). Von inspiring. “Silk Road Studies” now their vision too in many ways Le Coq produced a decent may mean modern geopolitical anticipated that of our reputedly overview of the German Turfan and security studies of oil more enlightened and better expeditions, mixing ethnographic pipelines, Central Asian trans- informed times. and archaeological material (Le portation and ethnic unrest.13 Coq 1928), and Stein’s Lowell Of course another response to Institute (Boston) lectures So in its inception Seidenstrasse Richthofen might be to follow the appeared as In Ancient Central was a convenient shorthand, advice of Warwick Ball and dismiss Asian Tracks (Stein 1933). All of auxiliary to a specific treatment of the concept of the Silk Road as a these books have been reprinted ancient written sources. Does this meaningless neologism which and are still available. then mean that we should ignore bears little relationship to the the good Baron who invented the realities on the ground in early By the 1930s, Richthofen’s term? On the contrary, I would Eurasia (Ball 1998). Certainly the original formulation was barely argue that we can benefit from main point in his ex cathedra more than a footnote. Hedin, in reading him, not for the details pronouncements about the fact, may have been the first to which in so many cases are now modern popularization of the invoke his “Silk Road” for its obsolete or to club him for his concept has its merits, even if he romantic aura as a means of “orientalist” and “imperialist” has not read his Richthofen, gets marketing a book which had little views, but for his breadth and some of his facts wrong, and to do with what his mentor had depth of understanding of the misunderstands important said. The book in question, The interaction between man and the aspects of how Eurasian exchange Silk Road (first published in environment and for his ap- operated in earlier times. I would Swedish as Sidenvägen in 1936) preciation of the significant role of readily admit the concept of the was soon translated into English communication in human ex- Silk Roads is lacking in analytical and German, and the German change across the centuries and value, especially if it includes edition within a few short years in various parts of the globe. He under its umbrella almost any and had been reprinted at least ten certainly is one of those who all forms of human exchange times. For the first three-fourths shared with other pioneering across all of Eurasia and over two of the book Hedin barely mentions scholars in the nineteenth century or more millennia. Yet to interpret the Silk Road. Then he pastes in a an understanding of the centrality it this broadly seems consistent perfunctory 10-page overview of of Central Asia. Even though he with Richthofen’s vision of what its history, mentioning both never extended his neologism to human geography was all about, Richthofen and Herrmann.12 later periods, his vision en- even if to do so ignores the limited
7 use he made of the specific References Herrmann 1935 phrase. Albert Herrmann. Historical and Commercial Atlas of China. Thus, I am quite comfortable Ball 1998 Harvard-Yenching Institute. with presenting as part of “The Silk Warwick Ball. “Following the Monograph series, Vol. 1 Road,” on the pages which follow mythical road.” Geographical (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard here, articles on topics as Magazine 70/3 (1998): 18-23. University Press, 1935). The maps disparate as the transmission of (not text) may be found on-line food and medicines, Chinese Chichagov 1983 at
8 China im Altertum und Mittelalter.” jubilaeen/2005/richthofen.html>, locations more closely connected Verhandlungen der Gesellschaft accessed November 6, 2007. with inland China. für Erdkunde zu Berlin 1876: 86- 3. “Da er niemals über Elemen- 97. Waugh 2001 Daniel C. Waugh, “A Sven Hedin tarkenntnisse der chinesischen Richthofen 1877 Bibliography.” On-line at 9 p. 500 delineates in red “die of the Western Lands. He 11. As Helen Wang indicates, in Seidenstrasse des Marinus.” summarizes the argument in his order to fund their expeditions, book concerning Han expansion 5. As Helen Wang has reminded they had to prove they were and the evidence in the Chinese me, Richthofen could have fleshed worthy of support, and get annals that the southern route out his account with reference to financial backing. The press picked around the Tarim Basin antedated the An Lushan rebellion, which up on this. See for example, the in importance the northern one. nearly toppled the Tang, and the illustration to Wang 2007, p. 230, In support of the book’s Tibetan occupation of Central Asia. in which the Illustrated London arguments that the Western News of 30 January 1909 shows 6. “…So verlor sich doch im merchants might have taken more portraits of 15 “men who fill in the Westen allmälig die Kunde von der direct route from Balkh through gaps, the great explorers of the Existenz eines Volkes der Serer; the Pamirs, he cites in his paper moment,” with Stein at No.1 and denn die Chinesen waren aus den new reports on explorations which Hedin at No.15. Bazars verschwunden, der he had received while his book was 12. Even though he mentions Seidenhandel zu Lande nahm already in press. wahrscheinlich bedeutend ab, und Richthofen in only one sentence, gelangte in die Hände von Völkern, 8. “Die Seidenstrassen von China Hedin correctly pointed out that die man unter ihren eigenen nach dem Römischen Reich,” in his mentor had used “Silk Road” Namen kannte. Man fragte nicht Mitteilungen der Geographischen specifically in mapping the route nach ihrem weiteren Ursprung und Gesellschaft in Wien 1915: 472ff. transmitted by Marinus of Tyre: “I brauchte daher keine Serer (cited Herrmann 1938, p. 3 n. 2). texten till sitt berömda verk China, mehr…” (p. 523). Note, of course, I, talar han om ‘Die Seidenstrasse’ 9. See especially: http:// that this is not an indication that och på en karta om ‘die map.huhai.net/24.jpg and http:/ there was no silk trade what- Seidenstrasse des Marinus’” /map.huhai.net/37.jpg, the first soever, but simply that it was no (Hedin 1936, p. 310). showing the Han routes in Central longer being carried by Chinese Asia; the second the situation in 13. I have in mind here the Silk merchants. Central Asia ca. 660. Road Studies Program, based in 7. The 1877 presentation begins Uppsala, Sweden, a joint with allusions to how recent 10. I owe the information about undertaking with the Johns geographical discoveries were now the clippings on Hedin to Axel Hopkins University Central Asia- making it possible and desirable Odelberg, who discussed his Caucasus Institute. See the to re-examine the ancient texts in forthcoming biography of Hedin at website at Photo copyright © 1969 Daniel C. Waugh during the period of Tang control Fig. 1. A street in old Tbilisi. 10 From the Black Sea, ships could Georgia: A Culinary Crossroads sail up the Phasis River (today’s Rioni). Goods were then portaged Darra Goldstein over the Likhi Range to the Kura Williams College River Valley and on to Persia. By Williamstown, Massachusetts (USA) the early Middle Ages Tiflis had become a major stopover on the medieval trade routes, a midpoint A Brief History Thanks to its agricultural riches between Moslem East and and long tradition of hospitality, Christian West [Fig. 2]. For centuries, the tiny nation of Georgia was an object of desire Georgia has stood at the for many outsiders, not all of Tbilisi itself was founded in the confluence of East and West. whom were good guests. fifth century when, according to Geographically part of Asia, yet a legend, King Vakhtang Gorgaslani, Christian nation, Georgia has The Georgians date the on a hunt near the Kura River, historically looked more often to beginnings of their culture to the killed a pheasant, which he the West — so much so, that the sixth century BCE. The ancient retrieved fully cooked from the hot capital city of Tiflis (Tbilisi) was Greeks established colonies along springs where it had fallen. once known as the Paris of the the Black Sea coast in a region Toasting his good fortune, Caucasus. Lying athwart the major they called Colchis. In 66 BCE, Gorgaslani vowed to create a city trade routes between East and when the Roman general Pompey on this auspicious site. He called West, Tiflis maintained a grand invaded and brought the area it “Tbilis-kalaki” or “Warm City” caravanserai where merchants under Roman rule, Greek control (hence the name “Tbilisi”; outside could stable their animals, store came to an end, but the outposts their wares, and themselves find in Colchis remained important Fig. 2. Map of Georgia. Copyright © by shelter [Fig. 1, facing page]. links in the trade route to Persia. Paul J. Pugliese. Used by permission. 11 of Georgia, the city was known as century, the country was country, with its economy Tiflis into the twentieth century). effectively split in two, with dependent upon the Soviet Following a mid-seventh-century western Georgia falling under the system. Georgia’s citrus fruits, invasion, Tiflis fell under Arab Turkish sphere of influence, and fresh vegetables, herbs, tea, and control, and even though Georgia eastern Georgia politically part of wines found a ready market in had accepted Christianity in the northwest Iran. Repeated attacks Russia and the other Soviet fourth century, it remained a from the Persians, the Turks, and republics, and the Georgian Moslem city-state. Only in the Moslem tribesmen in Dagestan to economy flourished. When the ninth century, when the Bagrationi the north finally caused the Soviet system fell apart, the dynasty came into power, did Georgians to turn to Russia for country suddenly experienced Georgia begin to exert itself as a help. In 1783, King Irakli II, the severe economic distress, strong Christian nation. Even so, beleaguered successor to the exacerbated by political conflicts between the eighth and eleventh ancient Bagrationi dynasty, signed in the breakaway regions of centuries Tiflis was controlled the Treaty of Georgievsk, which Abkhazia and South Ossetia, both successively by Arabs, Khazars, acknowledged Russia’s sove- of which the Russians supported. and Seljuks. reignty, and in 1801 Russia These conflicts led to civil unrest incorporated Georgia into its in the early 1990s. By 1998, things The early tenth century saw the empire. The Russian presence in had quieted down, but in 2005, rise of an independent feudal Georgia lasted until 1918 when, just as the Georgian economy was monarchy, and during the reign of following the October Revolution, beginning to recover, Russia David the Builder (1089-1125) Georgia declared its inde- embargoed all Georgian agri- Tiflis was finally freed from foreign pendence. Although the two cultural products, including the control. Under the rule of the great countries had signed a non- Borzhomi mineral water that queen Tamara (1184-1212), interference treaty, in 1921 provided an important source of Georgia experienced a renais- Bolshevik troops invaded, and export revenue. In 2006 Russia sance, a good two hundred years once again Georgia was in- extended the embargo to before Italy. During this time, the corporated into its more powerful Georgian wines, claiming that they Gelati Academy in the western neighbor to the north, this time had been adulterated. This move province of Imereti housed an the Soviet Union. was, in fact, political, in retaliation important school of philosophy for Georgia’s desire to ally itself and offered advanced teachings in Until the dissolution of the Soviet with the West by seeking astronomy, medicine, and music. Union in 1991, Georgia existed as membership in NATO and the In eastern Georgia, near Telavi, a constituent republic of that European Union. The Russians the arts and sciences were assiduously pursued in the famous academy at Ikalto, which included the world’s first school devoted to the serious study of wine. As an important stopover on the trade routes, Tiflis both benefited and suffered from repeated waves of migration and invasion. The country’s brilliant renaissance came to an end when the Mongols invaded in the second quarter of the thirteenth century. The Mongol occupation lasted until the early fourteenth century, after which Georgia was ruled by Iranians and then Turks, who gained ascendance after the fall of Constantinople in 1453. The Georgians found themselves trapped amidst the shifting politics and allegiances of its neighbors; only Armenia to the south, a second island of Christianity in the After Kuznetsov 1983 Islamic world, presented no Fig. 3. Niko Pirosmani, Jackasses’ Bridge, a painting which depicts the threat. By the late sixteenth Georgian love of dining al fresco, whether under a pergola or on a boat. 12 were further displeased the tart taste they prefer the by the Baku-Tbilisi- Georgians more often stew Ceyhan oil project and meat with sour plums or the Baku-Tbilisi-Erzerum pomegranates than with natural gas pipeline, both sweeter fruits like quince or of which bypass Russian prunes. The prized Georgian territory. Nevertheless, khinkali—the overstuffed Russia’s attempts to boiled dumplings of the control Georgia must be mountainous zones — reveal seen in historical the culinary influence of perspective, as the Central Asian Turks. Along Russians are only the the Black Sea coast in latest in a series of western Georgia, the stuffed outsiders to covet this Waugh C. Daniel 1993 © copyright Photo vegetable tolmas resemble Fig. 4. The Caucasus Range, bordering Georgia rich land. on the north, seen from Mt. Elbrus. Turkey’s various dolmas. But the Georgians never The Flavors of Georgia developed a taste for the Remarkably, through all the The second myth tells that while elaborate oriental sweets from invasions, sieges, and subju- God was creating the world, He Turkish, Persian, or Armenian gations, Georgia has maintained wisely took a break for supper. But kitchens; instead, they limit a strong national identity, a He happened to trip over the high dessert mainly to fresh fruits and societal pride greater than peaks of the Caucasus range [Fig. nut preparations. patriotism, akin to a religious 4], spilling a little of everything Not yet fully documented is the belief in the sacredness of the from His plate onto the land below. kinship of Georgian food with that earth and its ability to sustain. This And so it was that Georgia came of northern India. The cor- devout relationship to their to be blessed with such riches, respondences in culinary ter- surroundings existed long before table scraps from Heaven. In fact, minology between contemporary the Georgians accepted Christ- the agricultural bounty of this Georgian and Hindi are especially ianity. Two creation myths often small country is exceptional, and notable in a language like retold at the feast table capture even today 50 percent of the Georgian, which is not even Indo- the mix of reverence and population is engaged in some sort European but South Caucasian, an irreverence that characterizes the of farming. It is not surprising that entirely separate linguistic group. Georgian attitude toward life [Fig. the early Greeks called the The Georgian word for bread, like 3, facing page]. As one myth goes, Georgians georgos, “those who the Hindi, is puri; and the the first Georgians were seated work the land,” whence our English under a pergola at a table laden term derives. with wine and food. So engrossed were they in feasting on grilled The presence of so many outside lamb with plum sauce and garlicky rulers and visitors inevitably roasted eggplant that they missed introduced foreign ways into God’s deadline for choosing a Georgia, including certain in- country, so the world was divided fluences on the cuisine. Georgian up without them. His task food is reminiscent of both complete, God set off for home, Mediterranean and Middle Eastern only to find the Georgians still tastes, the result of a rich interplay merrily toasting and singing. God of culinary ideas carried along the stopped to reproach them for their trade routes by merchants and negligence, but the tamada, the travelers alike. Yet the Georgians toastmaster, remained uncon- did not adopt all the culinary cerned. They had spent their time practices that came their way, and well, he explained, thanking God today Georgian cuisine remains in lavish toasts for having created distinct, particularly in its such a magnificent world. Pleased extensive use of walnuts [Fig. 5]. that the Georgians had not Some borrowed practices are forgotten Him, God rewarded easily recognizable, of course. The them with the very last spot on pilafs of southeastern Georgia After Chiaureli 1984 earth, the one He had been saving echo those of neighboring Iran, Fig. 5. A woman making churchkhela for Himself. And so it was that the and the meats simmered with fruit by stringing walnuts and dipping them Georgians came to live in are similar to variations of Persian repeatedly into concentrated fresh paradise. khoresh (stew), though to yield grape juice to form a confection. 13 Georgians use a clay oven, the predominate over pine nuts and Kartli, the eastern province in toné, for baking bread and almonds. So well loved are which the capital city of Tbilisi is roasting, much as Indians of the walnuts that many standard located, is known for its orchard Punjab use the tandoor. The dishes prepared without nuts, fruits, especially apples and Georgian tapha, a special pan for such as the spicy beef soup peaches, the best of which come making the succulent Chicken kharcho or the chicken stew from the environs of Gori, where Tabaka that is so emblematic of chakhokhbili, often include Stalin was born. The local markets Georgian cuisine, is related to the walnuts in their western Georgian abound with seasonal golden lady cast-iron skillet or tava of northern renditions. Freshly pressed walnut apples, pink gooseberries, red and India. And curry blends find their oil provides a necessary sup- black currants, many varieties of counterpart in khmeli-suneli, plement of fat (including a healthy plums — sweet and sour; purple, Georgia’s aromatic seasoning dose of Omega-3s), as do the rich yellow, green, and red — apricots, mixture, though a typical blend of suluguni and imeruli cow’s milk pears, berries, sweet cherries, and khmeli-suneli is based more on cheeses used in place of butter sour shindi or cornelian cherries, herbs than on spices. It includes with cornbread. the juice of which Georgian ground coriander, basil, dill, warriors once drank before battle summer savory, parsley, mint, Regional Variations to fortify their blood. Mounds of fenugreek, bay leaf, and marigold, dried fruits and locally grown which turns foods a deep yellow, walnuts, almonds, and hazelnuts as does curry’s turmeric. Stretching as it does from the are available year round. Black Sea nearly all the way to the But differences often reveal Caspian, the Republic of Georgia Georgian dishes evolved more than similarities. What most is remarkably diverse, with naturally from the produce distinguishes Georgian cuisine numerous climatic zones, from the available, and traditional methods from that of its neighbors is the mountainous to the subtropical. of preparation have hardly use of walnuts, not merely as The Likhi Range running north to changed over the years; high tech garnish, but as an integral south effectively divides the does not yet have a solid place in component in a wide variety of country in half. Western Georgia, the Georgian kitchen. To an dishes. To offset what might bordering on the Black Sea, extraordinary degree, Georgians otherwise be a cloying richness endures high precipitation and still integrate the outdoors into from the nuts, many recipes call steamy temperatures. Here tea their lives when they cook and eat. for a souring agent. Yogurt and citrus fruits thrive. Eastward Whether gathered on a city (matsoni), pungent cheese, and the climate grows progressively balcony for a formal meal or by immature wine (machari) often drier, until sere Central Asian the roadside for an impromptu serve as counterpoints to ground winds buffet the plateaus to the picnic, Georgians consider al walnuts; vinegar or fruit juices and east of the Likhi chain. This hot, fresco dining the best way to eat, fruit leathers similarly lend dry atmosphere produces the lush a chance to appreciate nature balance. The ground and dried stone fruits and grapes of the while consuming its gifts. Although petals of marigold, known as Kartli and Kakheti provinces. The the ancients considered grilling Imeretian saffron, lend an earthy boundary between East and West the most primitive of cooking depth to Georgian dishes and set is also visible in the relative degree methods, and boiling the most them apart from those of other of spiciness to the food. Eastern refined, grilling remains a culinary cultures. For instance, Georgians prefer a cool, fresh preferred way to cook meats in cinnamon and vinegar regularly taste, thanks in part to their hot, Georgia — a legacy, perhaps, of flavor meat in the Georgian diet, arid summers, while western the Promethean legend just as they do in Middle Eastern Georgians add generous amounts (Prometheus is said to have given cuisines, but marigold rather than of fresh and dried hot pepper to fire to mankind when he was true saffron adds the distinctive their food. A second difference lies chained to a rock on Mount Elbrus touch. in the western Georgian in the Caucasus). A second preference for corn over wheat. standard method of preparing Other differences are visible in Here mchadi or corncakes are food is by slow cooking, and the staple foods. Where Persian prepared instead of puri. As is Georgian cuisine has an extensive cooks turn to rice and Armenians evident from their reliance on such repertoire of soups and stews. The use bulgur, Georgians rely on ingredients as corn, peppers, and heat remaining in the toné after wheat and corn. And instead of the beans, western Georgian cooks bread baking is used for dishes like legumes typically found in the put New World crops to good use. purnis mtsvadi, lamb braised Middle East and the Mediterranean Another New World transplant, the slowly in a clay pot. — lentils, chickpeas, and favas — tomato, is highly appreciated by Georgians favor kidney beans, like eastern and western Georgians Perhaps the single most corn a New World crop. Walnuts alike. important implement in the 14 Georgian kitchen is a mortar and railroad pestle for grinding nuts and worker who spices. Although many affluent painted families now have food signboards processors, the best Georgian in exchange cooks swear by labor-intensive for food and hand grinding, since it yields the drink, was finest texture. In western Georgia, known as 1987After Khromchenko chkmeruli (fried chicken) and the “Geor- corncakes are baked in special red gian Rous- clay dishes called ketsi, which seau” for his range in diameter from six to fanciful twelve inches. The use of ketsi is animals and another way in which the naïve de- Georgians continue to practice pictions of time-honored cooking methods. everyday This technique can be traced back moments in to the ancient Egyptians, who city and stacked earthenware pots filled country life. Fig. 7. Elena Akhvlediani, Tbilisi Dukhan, 1970s. with food atop one another to seal Pirosmani’s scenes of feasting and tables both cultivated and wild. in moisture — creating an oven, carousals capture both the Over one hundred varieties of such in effect — before baking the food exuberance and solemnity of wild greens as sarsaparilla, over an open fire. these occasions. Other artists of nettles, mallow, ramp, and the early twentieth-century purslane are still gathered in The pull of tradition is visible not Georgian avant-garde, such as season and prepared in a only in the culinary arts but also Lado Gudiashvili, display a less surprising number of ways — in paintings by some of Georgia’s sunny sensibility. His paintings of cooked, marinated, dried for most celebrated artists. Niko men awaiting a bowl of tripe soup seasoning, or steeped in water for Pirosmanashvili (Pirosmani), a (khashi) or eyeing some freshly a nutritious drink. But above all, caught fish (tso- the Georgians enjoy their greens After tskhali) offer a fresh, and no Georgian table is glimpse into a dark, complete without a large platter Gudiashvili mysterious world of leafy cilantro, dill, tarragon, [Fig. 6]. During the parsley, basil, summer savory, and Soviet era, artists peppery tsitsmati or falseflax 1984 like Elena Akhvle- (Camelina sativa, similar to diani painted nos- arugula). Often there is also talgic portraits of a dzhondzholi (Colchis bladdernut, leisurely way of life Staphylea colchica), an edible that was fast dis- ornamental plant with long stems appearing [Fig. 7]. of tightly furled, beadlike tendrils redolent of garlic. The greens, The Georgian Table which are rich in nutrients, provide Throughout most of a refreshing counterpoint to the Georgia’s history, heavier foods in the meal. meat was a luxury, and so the Geor- These foods are washed down gians took great with wine and local mineral waters advantage of the like Borzhomi and Nabeghlavi, indigenous fruits, which have long been touted for vegetables, and their health benefits. To diners herbs. The bulk of used to the mild taste of Perrier the Georgian culin- or Pellegrino, these waters seem ary repertoire is heavy and salty (so much so, that made up of pre- Borzhomi is now bottling a parations for vege- “Borzhomi Light”), but Georgians and Russians have traditionally put Fig. 6. Lado Gudiashvili, them to therapeutic use in Tsotskhali (Fresh Fish), addition to serving them at table. 1924. Certain foods are also considered 15 a glass of wine. Georgians do not Fig. 8. Lado Gudiashvili, Khashi, 1919. sip, and drinking out of order or at random is not allowed. A merikipe is appointed to make The rules for sure that diners’ glasses are filled commensal cele- at all times [Fig. 9]. bration are strict. Most important, a The rules of the Georgian table tamada or toast- call for uplifting toasts, so that master is chosen to each occasion, even a sad one, orchestrate all but becomes an affirmation of life. the most informal Traditionally, toasting begins with meals. (This practice glasses raised heavenward in may have evolved acknowledgment of God’s from the ancient presence. Then the host family is Greek custom of toasted, particularly the lady of choosing a sympos- the house responsible for the iarch to guide the meal. The tamada’s ability to pace progression of the the evening is crucial. Each time feast.) The role of a toast is pronounced, whether by the tamada is taken the tamada or someone else, wine 1984 very seriously, and is drunk as a mark of honor. But if he is accorded great inebriation seems likely, the respect, for it re- tamada must slow down the Gudiashvili quires skill to keep succession of toasts. The all the guests en- After traditional meal is punctuated by tertained, ensure breaks for entertainment, often a that the meal is capella singing, a holdover from especially nutritious. Khashi, a proceeding apace, and see to it medieval patterns of feasting much-loved tripe soup (and that no one drinks or eats to when entremets were actual favored hangover remedy), is excess, as drunken guests bring diversions. frequently prescribed for digestive shame on the host. The best problems [Fig. 8]. Nadugi, the tamadas are renowned for their Given such ritualized drinking, delicious whey derived from cow’s wit and eloquence, including an the apparent chaos of the food milk and often served mixed with ability to improvise. The tamada service may seem surprising. fresh herbs, is virtually fat-free guides the company through a Courses are not always presented and is considered a sclerosis series of toasts, which can be brief in the fixed order of the service à preventative. or complex. Each calls for downing la russe that western Europeans, Food is only one component of the Georgian feast, however. A formal Georgian meal, or supra, is a ritual affair that calls for the skillful exercise of moderation in the face of excess — no small feat, considering the meal’s courtesies and extravagances. The shared table is meant, above all, to promote a feeling of kinship and national unity. Centuries of gathering around the table to affirm longstanding traditions have helped the Georgians preserve their culture even under foreign subjugation. The supra represents the collective public face the Georgians proudly present to the world even as it reflects the honor of an individual 1983 After Kuznetsov household. Fig. 9. Niko Pirosmani, Carousal. The loaves on the table are shoti, baked in the toné. A traditional wineskin is visible in the foreground. 16 and later Americans, adopted in yield distinctive wines of a lovely, the nineteenth century, and which deep amber hue and a raisiny still prevails in Europe and America taste with a hint of Madeira. today. By contrast, the Georgian style of service is intended to Traditionally, wine was made in dazzle the eye and pique the large, red clay amphorae known palate through contrasting colors, as kvevri [Figs. 10, 11]. Nearly textures, and flavors. When diners every Georgian country household sit down to eat, the table is already has a marani, a place where the laid with a wide variety of dishes. temperature remains cool and As the meal progresses, the steady. Here the kvevris are hostess does not remove serving buried up to their necks in the plates that still contain food but earth. If the house lacks an rather continues to pile new dishes 1984 After Kakabadze earthen cellar, the kvevri are buried directly in the ground on the table, balancing some on Fig. 10. A newly fired kvevri in the kiln. the edges of others, so that by the outdoors. To make wine by the end of the evening the table is Georgia in the fourth century. Kakhetian method, the freshly laden with a pyramid of plates, Bearing a cross plaited of dried crushed juice, along with the ensuring plenty at every stage. vines and tied with her own hair, skins, stems, and seeds, is poured Saint Nino seemed to represent into the buried amphorae and Georgian Wine divine approval for the wine- stirred four or six times a day for If food is the heart of the Georgian making that had been practiced three to five months. The resulting feast, then its spirit resides in for centuries. The new wine is called wine. For a Georgian, wine evokes vine and the cross machari. When the both culture and community. became inextricably wine has achieved Based on evidence of grape pips entwined, each an the desired degree of unearthed from archeological object of devotion. fermentation, it is sites, viticulture is an ancient art drawn off from the in Georgia, practiced as early as The center of wine After Chiarulei 1984 lees. If produced the fourth millennium BCE. growing in Georgia is commercially, the Scientists believe that the species Kakheti, in the wine is transferred to Vitis vinifera, the original wine eastern half of the oak barrels to age for grape, is native to the Caucasus country. The region at least a year, but region, and many linguists is known for its homemade wine is consider the Georgian word for traditional method of usually ladled by wine, ghvino, the prototype for winemaking, which means of a special such Indo-European variations as differs considerably long-handled gourd vino, vin, wine, Wein. The grape from standard Euro- from the first kvevri vine symbolizes life and faith, a pean practices (be- into smaller ones for belief that Saint Nino of cause it is so labor Fig. 12. A wine vessel from aging. These kvevris Bombori. Bronze, 2nd c. BCE. Cappadocia adapted to Christian intensive, it is dying are topped with a doctrine when she introduced it to out as a commercial process). wooden lid, then sealed with mud. After the grapes are crushed, the Dirt is mounded all around the lid Fig. 11. Niko Pirosmani, Two juice is fermented together with to keep air out, lest it spoil the Georgians with a kvevri. the skins, stems, and seeds to wine. Whenever wine is taken off from a kvevri in any quantity, the After Kuznetsov 1983 remainder is transferred to progressively smaller vessels. Some Georgian families still use special vessels to bring wine to table, such as the chapi, a two- handled jug with a squat neck and bulbous body tapering to a narrow base. From this transitional vessel the wine is poured into a variety of other containers intended either for pouring or drinking [Fig. 12]. Quite common are a single- handled pitcher and the more 17 elaborate “mother jug” (deda- disappeared or been restyled for exploring ways in which food can khelada) composed of a central the notoriously sweet Russian be used to promote tolerance and pitcher with several smaller palate. diversity, and under her editorship pitchers affixed to the sides, like the volume Culinary Cultures of a mother with numerous breasts. That a small country with a Europe: Identity, Diversity and shattered infrastructure should Dialogue was published in 2005 to The most widespread red wine place its hopes on fairly traditional, commemorate the 50th anni- grape of Georgia is Saperavi, organic agriculture in the twenty- versary of the signing of the which, depending on its treat- first century is noteworthy, and in European Cultural Convention. ment, can yield wines ranging the wake of the Russian Goldstein has also consulted for from the dry to the semi-sweet. embargoes, the US government the Russian Tea Room and Firebird For white wines, the indigenous has stepped in to help. In restaurants in New York and is Rkatsiteli grape makes nicely particular, the AgVANTAGE currently Food Editor of Russian acidic wines with a fresh, green program, funded by USAID, is Life magazine. She serves on the taste. Both varietals predominate helping producers find new Board of Directors of the in Kakheti’s Alazani River Valley, markets in Europe and the United International Association of which lies between the high peaks States to make up for the loss of Culinary Professionals and is of the Greater Caucasus to the exports to Russia. The govern- General Editor of California Studies northeast and the foothills of the ment consultants are focusing in Food and Culture (University of Tsiv-Gombori Range to the primarily on Georgian wines, for California Press), a book series southeast. They are made into which they believe significant that seeks to broaden the wines bearing such controlled demand can be created abroad. audience for serious scholarship in appellations as Mukuzani, Hazelnuts are also being promoted food studies and to celebrate food Kindzmarauli, and Tsinandali. for export, as the best Georgian as a means of understanding the Today, artisanal producers like varieties are deeper in flavor than world. She may be contacted at Mildiani make some extraordinary those grown in the Italian 18 tender, with no extra liquid added. morning, preferably between six walnuts are added. Mkhali is made Georgian girls were once deemed and eight a.m. following a night from any number of different marriageable according to their of heavy drinking. vegetables; spinach and beets are ability to cut up chicken for this the most popular. Khinkali: Large dumplings made dish. The most traditional recipes with a variety of fillings. In the Mtsvadi: skewers of plain, freshly call for seventeen precise pieces. mountainous regions the choice is slaughtered lamb, beef, or pork, Chanakhi: an aromatic stew of usually ground lamb, but else- what we know as shish kebab. If meat and vegetables braised where the filling is more often a the meat is not tender, it can be slowly in a clay pot to deepen and mixture of beef and pork. The marinated overnight before meld the flavors. dumplings may also be stuffed grilling, in which case it is known with cheese or greens. Khinkali as basturma. Churchkhela: a long string of are served hot, with no garnish nuts that have been repeatedly other than coarsely ground black Pelamushi: a dessert made by dipped in concentrated fresh pepper. The doughy topknot is mixing concentrated grape juice grape juice to form a confection. never consumed but used as a with cornmeal. The thickened Churchkhela is made with walnuts handle for holding the hot cornmeal is cut into brilliant purple or hazelnuts, either from whole dumplings. diamonds. nuts or halves. Khmeli-suneli: an herb and spice Satsivi: the renowned Georgian Kartuli puri: An elongated oval mixture typically containing nut sauce, served with poultry, loaf of bread baked in the toné. ground dried coriander seed, fish, or vegetables. Ground Kartuli puri is thicker in the center ground celery seed, dried basil, dill walnuts are mixed with garlic, than at the edges, so that lovers parsley, fenugreek summer cinnamon, cloves, coriander seed, of both crust and chewy interior savory, bay leaf, and mint. Ground marigold, pepper, cayenne, and can enjoy their favorite textures. dried marigold petals are often vinegar, and stock. After the sauce Khachapuri: a cheese bread added as well. has cooked, the prepared poultry, fish, or meat is immersed in it, found throughout Georgia in many Lobio: The Georgian word for guises — round, rectangular, and then allowed to cool to room beans, either fresh or dried. Lobio temperature, which thickens the boat-shaped. The dough can be also refers to an aromatic salad, yeasty with a thick crust, many- sauce and gives the dish its name usually made from dried kidney (the root -tsiv means “cold”). layered and flaky, or tender and beans, that is prepared in dozens cakelike. The bread is usually filled of ways: moistened with herb Suluguni: the most widely used with a fresh, slightly sour cheese vinaigrette, seasoned simply with Georgian cheese, made from like imeruli (Imeretian) or butter and eggs, or mixed with cow’s milk. Suluguni is usually sold suluguni, but salted cheeses like lettuce and celery. The classic in large rounds up to a foot in bryndza may also be used, as long recipe calls for mixing the beans diameter, but for special occasions as they are soaked first. The with tkemali, the tangy plum it is prepared in flat, individual cheese is grated and mixed with sauce. disks that can be thinly rolled. eggs to bind, with butter added if it is not creamy enough. The filling Masharabi: a sour pomegranate Tabaka: partially boned young is then either completely enclosed syrup for flavoring stews. Fresh chicken that is flattened, then fried in dough or baked in an open- pomegranate juice is cooked with under a heavy weight. The name faced pie. Khachapuri is some- cinnamon, cloves, and a little comes from the traditional heavy times topped with a barely baked sugar until thick. skillet or tapha that is used. egg. Aficionados seek out the Matsoni: Yogurt. Georgian yogurt Tabaka is usually served with boat-shaped adzharuli khachapuri is some of the best in the world, tkemali sauce. or Adzharian cheese bread from whether made from cow’s milk or Tkemali (Prunus divaricata): a Batumi on the Black Sea coast. the even richer water buffalo milk. sour plum that grows throughout Kharcho: a thick soup made from Matsoni is never gelatinous and is Georgia. The word also refers to beef, lamb, chicken, or sometimes pleasantly tart. the sauce made from this plum, vegetable stock. All versions Mchadi: Western Georgian which is used as a seasoning in contain a special mixture of the corncakes, traditionally baked in soups, stews, and vegetable spice blend khmeli-suneli, a liberal a ketsi or clay pot over an open dishes and also as a condiment for dose of herbs, and a souring agent fire. Because mchadi are bland grilled meats. Tkemali sauce is such as fruit leather, tkemali and dry, they are perfect for piquant yet slightly sweet. It is sauce, or vinegar. sopping up sauce from flavorsome served fresh or preserved for stews. winter keeping. Khashi: Georgia’s best-loved soup, made from tripe. It is Mkhali (or pkhali): a vegetable Tklapi: dried fruit leather, made traditionally eaten early in the puree to which herbs and ground by boiling tkemali or sour plums, 19 then pureeing them and spreading Georgian.” Annual of the Society Volkova and Dzhhavakhishvili the puree into a sheet to dry. for the Study of Caucasia 1(1989): 1982 Tklapi is an excellent souring 22-40. N. G. Volkova and G.N. agent for soups and stews — less Dzhhavakhishvili. Bytovaia Kakabadze 1984 astringent than vinegar, more kul’tura Gruzii XIX-XX vekov: flavorful than tomatoes. Fruit Alde Kakabadze. Sovremennaia traditsii i innovatsii (The culture of leather is also made from sweeter gruzinskaia keramika (Contem- everyday life of Georgia in the 19th fruits like apricots and peaches, porary Georgian ceramics). and 20th centuries: traditions and in which case it is intended for Moscow: Sovetskii khudozhnik, innovations). Moscow: Nauka, eating out of hand rather than 1984. 1982. cooking. Khromchenko 1987 References S. M. Khromchenko. E. Akhvle- Recipes Allen 1971 diani: Izbrannye proizvedeniia. Moscow: Sovetskii khudozhnik, Khachapuri W.E.D. Allen. A History of the 2 cups unbleached white flour nd 1987. Georgian People, 2 ed. New York: 1/2 teaspoon salt Barnes and Noble, 1971. Kikvidze 1988 12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) cold Burney and Lang 1972 Kikvidze, Ia.A. Zemledelie i butter, cut in pieces Charles Burney and David Marshall zemledel’cheskii kul’t v drevnei 2 eggs Lang. The Peoples of the Hills: Gruzii: po arkheologicheskim 1/4 cup plain yogurt Ancient Ararat and Caucasus. New materialam (Agriculture and the 1 1/4 pounds mixed Muenster and York: Praeger, 1972. agricultural cult in ancient Georgia Havarti cheeses according to archaeological 1 egg yolk, beaten Dzhikia 1978 materials). Tbilisi: Metsniereba, Put the flour and salt in a medium N. P. Dzhikia. Kul’tura pitaniia 1988. bowl and cut in the butter until the gruzinskikh gortsev (The food mixture resembles coarse culture of Georgian hill peoples). Kuznetsov 1987 cornmeal. Beat 1 egg and stir in Tbilisi: Metsniereba, 1978. Erast Kuznetsov. Niko Pirosmani. the yogurt, then add to the flour Chardin 1689 Leningrad: Aurora Art Publishers, mixture. Form into a ball and chill 1983. Chardin, Sir John. The Travels of for 1 hour. Sir John Chardin into Persia and Mars and Altman 1987 Grate the cheeses coarsely, beat the East-Indies, Through the Black the other egg, and stir it into the Gerald Mars and Yochanan Sea and the Country of Colchis. cheese. Set aside. Altman, “Alternative mechanism of London, 1689. distribution in a Soviet economy.” Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Grease Chelebi 1834 In: Constructive Drinking: a large baking sheet. On a floured board roll the dough to a rectangle Chelebi, Evliya. Narrative of Perspectives on Drink from about 12 x 17 inches. Trim the Travels in Europe, Asia, and Africa Anthropology, ed. Mary Douglas. edges. Spread the cheese mixture in the Seventeenth Century. Trans. Cambridge: Cambridge University on half the dough and then fold The Ritter Joseph von Hammer. Press, 1987: 270-279. the other half over to enclose it, London, 1834. Pokhlebkin 1978 sealing and crimping the edges. Chiaureli 1984 Pokhlebkin, V.V. Nationional’nye Transfer the bread to the baking V. Chiaureli. Gruzinskoe vino kukhni nashikh narodov (National sheet and brush with beaten egg (Georgian wine). Tbilisi: Merani, cuisines of our peoples). Moscow: yolk. Bake for 50 minutes, or until 1984. Pishchevaia promyshlennost’, browned. The bread is best served Dumas 1859 1978. slightly warm, cut into small squares. Dumas, Alexandre. Le Caucase; Sulakvelidze 1959 depuis Prométhée jusqu’à Serves 12 to 15. Tamara Sulakvelidze. Gruzinskie Chamyll. Paris, 1859. bliuda (Georgian dishes). Tbilisi: Gudiashvili 1984 Gruzinskoe ministerstvo torgovli, Beet Puree (Charkhlis mkhali) Lado Gudiashvili. Edited by Moisei 1959. 1 pound beets Kagan. Leningrad: Aurora Art 1/2 cup shelled walnuts Suny 1988 Publishers, 1984. 3 garlic cloves, peeled Ronald Grigor Suny. The Making 1/2 teaspoon salt Holisky 1989 of Modern Georgia. Bloomington, 1/2 cup chopped cilantro Dee Ann Holisky. “The Rules of the IN: Indiana University Press, 1/2 cup chopped parsley Supra or How to Drink in 1988. Freshly ground black pepper 20 1/4 teaspoon dried summer Tkemali 1/2 cup shelled walnuts savory 1 1/2 pounds plums (not too sweet 4 garlic cloves, peeled 1/4 teaspoon ground coriander or ripe) 1 1/2 cups finely chopped cilantro seed 1/4 cup water 1 1/2 cups finely chopped mixed 1 or 2 teaspoons red wine vinegar 3/4 teaspoon whole coriander parsley, dill, basil, tarragon (to taste) seed 1/2 cup finely chopped scallions Bake the unpeeled beets at 375ºF. 1 teaspoon fennel seed (including green part) for 1 to 1 1/2 hours, until tender. 2 large garlic cloves, peeled and 1/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon (If you are short of time, the beets roughly chopped juice may be boiled, but their flavor will 1 teaspoon cayenne 1 1/2 teaspoons salt not be as good.) While the beets 1/2 teaspoon salt Freshly ground black pepper are roasting, in a food processor 1 tablespoon finely minced fresh Dash cayenne grind together the walnuts, garlic, mint 1 cup walnut oil and salt. Add the cilantro and 1/3 cup finely minced cilantro Soak the apricot leather in the parsley and continue grinding to Cut the plums in half and remove boiling water until soft; stir until a make a fine paste. Transfer to a the pits. Place in a saucepan with puree is formed. bowl. the water and bring to a boil. Grind the walnuts and the garlic When the beets are soft, peel Simmer, covered, for 15 minutes, together in a food processor, being them and finely grate them in the or until soft. careful not to grind them to a food processor. In a medium bowl In a mortar with a pestle, pound sticky paste. Next, add the apricot mix together the grated beets and together the coriander seed, puree, the herbs, scallions, lemon the ground walnut mixture, then fennel seed, garlic, cayenne, and juice, salt, pepper, and cayenne, stir in the remaining ingredients. salt to make a fine paste. and blend together. In a slow, Keep tasting, as the amount of steady stream, while the motor is When the plums are soft, put them vinegar needed will depend on the running, add the walnut oil to form through a food mill and return to sweetness of the beets. The a thick sauce. a clean pan. Bring to a boil and mkhali should be slightly tart. cook over medium heat, stirring, Allow to rest at room temperature Chill in the refrigerator for at least for 3 minutes. Stir in the ground for a couple of hours before 2 hours, but bring to room spices and continue cooking until serving. This sauce will keep, temperature before serving, the mixture thickens slightly, tightly covered and refrigerated, mounded on a plate and cross- another 5 minutes or so. Stir in for several days. Bring to room hatched on top with a knife. the minced mint and cilantro and temperature before using. Serves 6. remove from the heat. Pour into a Makes 2 cups. jar while still hot. Either cool to Basturma room temperature and keep in the Article and recipes adapted from 2 cups pomegranate juice refrigerator, or seal the jar for Darra Goldstein, The Georgian 1/4 cup olive oil longer storage. Feast: The Vibrant Culture and 1 teaspoon salt Makes 1 pint. Savory Food of the Republic of Freshly ground black pepper Georgia (Berkeley: University of 1 bay leaf, crushed Cilantro Sauce (Kindzis California Press, 1999). Used by 2 garlic cloves, peeled and satsebela) permission. crushed 2 ounces apricot fruit leather 2 pounds boneless shoulder or leg 1/4 cup boiling water of lamb, cut into 2-inch cubes One 1-pound eggplant, salted, drained, and parboiled (op- tional) Mix together the pomegranate juice, olive oil, salt, pepper to taste, bay leaf, and garlic. Marinate the lamb overnight in this mixture. The following day, place the meat on skewers, alternating Photo © 1969 Daniel C. Waugh with eggplant cubes, if desired. Grill over hot coals for about 10 Ananuri, on the minutes. Serve with tkemali or Georgian Military cilantro sauce. Highway north of Serves 4 to 6. Tbilisi 21 Food, Medicine and the Silk Road: The Mongol- era Exchanges Paul D. Buell Center for East Asian Studies, Western Washington University Bellingham (USA) The Mongols are known for their system. For a brief moment China, may believe John Carswell, restructuring much of Eurasia in the Middle East, and the West became popular precisely because their particular political mode, were united medically. They even porcelain dishes were ideal for even when elements of it were used some of the same recipes, consuming the new soupy dishes borrowed and reinterpreted. They including a few attributed to the introduced by the Mongols. The also had an immense cultural great Greek masters — usually fact that blue was the Mongol impact as well. This ranged from mentioned by name, even in imperial color was merely icing on art styles to the complex hat and distant China. Physicians in almost the cake. associated hair styles known as the entire Mongol world order got boqta, which even reached used to speaking about the body Most popular among China’s European high society. The in more or less the same terms early food borrowings from the Mongols carried art styles rather and even using generally the same West were various bread foods than originated them, but they set interventions, including surgical. and dumplings, including the the style for much of Eurasia. They relatives of the ubiquitous added many loan words in an Food jiaozi raviolis of today, but incredible variety of languages. also apparently including the buns Some of these latter were spoken Food exchanges among the now known as mantou (Buell far beyond any area of direct cultures of Eurasia were nothing 1999, pp. 216-217), both already Mongol influence, showing the new at the time of Mongol popular under the Tang (618-906). power of the forces at work. One conquests. China had long These borrowings greatly ex- popular loan word was the borrowed foods, spices and even panded in scope under the Mon- Mongolian sauqat, “bribe,” recipes from the West and Central gols as witnessed by the amazing originally a “share of booty.” Even Asia, and some foods and variety of new bread foods found the Portuguese, never touched elements of food culture, such as in Mongol-era collections of directly by Mongol conquest or Chinese tea-drinking, had even recipes. Among them are the envoys, knew the word (Doerfer moved to the Middle East and relevant sections of the early Ming 1963-1975, Bd. I, pp. 345-347). beyond. (It took a long time to encyclopedia Jujia biyong shilei catch on, but was not common in (JJBYSL), “Things Another Mongol gift was an China at that time either.) What that Must be Used When Living at active exchange of foods and was new with the Mongols was the Home,” which, despite its date, recipes, continuing and inten- unprecedented scale of the carries on older, Mongol-era sifying earlier exchanges. In exchanges involved. Mongol court traditions. Interestingly, this text addition, for the first time in cuisine became the preferred even goes so far as to call some history, there was the emergence cuisine of much of the Old World. of its fried dumplings by their of a unified Eurasian medical It was greatly influential even Iranian name sambusak, or tradition, the “Islamic” medicine where it was not preferred. Some samosa, clearly pointing up their preferred in the Mongolian Empire of the foods involved, I would ultimate origin in the Middle East and within its successor states. argue, even persist until the (Osamu and Seiichi 1973, 14: This was based on the same present day in their popularity. 34a). medical traditions taught in One, baklava, is very much a world Salerno and in other early food these days (Buell 1999, p. Also a major part of Chinese European medical schools. In 216). The Mongols also popu- food and foodstuff imports from China it even briefly eclipsed larized a new type of pottery, blue the West was a great flow of spices Chinese medicine as the preferred and white porcelain, which, if we and medicinals, both, in Chinese 22 terms, foods, at least when the plant foods and, when times were plant foods, although the old medicinals were for internal use. good and they could spare the gathered foods remained popular, Those from the Iranian side have manpower and their enemies were and, most important, a widening been detailed by Berthold Laufer weak, they could raid and impose range of spices, some brought (1919) and by Edward Schafer tribute relationships, often from great distances, even as far (1963). Some cultivated plants, extracting food. Thus they came afield as Africa (grain-of-paradise, e.g., sorghum, were also by cultivated grain, although the for one example, Amomum introduced from as far as Africa Mongols did raise a little millet on villosum or A. xanthioides, called via the Arabic and Iranian West. their own. But grain was never for in a number of Mongol era Sorghum acquired particular important on the steppe.2 recipes). Just what resulted can importance with the coming of be seen in the recipes for court By contrast the herds provided banquet soups that form one of distillation since sorghum is not most of the food of the Mongols, the largest single complex of only a useful plant in semi-desert supplemented by rare game and recipes in the imperial dietary areas, where it produces a good manual of Mongol China, the Yin- even rarer gathered foods. But, crop under difficult conditions, but shan zhengyao , “Proper contrary to the popular impression can be fermented and distilled to and Essential Things for the about the Mongols, their herds produce a much favored vodka, Emperor’s Food and Drink” were rarely consumed as meat. (YSZY), presented to the court and gaoliang .1 The truly important Mongol herds were more published in 1330. Altogether exchanges took place after the important as sources of dairy there are 27 recipes for variants Han Dynasty, and especially products, the true staples of daily of the traditional Mongol soup, all during the period of disunity, with additives that mark these life, and when meat was eaten it China’s middle ages, and under shülen as much more than a was rarely consumed in a whole the Tang, the most geographically simple Mongolian meat broth, form. Rather the preference was expansive of all Chinese dynasties. although each is based on a for a boiled product, a rich or not mutton broth flavored with large, Yet wheat, goats and sheep had so rich soup (shülen) believed to smoky cardamoms. These are the come to China during very early concentrate the essence of the kind used today in Punjabi cooking times indeed, and Chinese millet (the Chinese, who got them from slaughtered animal (Buell et al. had moved west to the Tripolye Southeast Asia, know them as 2000; Buell 2006). It was this Culture of Ukraine at an early date caoguo ). To this is added practice above all, i.e., the as well (Buell et al. 2000; one or more thickenings, most Mongolian preference for broth, Anderson 1988). Other traits commonly chickpeas, an impor- and for soup, that proved to be tation from Iraqi cuisine, in 15 of probably moved with it. their most influential contribution the 27 recipes, with the chickpeas The Mongol period began in to the world cuisine of their era. first cooked and then skinned, in a manner characteristic of China in the early 13th century Mesopotamian cooking. Also used when the north was conquered. Soups as thickenings are barley and The conquest of all of China fenugreek seeds (another Near followed in 1279. Mongol tastes Although the unvarnished steppe Eastern contribution). There is one determined a sophisticated court broth or soup was not very mention of oleaster fruits, at one food culture stretching across sophisticated, made with some time a Mongolian gathered food. Eurasia. There was an entirely meat, bones, and whatever else Rice occurs in six recipes, three was to hand, this quickly changed of which combine it with chickpeas different base for food among the as the Mongols became masters (Buell et al. 2000, pp.105-107). Mongols, compared to China, Iran, of the old world. For one thing, no The following soup is typical. It is or the Arabic world (Buell 2006). longer being dependent just upon named after a major spice, mastic, here given in a Turkic form: The Mongols rose to power what herds produced, the elite at herding sheep and goats, along least could eat more meat. This Mastajhi [Mastic] Soup with some cattle, as well as meant richer soups, and not just It supplements and increases, horses, yaks, yak hybrids and lamb, mutton and goat, although warms the center, and accords camels, and moving from pasture these meats remained the qi . to pasture to sustain their grazing. preferred repasts. They also had [Ingredients:] Besides their herding, they had access to a wider range of Mutton (leg; bone and cut up), time to hunt, gather a few wild additives, including cultivated caoguo cardamoms (five), 23 cinnamon (2 qian), chickpeas court ritual book. Typically, it calls Let us not allow [your] [“Muslim beans”] (one-half for starting with mutton and then morning drink sheng; pulverize and remove thickening with chickpeas, and [umdan] to be too little, the skins). let us not allow [your] also rice. Added at the end are Boil ingredients together to evening drink spices and other flavorings, make a soup. Strain broth. to be neglected, namely salt, pepper, ginger, garlic, [Cut up meat and put aside.] they became stewards Add 2 ho of cooked chickpeas, butter, onion, cinnamon, carda- [bawurcin]. When Degei 1 sheng of aromatic non- mom and cloves, all but the butter spoke, saying: glutinous rice, 1 qian of well known from recipes for the Making a wether of two mastajhi. Evenly adjust Chinese equivalents (Buell et al. years into shülen, flavors with a little salt. Add 2000, pp. 106-107). let me not allow it to be too [the] cut-up meat and little in the morning. [garnish with] coriander In addition to the banquet soup Let me not be late with it at leaves. [Buell et al. 2000, pp. proper, the shülen, the Mongols of night. 275-276] the imperial age also consumed Having [your] spotted sheep Or, here is another court soup, many other forms of soups, or herded, with bear meat replacing the usual foods starting as soups. Most used let me fill a cart [with them]. Having [your] yellow sheep mutton: noodles and other grain foods, a herded, topic we will visit below. Bear Soup let me fill up a pen [with them]. It treats migratory arthralgia Drinks I have been gluttonous and insensitivity and [evil] foot qi bad. [usually beriberi]. Having [your] sheep herded, [Ingredients:] In addition to their soups, the let me eat their rectums, Bear meat (two legs; cook. Mongols also had other ways of Degei caused the sheep to be When done cut into chunks), consuming their preferred liquid herded. caoguo cardamoms (three) diet. Although the distinction is not [Secret History of the Mongols, [Boil] ingredients [together always well drawn in comparison cited in Buell et al. 2000, pp. 43- into a soup]. Use three qian to the shülen, the most common 44] of black pepper, one qian of form was the umdan, “drink.” This kasni [asafetida], two qian of Such simple drinks of the Khan turmeric, two qian of grain-of- could be anything from a light did not stay simple long. The paradise, one qian of za’faran. broth to dried cheese added to sources of the period do make Adjust flavors of everything water, or even a simple liquor, frequent reference to unso- together with onions, salt, and above all fermented mare’s milk. phisticated light broths, dried sauce.3 It is generally called airag in cheese in water (grut),4 a Mongol Although the above examples Mongolian, but better known by favorite, and also to traditional are from Mongol China, we know its Turkic designation, kumiss. The beverages such as kumiss, from that variations of these soups Secret History makes it clear that mare’s milk and occasionally from were eaten throughout the umdan, “drink,” and shülen, camel’s milk. Also increasingly Mongolian world, with many local “soup,” were the primary forms of noticed are many other kinds of variants. This is witnessed by the food offered Chingis Khan by the drinks, some of them quite exotic. widespread borrowing of the members of his bodyguard: The YSZY, for example, has quite Mongolian word for them, shülen, When [Temüjin] had become a number of non-traditional into a variety of languages. In the Cinggis-qahan, Ögölei-cerbi, umdan, including several of the Iranian west, shülen means an the younger brother of Arabo-Persian sharab tradition, official banquet. It also was the Bo’orcu, put on a quiver [i.e., one drink even called by that honorific word for soup, what was became a member of the name (Buell et al. 2000, p. 389). ideally offered to an important qan’s bodyguard]. Qaci’un- There are herb and conventional toqura’un put on a quiver. Jetei personage (Doerfer 1963-1975, teas, including what are and Doqolqu-cerbi, the two Bd. I, pp. 368-370). One actual brothers, put on a quiver. apparently early variants of the recipe for one of these court soups When Önggür, Söyiketü-cerbi later concentrated Mongolian tea, from the Mongol west, called a and Qada’andaldurqan, the made in one case with butter shülen, survives in a Mughal-era three of them, spoke, saying: (Buell et al. 2000, p. 393). There 24 are also a great many liquors. White flour (six jin. Make into a primitive baklava; a Qoresh-e, These are primarily wines but also tutumash), mutton (leg. Roast a Persian classic stew; [Ar.] distilled liquors, then finding their the meat. [Make into] quruq Julapia, Persian fritters; a Persian qima [and stuff tutum ash]). way into the steppe along with Qarisa, another meat paste using Use a Good Meat Soup for simple distillation apparatus. wheat and sheep’s tail fat and ingredients. Add the noodles Interestingly, a great many of the head oil; and “West of the River and roast [cook dry]. Adjust known names for the liquors of the flavors evenly with onions. Lungs,” sheep lungs Uighur-style period are Turkic, pointing up Add garlic, cream [or yogurt], (Buell 1999). probable origins.5 finely ground basil.9 Porcelain: The Carswell Quruq qima is a roasted and finely Once the predominantly liquid Hypothesis minced meat, another Turkic diet of the Mongols was es- Nonetheless, despite these more contribution. The garlic, basil and tablished as court food, their solid foods, the emphasis cream or yogurt, by the way, are subjects took it up as well, for remained on liquid. Consequently superb additions. Note the role prestige reasons. Another reason with the advent of the new that broth plays in preparation of was that the food was getting Mongolian court cuisine in Eurasia the noodle. better and better itself as court came a change in eating habits as cooks and dietary physicians More or less the same recipe well. This found expression in the found ways to improve it, with the occurs in the nearly contemporary plates, pots, jugs and other dishes exchanges taking place by no Kitab al-tibakha, written in Syria which graced the tables and rugs means involving just liquid foods. but reflecting Mongol-era cuisine, of the period. These are well Court cooks eagerly took up the using an Arabized form of the illustrated in the Central Asian and best that the Old World had to name: Iranian miniatures of the period, offer with the tastes of their Tutmaj: Roll out dough and which are, in fact, our most masters in mind. This above all cut it [into noodles] and cook importance source (Komaroff and included another side of the it in water until done. Put Carboni 2002). Mongol cuisine of the era, ash, yoghurt, mint, garlic, clarified John Carswell, distinguished another Mongolian borrowing from butter and fried meat with it British Arabist and art historian, Turkic (Doerfer 1963-1965, Bd. II, [Perry 2001]. has proposed that one of the main pp. 59-62), meaning grain-foods, reasons for the rise in popularity or, more narrowly, noodles, but It is referred to frequently of blue and white and other forms also food in general, i.e., not elsewhere as well, even if no of Chinese porcelain during the shülen or umdan, per se.6 recipe is given, indicating that this was a popular food indeed.10 late 13th and early 14th centuries Above all the foods in this in all areas of the then Mongol Many other, still more as- category were noodles and world was the associated spread similated borrowings eaten in 11 noodle-like foods, none of them as of Mongol court cuisine. Since Mongol China are listed in the far as we know of Mongolian origin this cuisine emphasized liquid JJBYSL. It includes 12 Muslim but borrowed from others and foods, such as the great banquet recipes: a [Tu.] Chäkärli Piräk, popularized by the Mongols. soups, also kumiss, the Mongol “sweet borek”; “Rolled Thin Perhaps the most famous drink of choice, bowls, cups, Pancakes”; filled dumplings; a example, and still eaten today,7 servers and pots had to be [Tu.] Kogurma, a meat paste was the large stuffed noddle convenient for liquids. They had starting with a sheep’s head; a known as tutumash, a Turkic term to be leakproof, washable and “Sour Soup,” black plums boiled describing a noodle (ash) that was sanitary, and not easily con- in vinegar with sugar added, also pulled and kneaded (tutum).8 The taminated by absorbed liquids nuts, cream (or yogurt) and broth; YSZY has the following recipe: from main dishes or drinks. another East Asian variant of Porcelain, besides being beautiful, Tutumash (This is a kind of Tutumash; [Tu.] Baldy, a honey easily met the needs of a liquid kneaded noodle.) dish thickened with a paste fried diet. It was, as a result, ideally They supplement the center, in sesame oil and basted with suited as a serving and consuming and increase qi. butter; a [Ar.] Halwa, a traditional medium for the Mongol courts and [Ingredients:] Arabic sweet paste; [Tu.] Güllach, elsewhere. 25 The Mongols loved all kinds of of the Mongol era, a fact appeared among them no later liquid refreshments, including strengthening Carswell’s as- than 1300 and probably some their native fermented milks but sociation of pottery with Mongol decades before. Among other also the sharab, sweet drinks, court cuisine. His explanation of things, fragments of Blue and from West Asia. The old dishes and events is increasingly plausible. It White are associated with the wall old pottery, mostly porous and makes sense in terms of other around what later became the crude and thus too absorptive and known cultural exchanges then Forbidden City and which dates to likely to retain unpleasant flavors, taking place, including painting.13 the early Mongol period in China became obsolete virtually (Ibid.). There is a great deal of Although the term is often overnight once the new foods other evidence as well which applied to late Chinese pottery in caught on. Chinese porcelain was remains to be evaluated. Marco general, from Tang times on, beautiful. It was also abundant Polo, by the way, gave the world porcelain is, strictly speaking, a after the conquest of the Chinese the word porcelain. It is not rather more specialized product. south (definitively by 1279) by the entirely clear what he understood It is produced by using special clay Mongol successor Khanate of by the term, since he uses it to combinations (principally but not China. It thus seems to have describe cowry shells as well as exclusively kaolin) (Carswell 2000, quickly replaced most other forms pottery (Carswell 2000, p. 18). pp. 20ff) and fired at an extremely of pottery as prestige dishes. In high temperature. The final In any case, porcelain, this case the culinary process product is finely glazed, strong but particularly Blue and White paralleled an equivalent one in the light, and relatively dense and Porcelain, became increasingly textiles: the highest quality nonporous. Porcelain dishes and popular [Fig. 1, next page]. Chinese silk became the cloth of pots are noted not only for their Demand for it grew in the West. choice for Mongol costume. This consistent fabric throughout their Efforts were made to adapt it to had formerly been largely made structure, but also for their Western, and for that matter, of animal furs. Silk and other stunning appearance. Although Mongol tastes. Decorations woven textiles had been rare the Song Chinese preferred a less became west Asian, in a kind of commodities. gaudy decoration, namely greens early Chinoiserie, for example, and shades of blue, or even a plain and many of the shapes of pots The primary objection to white, the Mongols of north China suited west Asian (and Mongol) Carswell’s thesis has been the preferred pots with a painting of rather than Chinese needs [Fig. 2, conventional wisdom that Blue cobalt blue underglaze, resulting next page], often closely imitating and White Porcelain was a in a more stunning appearance. the older pottery, or even leather comparatively late development The Mongols also had their potters and wood pots, which it was and that large scale exports of introduce new shapes to accord gradually replacing. Some even porcelain from China, by sea, only with their particular needs, had inscriptions in Persian. Local came at the very end of the associated by Carswell with their copies began to emerge, many of Mongol period. In fact, this cuisine (Carswell 2000, p. 31). them highly interesting artistic traditional wisdom can now be creations themselves, and free regarded with a great deal of One reason for a Mongol interest combinations of East and West as skepticism. Evidence reveals in pots with a cobalt blue western potters strove to figure earlier Blue and White Porcelain underglaze is most likely to have out just what their Chinese in West Asia, even in Europe, and been nationalism. That is to say, brethren had done to achieve their a substantial overland trade that what could be more appropriate effects (Carswell 2000, pp. 35ff preceded ocean carriage by than “blue” pottery as symbolic of and passim). The real heyday of many decades. Much of this has the court culture of the people Blue and White Pottery, under the been uncovered by Carswell later known as the “blue” Mongols, Ming and Qing, does not concern himself. He has identified, due to their association with “Blue us here. The pattern had already apparently, the earliest European Heaven,” their protector and been set for a world art craze and, porcelain, in what is now Bulgaria dynastic support. In any case, as Carswell suggests, this dating to the early 14th century.12 pottery directly ancestral to the probably accompanied the Thus Blue and White was later Blue and White that became emergence of the first world becoming available at the height a world craze seems to have cuisine, that of the Mongol courts. 26 because much of the medicine of 2004). In any case, if such ideas the time was based in dietary appear so well represented in medicine. China, they must have been found in the Mongolian west as well, For example, in China at least, meaning that we should begin to along with Mongol court cuisine sift Iranian and other Islamic came distinct Mongol ideas about sources of the period to see what food and health, in particular the changes in medical and dietary medicinal values of foods and ideas were introduced in the types of foods. One of the Mongol period. innovations of the YSZY, for example, and it became a major Also a part of a possible Mongol pattern for later dietaries, is that contribution to medical ideas in text’s interest in an amazing China, were Altaic ideas regarding variety of animal foods. The the importance of boiled food. Chinese had always eaten wild According to Roux (1984, pp. animals and parts of domestic 160ff), the essence of an animal animals associated with qi, to gain is resident in the bone and an advantage from consuming the marrow, and thus boiling powerful and uncanny. Animal concentrates this essence. This Photo © 2007 Daniel C. Waugh products have also been important was why the Mongols preferred Fig. 1. Two Yuan period blue and white in Western pharmacology. boiled foods. There were also porcelain vases in the collection of the British Museum. Nonetheless, neither Chinese nor practical considerations, e.g., the Western tradition quite prepares need for moisture in a dry Medicine us for the profusion of wild animal environment, the need to share products, for example, consumed meat to the maximum. If this is Food was one part of the cultural at the Mongol court according to the case, then the banquet soups exchanges of the Mongol era, the YSZY. These wild animal of the Mongol courts in Eurasia moving primarily along with Silk products became part of the communicated Mongolian ideas Road, but also, to a more limited Chinese tradition thanks partly to about the universe as well as degree, by sea. Likewise ex- the popularity of that text. Also feeding the court multitude. They tremely important was the conspicuous in the Chinese text is represent one more area of associated exchange of medical the presence of so many cultural interaction during the ideas and systems, associated Mongolian gathered foods for use Mongol age. in recipes. While some were But in addition to ideas perhaps consumed simply out of apparently their own, the Mongols tradition and nostalgia, many also also actively encouraged the have known medical values. The exchange of other medical ideas recipes of the YSZY are nearly all east to west and west to east. In assigned specific medicinal part this occurred because such properties, and these must derive medical ideas were part of from the foods used. In fact, Mongolian court cultures wherever modern Mongols, as a number Mongols ruled. For Iran, the most have informed the author (e.g., celebrated exchange was the Bold, personal communication, importation, primarily through the spring 2005), assign specific agency of Rashid al-Din (1247- medicinal properties to different 1313), of Chinese medical ideas, animal meats and parts of animals e.g., pulse lore in the form of a and modern Mongols know a great Chinese text translated into variety of medicinal herbs, many Persian (Rall 1960; Abdulhak Photo © 2007 Daniel C. Waugh of them simultaneously gathered 1940). Also involved in the flow Fig. 2. Blue and white porcelain ewer, plant foods of the very kind called were other importations, ones that Yuan era (ca. 1335). Musée Guimet for in YSZY recipes (Boldsaikhan we know little or nothing about. MA 5657. 27 Rashid knows a great deal about devoted to various kinds of associated with wind attack, China and Chinese culture. For injuries, from arrow and sword strokes and similar conditions: China, a huge importation was wounds to blows (such as Eurasian cosmopolitan medicine, fracturing the skull), with a listing Another Recipe known as “Muslim” medicine in of advanced surgical inter- It can treat wild thoughts, China. This is something of a ventions. Lost now are the confused perception and the misnomer since the medicine following juan: symptoms of [Ar.] malin- involved was as Greek as it was 19. coughs; khuliya [melancholia] “Muslim” or Arabic. Syrian 20. chest symptoms; ([subtext] This is symptoms of Christians and others, not just 21. stomach problems; a lack of peace in the heart and Muslims, were actively involved in 22. dysentary and related wild talk due to being attacked transmitting it to China. The YSZY, problems; by a wind): already mentioned above, is 23. vomiting, constipation, Kabuli myrobalans [Terminalia replete with the ideas of this etc.; chebula] medicine, in addition to including 24. heat and chill; ([subtext] [Persian in the many West Asian foods for its 25. qi (in this case meaning Arabic Script] Halilaj-e dietary medicine. And even bigger breath and connected Kabuli) witness of what was taking place matters); [Ar.] Balilaj [belleric is comprised of the surviving 26. fatness and leanness of myrobalan] fragments, nearly 500 manuscript the body, and pain, lice, ([subtext] [Arabic Script:] pages, about 15 percent of the and hand and foot, etc.; Balilaj) original, of what is now known as 27. jaundice, worms, etc.; “Ox orange seeds’ [uniden- the Huihui yaofang xxx , 28. beriberi, etc.,hemor- tified] “Muslim Medicinal Recipes” rhoids; ([subtext] Each one liang) (HHYF), once a massive ency- 29. the first part of various [Ar.] Afsintin [wormwood, clopedia of cosmopolitan Eurasian symptoms; Artemesia absinthium] medicine to serve the needs of 31. a large section on women’s ([subtext] This is artemesia) Mongol China’s official medical medicine; [Pr.] Sana-ye Makki [Cassia establishment. 32-33. ulcers and swelling; angustifolia, Meccan senna] 35. vermin and animal As it survives today, the HHYF ([subtext] [Persian] Sana-ye wounds; consists of three content chapters Makki) (juan 12, 30 and 34) and the table 36. listing of materia medica. [Pr.] Shahtiraj [Fumitory, of contents for the second half of Three main types of material are Fumaria officinalis] the complete encyclopedia. This found in the content chapters. ([subtext] Shahtiraj) covers juan 19-36, providing First of all, there are hundreds of [Ar.] Afithimun [dodder, some indication (along with juan simples, herbal formulae of Cuscuta epthymum] 12) of the contents of more than various origins, some of them ([subtext] Afithimun. One half of the original encyclopedia, Greek, some Arabic, some of liang) a total of 19 juan. Of the three uncertain origin but still largely [Ar.] Basfayij [=Basfayij, surviving content chapters, juan Persian in nomenclature. Also a Polypodium vulgare] 12 focuses on various kinds of major part of the text are ([subtext] Basfayij) paralysis, “wind” attack (including theoretical discussions, some [Ar.] Turbid [Ipomoea strokes, etc.), and related quoting the great names in Greek turpethum] conditions, in terms of the and Arabic medicine. Finally, there ([subtext] This is hare’s ear traditions of the medicines are listings of detailed procedures, [Bupleurum falcatum and B. involved. Juan 30, is devoted to how to set a bone, treat a wound, spp]) “various symptoms.” We know to fix a fractured skull, the latter [Ar.] Ustukhudus [lavender, that it is is one of two juan, along among the most advanced of their Lavandula stoechas] with juan 29, once devoted to such kind from anywhere in Eurasia. ([subtext] Ustukhudus. Each general conditions and to the body five qian) and its structures in general. Juan The following is a typical simple, Chinese spikenard 34, one of the most interesting, is in this case treating symptoms [Nardostachys chinensis] 28 [Pr.] Mastaj [mastic] Middle Eastern but not Chinese seven apertures are all ([subtext] This is the rue of medicine. Note that although diminished, there is excess the Western Regions) many of the names of the moisture within the muscles Nutmeg medicinal are common Arabic, the [jin ].15 It is the nature of ([subtext] Each two qian) descriptive terminology tends to muscles that they come forth [Ar.] Lisan [ath]-thaur be Persian, something typical of according to the intention, and [borage, including Borago the HHYF as a whole. Like Marco must [then] become chill and officinalis] Polo, the editors of the HHYF were slack. Because of this, heavy ([subtext] This is dock perfectly comfortable with Persian, inebriation, overconsumption [Rumex sp] root) as well many others associated of chill liquids, and food that is [Ar.] Afranj-mushk [sweet with the Mongol court in China not dissipated, will avail of the basil, Ocimum basilicum ot where Persian was one of several proximity and give rise to Calamintha officinalis] official languages used. turbid illnesses. If the root is ([subtext] Afranj-mushk) obstructed, the strength of the Also not very Chinese is the “Golden Essence Stone” [lapis qi16 does not pass through and following discussion, the first in lazuli] cannot reach the body. If [the juan 12, from which the recipe ([subtext] Or [Ar.] hajar. condition] arises due to above comes as well. Following [This is] a stone flown by extreme anger, then in most the discussion of general paralysis water of the Armani land) cases there is moisture in the conditions is another simple, a [Pr.] Badranj-buya [balm, muscles. Moreover, it attaches shorter one: Melissa officinalis] [Ar.] Karafs to the anger fire and destroys [seeds of celery, parsley, etc.] Category: Left Paralysis, Right the ability to move. Or illness seeds Numbness, Wry Obliqueness of symptoms of paralysis and ([subtext] [Persian] tokm-e Mouth and Eye numbness are frequently in the karafs) Treating left paralysis, right muscles of the head and “Rumi’ Fennel [anise] numbness: hands. These are the imple- ([subtext] Each two qian) With this disease movement or ments of movement and of the Pound the medicinals into a the stopping of movement spiritual facilities. The top of fine powder. Having soaked does not accord with the the muscles is the top of the with [Pr.] badam [almond] oil intention. That is, movement or brain. This is the seat of the ([subtext] [Persian] raughan-e the stopping of movement are brain. If the hand approaches badam [“oil of almond”]), take mutually entangled and are and attaches itself to moisture, processed pure honey or dried constricted. When movement the muscles of the brain also grapes. Remove the kernels and the stopping of movement approach a condition whereby and pound until soft. Combine exhibit a movement and a they are soft. Because of this, together and use.14 stopping of movement that are these illnesses are mostly in mutually entangled, this the lower half of head and Here a plethora of plants known becomes transformed into this hand. The muscles of a turbid to Greek and Muslim medicine are disease. Because of this, there body are stiff because they are combined to provide a medicinal is a diminution of strength; situated at a distance from the for responding to the described movement and the stopping of head. The body is also stiff and condition, providing one of several movement are also dimin- sinking because it sustains the related compounds used to treat ished. If on account of the body attached to turbidity. similar conditions. Few of the disease strength is diminished, Because of this, the body does medicinals in any case were widely the disease should inevitably not produce the paralysis and used in the Chinese medicine of be chronic. If a person indulges numbness illness. If the the time. Most, like the disease frequently in sex, or overexerts disease attains the root, there categories themselves, are or suffers a fright, or climbs to is then nothing beneficial or imported. Even the method of a high place, or is over- harmful in treating symptoms compounding is not Chinese and whelmed by joy, the heart main of paralysis and numbness calls for almond oil and dried artery [jing ] strongly starts diseases. If the root of the grapes, both products typical of and the body struggles. If the disease is dampness or there 29 is wounding eating to repletion Eastern and include substances wounds are somewhat better. because of loss or starvation, that must have been quite rare in They need not be treated by a then treatment requires the China, i.e., narwhal horn pill, and doctor. If the original nature of spitting up of phlegm. If there even were uncommon in the the wounded man is uneven, is heavy inebriation due to Middle East. and there is swelling at the liquor, the inebriation is wound place, together with generally cut off after easing Other sets of directions like this throbbing pain, or perhaps nature twice. may include actual surgical there is a small wound entering As ingredients use rose oil, or intervention. For example, in the into the flesh, there also is this [Pr.] murd [myrtle] oil sections found in juan 34 on treatment to get rid the ([subtext:] [Pr.] murd). Along broken bones there are careful swelling and throbbing pain. with this combine vinegar and instructions regarding removal of One only needs to dissipate the attach to the head. For food, bone fragments embedded in the swelling and that is all. In the use foods that aid the blood. tissues surrounding the brain. Also case of [Ar.] khazq, one must Use dolichos beans, [Pr.] found in juan 34 are instructions threat the swelling and kurunb [cabbage] ([subtext:] detailing cauterization techniques, throbbing pain, and afterwards [Pr.] kurunb), and roasted rabbit including some using special metal treat the wound so that it is in brain. If the one consuming has instruments. This is a typical of the balance and restored. In left-over medicinals, he can Western medicine of the time and general, in terms of the take [Ar.] ustukhudus not of Chinese. Also a more or less treatment methods of this [lavender] ([subtext:] [Ar.] Western technique was thera- chapter, one only needs ustukhudus). Use honey water, peutic bleeding. Likewise more remove the various things combine and consume. Or take Western than Chinese are the wounding. The methods for a [Pr.] quqiya [narwhal] pill HHYF’s many dietary pre- removing these things: either ([subtext] [Pr.] habb-e quqiya [“pill scriptions. While dietary medicine it is a matter of pushing out, of quqiya”]) for 18 days. Or if is certainly Chinese too, the foods or of removing using some the disease is chronic one, can called in the HHYF are not, implement, or using a medicine also take this: [Pr.] myan-e including chickpeas under their to suck it out. The method for khiza [“middle of (beaver’s) Persian name. pushing out: people can all understand. It need not be testicle,” castoreum] ([subtext:] The following, reproduced here discussed. When one uses an [Pr.] miyan-e khiza). Combine in full, is typical of the highly implement, one must first with honey and take. It will interesting and detailed material examine the nature of the treat if there is a wasting [lau on various injuries found in juan wounded place, whether it is x = ] disease due to dryness 34: [Kong 1996, p. 25]. concave or a cavity, and [This section] discusses all whether one can remove things The main condition described, small wound injuries named directly or from the side. If it “left paralysis, right numbness,” [Arabic] wakhz [puncture is a side removal, it must be etc., apparently includes par- wounds] [and] [Ar.] khazq that the wound mouth is asthesia, various paralysis, loss of [tear wounds] along with the narrow and the arrow head is muscle tone and muscle atropy, various [other] things including deep into the flesh, or the speech impairment, and com- puncturing arrow heads that arrow head has a corner. If one promised pulmonary, cardiac and are to be taken out of the takes it out straight, one must other functions.17 The description wound-injured place. fear that the [arrow head] is extremely specific compared to All [Ar.] wakhz are wounds corner will resulting in a the categories of the Chinese from puncturing [arrow] heads hindering, and cause extreme medicine of the period and uses or needle heads. Also, if it does pain to the patient. Also, when none of the generalizing terms, not deeply penetrate into the one removes from the side, i.e., the five elements, qi in the flesh, even if the wound is one can observe whether or not Chinese sense, etc. The in- large, it is a matter of this. [Ar.] it is without obstacle or gredients called for in the simple khazq are spear or arrow head, hindrance, and cannot harm are, again, typically Middle etc., wounds. Also, [Ar.] wakhz the blood pulse, and also the 30 blood vessel and main arteries. taking [Ar.] ushaq [gum on. This is also possible. If One can say in general: one ammoniac, of Dorema there is something lodged in only needs that the arrow ammoniacum] ([subtext] ushaq) the bone it can also suck it out. heads, etc., are not broken off and transforming it and Now this is because by its and remain behind in the flesh. opening it and placing it in the original nature it can remove Moreover, when they are wound injured place. If there teeth. Also grind finely removed, one must have are things inside, it can suck swimming crab. This is also ascertained if previously the them out. If one combines it possible. One recipe uses creek wounding material has been with honey, it will be powerful. crab fish [lobster-fish, shrimp?] agitated. Only then does one Also take [Ar.] Zarawand bladder. All have removing remove it. Also, the implement [Aristolochia] ([subtext] strength that achieves the to remove are iron forceps. On Zarawand), the round kind, miraculous. Also all sticky milks top of the forceps one adds an grind finely and combine with [anafih] of moving animals also iron ring that rigidly enfolds it. honey. Create an application can help. There is a thing called When it is like this one can take medicine and use. Also take [Ar.] wazaghah [pl., geckos] [the arrow head] out. There will bamboo root and pound until ([subtext] This is the gecko). It is be times when the arrow head soft, or use alone or combine also able to help. One recipe will have poison and the flesh with honey, and create an takes [Ar.] wazaghah heads, of the wound will be decayed. application medicine and use. puts them into an ointment One must use [something] to One recipe uses small bamboo recipe, and pastes it on. It can remove the [decayed] flesh root leaves, one liang [?]. remove barbs along with arrow and clean its appearance. If Pound finely and stick onto [the heads. If one takes [Ar.] one observes that the color of wound place]. If the wound wazaghah, [Ar.] zarawand the flesh has changed, and it place has an arrow head, the [Aristolochia], the long kind moves like dead flesh, then bamboo will pierce so that it ([subtext] [Pr.] zarawand-e tawil scatter and disperse what has comes out itself. Also [take] the [“long Aristolochia”]), bamboo become bad. In general, if the leaf of the black opium tree [?], root, [Ar.] narjis [narcissus] arrow head is deeply situated fig tree leaf, and mix with ([subtext] This is chuancao x in the bone and flesh, and one barley flour and henbane. If [?]), and onions and combines cannot take it out, take the one adds it to alum and them into a sticking medicine implement and position around combines it, it is very much and uses, then it can take the the bone so that one can take possible. In the case of all of things left behind and bring it out easily. If the arrow head the following: Sichuan Kueihua them out. One recipe uses [Pr.] wounds in a critical part of the [Osmanthus fragrans], [Ar.] sam-abras [gecko] ([subtext] body like the brain, heart, Zarawand [Aristolochia], [Ar.] This is the gecko). Take the meat lungs, liver, the stomach artery, narjis [narcissus] ([subtext] This and pound until tender and put the bladder, and a bad sign is is the chuandi flower [? on the sword punctured place. manifest and the signs lead Character?] ) and onions, either It can suck it out. One recipe one to believe that it will not use alone or combine and use. uses [Ar.] wushshaq get better, then it probably They can suck out the things [‘ashaqah? gum ammoniac; cannot be healed. If bad signs that are lodged. Also [take] a ivy?] ([subtext] ashuku [?]). are not perceived, and they frog18 and remove the skin and Make a powder and paste onto lead one to believe that one create a pasting medicine. It the wound. The thing [in it] will can heal in the future, one can can also suck out things. One come out of itself. [Ar.] discuss the danger of these recipe uses a fresh frog [found] wushshaq combined with symptoms with one’s col- on land where the five cereals honey is powerful. Or use leagues, and afterwards treat. are [413]. Remove the skin and round [Ar.] zarawand Now, although these symp- create a pasting medicine. It [Aristolochia] ([subtext] [Pr.] toms are dangerous, one can can also remove barbs and zarawand-e gerd [“round also treat and there is the arrow heads. One recipe uses Aristolochia”]) and pound with possibility of healing. Also use dried frog to make a powder. bamboo root and use honey to medicines, etc. This means Combine with honey and stick combine and paste on. Also use 31 long [Ar.] zarawand ([subtext] capital” (Yuanshi 1976, juan 88, founded his practice or what, if [Pr.] zarawand-e tawil), onion 2221). The founder of this office, any, books he brought back with water, Chinese sacred lily which seems to have been more him from Iran in 1286. His role in [Narcissus tazetta] leaf, fig important than the above brief founding and managing the leaf, barley sugar, and pound notice indicates, was Jesü (Aixie Guanghui si was such that the together and paste on. It has x ) or, as he is known in Iranian HHYF, which in its present form is the power to grab iron. Also, sources, Isa, the “Translator” a Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) copy, in the case of barb needle (1227-1308), a Nestorian but is based upon a now lost wounds, where it takes on Christian whose family originally original Yuan Dynasty (1260- swelling and is dissipated, it had come Syria. Jesü began his 1368) version, must go back at cannot be treated, or if it is service to the Mongols under Khan least in part to materials large, the medical treatment of Güyük (r. 1246-1248) and later assembled and held by Jesü and it is in the previous category of associated himself with then his family, which were perhaps wounds from knives and prince Qubilai (r. 1260-1294), added to by others as time went arrows. It has been discussed forming part of the prince’s “brain on. in the section on wound trauma trust” of associates who were to where ulcers have been formed stand him in good stead when the And what of these materials, as [Kong 1996, pp. 411-413]. prince had to fight to become ruler witnessed by the HHYF? Clearly a Such lore was obviously of utility in Mongol China as the old major source for the surviving for the warlike Mongols. The same Mongolian Empire broke down. As chapters was the Qanun fi al-tibbi, sections also provides many first far as can be determined the “Canon for Medicine,” of Ibn Sîna aid applications, many including Guanghui si grew out of Jesü’s (980-1037), a standard Arabic- substances in use today to kill private practice of “Muslim” language medical encyclopedia in germs and promote healing. medicine, or more properly of the the Islamic world, but some of the Whether any of the specific Eurasian cosmopolitan medicine material from this source seems medicinal mentioned above work, that had started primarily with the filtered at best, perhaps through awaits further research. Note that Greeks but belonged by his time another, more popular collection gecko parts and meat are called equally to Greeks, Latins, Syrians, that may now be lost. Other for under both their Arabic and Arabs, Persians and others, even, sources include the Arabic and Persian names, indicating a as we will see below, Tibetans, possibly Syrian translation compilation from different who had their own school of this literature for works by Galen and sources. medicine. In any case, after the other Greek doctors. Other, more Guanghui si was founded, it, and immediate sources, in view of the Origins an observatory for Muslim Iranian connection of Mongol Whence such medicine? We do astronomy were put under Jesü, China, were probably works such know that many of the official and members of his family as the Nuzhat al-Qulub, “Hearts’ medical institutions of the Mongols continued in control after his Delight,” a scientific and medical in China focused on Muslim death. Interestingly, Jesü did not encyclopedia written by the son of medicine. This included an office, just stay in China, once he had Rashid al-Din, Ghiyath al-Din ranked first under the Xuanhui become associated with the house Muhammad, but also possibly the yuan , “Bureau for Imperial of Qubilai, but in 1283 went on an now lost Lata’if al-Rashidiyya, Household Provisions,” and then embassy for his ruler to Mongol “Pleasures of Rashid al-Din,” by under the Yuan Office of the Chief Iran, then Qubilai’s principal ally Rashid’s associate, the doctor Ibn Physician (Taiyi yuan xxx ), in his wars in Central Asia. Unlike Ilyas, and the latter’s other works, called the Guanghui si , his companion, the minister Bolad, including his treatise on food “Administration of Broad who remained in Iran, Jesü (Elgood 1979, pp. 302-323). Compassion,” charged with returned again in 1286 and “preparing and presenting Muslim remained in office in China for More than one cosmopolitian (huihui ) drugs and pre- more than twenty more years, system is involved in the text. I 19 parations to the emperor in order until his death aged 82. have suggested in a forthcoming to treat members of the We do not know what books Jesü paper that Tibetans, drawing upon bodyguard and poor people in the had with him when he first their own Greek traditions of 32 medicine (those of the Bi-ci school local systems still existed, refinements that the whole world and its texts, in particular), may including Chinese medicine, which had to offer. Lastly a medical have been another source of remained alive and well under the unification paralleling those in food medical information, theory and Mongols even if not so favored. In and eating utensils should hardly even recipes in the HHYF. The this respect, medicine and food be unexpected. This was all a text’s humoral system, for developed into world systems in matter of what the Mongol age example, is apparently based on much the same way, surrounded had to offer and what it did for the three humors, those of India and by a great deal of local color. peoples and cultures of the Old Tibet, and not the four of the World as the Mongols laid down Islamic world. Tibetan influence is Conclusion the foundations of our modern even clearer in the YSZY, which age. In conclusion, we are only has a great deal of Islamic beginning to understand the full cosmopolitan medicine in it and a About the author range of cultural exchanges clear trail back to Tibetans characterizing the Mongol age. Paul D. Buell holds a PhD in involved in imperial dietary Some of them are obvious. Some, history and an MA in Chinese from medicine (Buell forthcoming 1). such as the possible exportation the University of Washington and of Mongolian ideas about medicine is a specialist in the history of the Nonetheless, what is important and diet, are not so obvious. In Mongolian Empire with special about the HHYF is that it any case, it is now clear that the reference to the cultural history of represents a type of medicine Mongols exported their cuisine and the Mongolian period and the found from one end of the Silk ideas about it and participated in interchanges between east and Road to the other and beyond. Not a remarkable, if temporary, west. He is the lead author of A only was much the same medicine codification of medical ideas with Soup for the Qan: Chinese Dietary practiced throughout Central Asia a little help from doctors of various Medicine of the Mongol Era as and in the Middle East, but persuasions practicing the Muslim, Seen in Hu Sihui’s Yinshan “Muslim” medicine, including texts better cosmopolitan medicine of Zhengyao, “Proper and Essential translated from the Greek, before the day. On another level, John Things for the Emperor’s Food and the actual Greek texts reached the Carswell is probably entirely Drink,” and is currently completing West, was also the basis of the correct in assuming that a wetter a full translation of the Huihui European medicine of the time as cuisine required new dishes and Yaofang, “Muslim Medicinal taught in the early medical schools that Chinese porcelain was ideally Recipes,” supported by a National such as those of Salerno or suited to this mission. What is Endowment for the Humanities Taranto. Texts used there, in fact, interesting is that Blue and White individual scholarship. included standardized collections Porcelain, the food that it References of quotations of theory, contained, and the cosmopolitan procedures, and recipes, more or medicine of the time — never Abdulhak 1940 less identical in format and entirely Muslim, but a mixture of Adman Abdulhak. “Sur le approach to the HHYF.20 As a traditions — once again suggest Tansukname-i-Ilhani dar Ulum-u- consequence, for once in history, the ability of the Mongols to Funun-i Khatai.” Isis 32 (1940): China and much of the rest of the combine the best that East and 44-47. Old World were at the same place West had to offer in tune with their in terms of their medicines. That own views of the universe and Algar 1991 the West choose to continue on traditions. This being the case, Ayla Esen Algar. Traditional this basis and China did not is that Chinese porcelain, glazed in Turkish Food for the American irrelevant (the question of Islamic the Mongol color, with west Asian Kitchen. New York: Harper Collins, influence on the Chinese medical designs and pot shapes, 1991. schools of Yuan and Ming is a disseminated throughout the Anderson 1988 whole other topic). For a brief Mongol world order, should in no Eugene N. Anderson, The Food of moment the Mongols had created, way surprise us. Neither should China, New Haven: Yale University at the court level at least, a single the universality of the foods that Press, 1988. system of medicine, although it contained, Mongol base soups beyond the court a great many and other foods, but with the Baader 1982 33 Gerhard Baader, “Handschrift und Introduction, translation, text, Genghis Khan: Courtly Art and Inkunabel in der Überliefering der notes, with Eugene N. Anderson, Culture in Western Asia, 1256- medizinischen Literatur.” In: appendix by Charles Perry. 1353. New York: The Metropolitan Gerhard Baader and Gundolf Keil, London: Kegan Paul International Museum of Art; New Haven and eds. Medizin im mittelalterlichen (Sir Henry Wellcome Asian London: Yale University Press, Abendland. Darmstadt: Wissen- Series), 2000. 2002. schaftliche Buchgesellschaft, Carswell 2000 Kong 1996 1982: 359-385. John Carswell. Blue and White, S. Y. Kong , et al. Huihui Boldsaikhan 2004 Chinese Porcelain around the yaofang . Hong Kong: B. Boldsaikhan. Encylopedia of World. Chicago: Art Media Hong Kong zhong bianyi yinwu Mongolian Medicinal Plants. Resources, 2000. youxian gongsi, 1996. Ulaanbaatar: Mongolian University Chang 1977 Kristeller 1982 of Science and Technology, Chang Kwang-chih, ed. Food in Paul Oskar Kristeller. “Neue System Science Research In- Chinese Culture. New Haven: Yale Quellen zur salernitaner Medizin stitute, 2004. University Press, 1977. des 12 Jahhunderts.” In: Gerhard Buell 1999 Doerfer 1963-1975 Baader and Gundolf Keil, eds. Paul D. Buell. “Mongolian Empire Medizin im mittelalterlichen Gerhard Doerfer, Türkische und and Turkicization: the Evidence of Abendland. Darmstadt: Wissen- mongolische Elemente im Neu- Food and Foodways.” In: Reuven schaftliche Buchgesellschaft, persischen, 4 Vols. Here: Band I, Amitai-Preiss ed. The Mongol 1982: 191-208. Mongolische Elemente im Neu- Empire and its Legacy. Amster- persischen. Band II, Türkische Laufer 1919 dam: E.J. Brill, 1999: 200-223. Elemente im Neupersischen, alif Berthold Laufer. Sino-Iranica, Buell 2001 bis tâ. Wiesbaden: Franz Steiner Chinese Contributions to the Paul D. Buell. “Christine de Pizan Verlag, 1963-1975. History of Civilization in Ancient (c. 1364-1431).” In: Clayton J. Elgood 1979 Iran. Field Museum of Natural Drees, ed. The Late Medieval Age Cyril Elgood. A Medical History of History Publication 201, Anthro- of Crisis and Renewal, 1300-1500: Persia and the Eastern Caliphate, pological Series XV, 3. Chicago: A Biographical Dictionary. Great corrected and amended ed. Field Museum, 1919. Cultural Eras of the Western Amsterdam: APA – Philo Press, Osamu and Seiichi 1973 World. Westport, Conn.; London: 1979 (first published 1951). Greenwood Press, 2001: 103-104. Shinoda Osamu and Tan- Haroutunian 1982 aka Seiichi , Chûgoku so- Buell forthcoming 1 Arto der Haroutunian. Middle kukei sôsho , Vol. 1. Paul D. Buell. “Tibetans, Mongols Eastern Cookery. London: Pan, Tôkyô: Shoseki bunbutsu and the Fusion of Eurasian 1982. ryûtsûkai, 1973. Cultures.” In: Islam and Tibet. Kim 2006 London: Warburg Institute, Perry 2001 Kim Ho-dong. “A Portrait of a University of London (forth- Charles Perry. “Kitab al-Tibakha: Christian Official in China under coming). A Fifteenth Century Cookbook.” the Mongol Rule.” In: Gaby Buell forthcoming 2 In: Maxime Rodinson, A. J. Bamana, ed. Christianity and Arberry, and Charles Perry, Paul D. Buell. Simple: Eurasian Mongolia, Past and Present, Medieval Arabic Cookery. Black- Medicine of the Mongol Era as Proceedings of the Antoon awton, Totnes, Devon: Prospect Seen in the Huihui Yaofang Mostaert Symposium on Books, 2001: 467–475. (forthcoming). Christianity and Mongolia. Buell et al. 2000 Ulaanbaatar: Antoon Mostaert Rall 1960 Mongolian Study Center, 2006: Paul D. Buell, Eugene N. Anderson Jutta Rall. “Zur persischen 41-52. and Charles Perry. A Soup for the Übersetzung eines Mo-chüeh, Qan: Chinese Dietary Medicine of Komaroff and Carboni 2002 eines chine-sischen medizinischen the Mongol Era as Seen in Hu Szu- Linda Komaroff and Stefano Textes.” Oriens Extremus 7 hui’s Yin-shan Cheng-yao. Carboni, eds. The Legacy of (1960): 152-157. 34 Roden 1970 14th century, with the sheng and the 10. On Rumi and tutumash see Algar he slightly less than today. 1991, pp. 6-7, 174. Claudia Roden. A Book of Middle 11. Carswell 2000, pp. 23-24, and Eastern Food. Harmondsworth: 4. William of Rubruck speaks of the processing of cow’s milk and the personal communications to the author. Penguin, 1970. making and consumption of grut in the 12. John Carswell, personal com- following terms: munication to the author, summer Roux 1984 They first extract the butter from 2005. Jean-Paul Roux. La religion des cow’s milk and boil it until it is Turcs et des Mongols. Paris: Payot, perfectly de-cocted and 13. The whole question of the subsequently they store it in rams’ movement of Chinese ideas of painting 1984. paunches which they keep for that west during the Mongol era is now an purpose. And they do not put salt Schafer 1963 area of renewed interest. See Komaroff into the butter which nevertheless and Carboni 2002, particularly the Edward Schafer. The Golden does not putrefy on account of the articles by James Watt, pp. 63-73, and Peaches of Samarkand. Berkeley: great degree to which it has been Komaroff, pp. 168-195. decocted. And they keep it for the Uni-versity of California Press, winter. The buttermilk which 14. Kong 1996, p. 104. This and other 1963. remains after the butter [has been translations below from the HHYF will removed] they allow to sour, as be contained and further annotated in Weng 1938 sharp as it can be. And they boil Buell forthcoming 2. All rights are reserved. Tu-chien Weng. “Ai-hsieh: A Study that and it is coagulated by the boiling. And that coagulated of His Life.” Unpublished Ph.D. 15. This term is difficult to translate in buttermilk they dry in the sun, and the HHYF since it can be used there to dissertation, Harvard University, it is thereby made hard, just like designate muscles and tendons, minor 1938. the slag of iron and they store the blood vessels, nerve tissue, and even dried buttermilk in sacks for the the spinal cord. Wyngaert 1929 winter. During the winter when they 16. In the HHYF, qi most commonly Anastasius van den Wyngaert. lack for milk, they place this bitter coagulated milk, which they call means simply “breath.” Here the Sinica Franciscana, vol. I: Itinera grut, in a hide bag and pour on top meaning is unclear but the context et Relationes Fratrum Minorum hot water and they shake the bag would be perfectly comprehensible in saec. XIII et XIV. Quaracchi- strongly until the coagulated milk terms of Chinese medicine, thus the is dissolved in water which is made translation. An alternative translation Firenze: College of Saint totally acid by this. And this water would be “vital force.” As a humor, qi Bonaventura, 1929. they drink in place of milk. They is the air or wind of Indian medicine. take the greatest care lest they See also below. Yuanshi 1976 drink pure water [Wyngaert 1929, 17. I am grateful to colleague Chris p. 179]. Yuanshi . 15 vols. Beijing: Muench for discussing this section of Zhonghua shuju, 1976. See the discussion in Buell et al. 2000, the HHYF with me. p. 36. 18. The second character is not the Notes 5. On the general topic of Turkic usual one and may be a phonetic influence on Mongolian foodways see spelling. Buell 1999. 1. On the history of Chinese food in 19. On Jesü see Weng 1938. I am general see the relevant chapters of 6. In Iran today an ash can be a stew, grateful to Igor de Rachewiltz for Chang 1977 and Anderson 1988. See pointing up a further evolution. discussing his own forthcoming work also under individual foods and spices on Isa with me and for supplying me Buell et al. 2000. 7. For modern variants see with a copy of Weng’s dissertation. See Haroutunian 1982, p. 80, and Roden now also Kim 2006. 2. On the traditional Mongolian way of 1970, p. 135. life as it relates to food see also Buell 20. On early medical texts used in the et al. 2000. 8. On the word and some of its schools see, as an introduction, occurrences in Persian texts see Kristeller 1982, and also Baader 1982. 3. Adapted from Buell et al. 2000, pp. Doerfer 1965-1975, Bd. II, pp. 457- On the rise of standardized texts as a 294. Today a qian is about .011 oz and 59. a sheng is 31.5 in3 while a he is one publishing phenomenon see also Buell tenth of a sheng. The values of the 9. Adapted from Buell et al. 2000, pp. 2001. qian, sheng and he were similar in the 298-99. A jin is today about 500 g. 35 For Mongolia, first some In Search of Mongolian Barbecue terminology. Perhaps the most concise definition I got for Debra McCown Mongolian barbecue came from a Abingdon, Virginia (USA) translator Solongo: “In traditional barbecue, they use hot stones, and that’s how they cook it.The Asking about barbecue in Mongolia learned from his grandfather and trick of it is everything has to be can get you some strange looks. now cooks for tourists outside closed. The container is closed Barbecue is not interesting, they Ulaanbaatar. A translator and I tightly, and no air is coming out.” say. They’ll tell you food is not traveled with him to his family In fact, to most Mongols, barbecue interesting. And among foods, home, where I essentially threw means either horhog or boodog. dairy products are certainly more two big barbecue parties for his The first of these is what Solongo interesting than barbecue, a relatives and neighbors. Before I is describing: placing meat and subject that is “not taken go into what I learned about the hot rocks inside a sealed metal seriously,” as one Mongolian labor-intensive process of making container. In boodog the cooking professor told me. The ethno- real Mongolian barbecue, I should is done made by placing hot logists with whom I spoke at the provide some background on stones inside the sealed skin of the National University of Mongolia barbecue and its history in animal. Horhog and boodog are indicated that no one has ever Mongolia. cooked both from the inside by the done a study on barbecue or even hot rocks and pressurized steam on meat. At most the subject What is Barbecue? and from the outside by the heat receives passing mention. In Food is so taken for granted that of a fire. Mongolia, when people have a it rarely appears in histories; yet, What we are not talking about party, they cook an animal. In a there may be nothing more here is shorlog, an imported kind country that lives primarily from illustrative of the universality of of shishkebab involving cooking its animals, this is a given, an the human experience. The marinated chunks of meat, fat and obvious thing, like the color of the concept of cooking an animal and sometimes vegetables on skewers sky or the change of seasons. celebrating in a large group has on a grill. Why, they wonder aloud, would probably been around as long as anyone try to study such a thing? men have been hunting. It is A Few Words on Meat in But such pessimism about mentioned in stories of Chingis Mongolian Culture barbecue is not enough to stop a Khan and of events in the Middle I was told many times that in order North Carolina Tar Heel from East more than a millennium to be considered “real food” in studying a subject so near and before that, in the Bible. Mongolia, a meal must contain dear to her heart. Others have Not only in legend, but also in meat, even though historically been inspired by their love of modern-day culture, the concept other food products from the pulled pork to drive hours upon of barbecue spans the world. traditional herding culture have hours to experience the regional Natives in the Caribbean built also been significant. The variations of American barbecue frameworks of sticks on which to numerous petroglyphs in the — but I am the first, far as I know, slow-cook meat over a fire; the Mongolian Altai attest to the to go all the way to Mongolia in word barbecue arrived in Europe importance of hunting by those search of barbecue. I said I’d go via Spain from their term for such who inhabited the area thousands to the end of the earth for a good structures. While barbecue in the of years ago. An encyclopedic barbecue sandwich — and I wasn’t United States usually involves a description of the Mongolian Way joking. large metal grill, the North of Life summarizes how with most As it turns out, true Mongolian Carolina variant, “pig-picking,” of the meat from hunted animals, barbecue is nothing like the stuff originated from the practice of people would make horhog or marketed as “Mongolian bar- turning a pig on a spit over a fire boodog or fry it on a stick in the becue” in the United States. In and picking the meat off the fire. The meat from hunted fact, the two traditional Mongolian outside as it cooked. Hawaiians animals could also be boiled. Meat methods of making barbecue are bury a pig underground with piles was seasoned with wild onions and virtually unknown in the West. of hot stones; Mongolians put hot grasses and sometimes milk stones inside the animal or inside products in soups. It was common Ultimately, my search took me a container. True Mongolian to eat the head, legs and insides to Bayanhotag sum, Hentii aimag, barbecue is simply that country’s first before the meat because they where I learned firsthand how to variation of the global concept that go down easily. Each organ meat make horhog and boodog from might best be summed up as was traditionally divided evenly Purevtogtokh (Purev), a man who “cook a critter, have a party.” among everyone in the ger 36 (Mongolian Way 1987). Early to the summer’s meatless diet, cauldrons if they were covered historical sources, such as the helps to quench this meat hunger. with a metal lid and it was Secret History of the Mongols, weighted down with stones. while not providing details about My host Purev explained that how meat was prepared, since 1921, with urbanization, to In the absence of such lids emphasize the importance of the degree that Mongols have among archaeological finds, as serving meat in traditional become more settled and don’t Professor Byambadorj of the hospitality (Secret History 1998) have so many milk products in the National University of Mongolia summertime, they eat more meat explained to me, horhog likely Yet, as the Franciscan William of than they did before. He said it is evolved from the ancient boodog Rubruck astutely observed in the no longer true that meat is only cooking technique. Boodog is 13th century while discussing the eaten for special events in the difficult, he said, because it Mongols’ tastes in meat, “In summer, though horhog or boodog requires the animal to have a good summer, so long as lasts their is still a treat. skin for making it. Also, hunters kumis, that is to say mare’s milk, began making horhog, he said, they care not for any other food” A Concise History of Barbecue because they needed to use the [Fig. 1] (Rubruck 2004). Indeed, in Mongolia animal skin instead of burning it, The preparation of horhog and and so they needed something boodog reflects the conditions of other than the skin to cook the nomadic life where there might be meat in. They began using a part minimal cooking equipment. As of the stomach of a sheep or goat, Professor Lkhagvaa of the taking it with them, making Mongolian University of Science horhog in it, and then keeping the and Technology told me, the use skin to use for something else. As of hot stones is a very old practice. Purev told me, the use of modern “The easiest way of making food metal containers for making is…making fire, heating two horhog began probably in the stones…barbecue is maybe from 1920s. this, putting it on the meat and Surely one of the earliest explicit between it.” references to what we might Photo © 2005 Daniel C. Waugh There is no archaeological assume was the preparation of Fig. 1. Milking a mare, Tamir River boodog is in the late 14th century region, Arkhangai aimag. evidence regarding when boodog first was made, although it is safe Yüan shih, the official history of there is an amazing range of milk to assume that its preparation the Yüan (Mongol) Dynasty in products, not just kumis, which from hunted animals dates from China. The story relates how the form the core of the summer diet. ancient times, soon after humans young Temüjin, the future Chingis As a recent text explains, discovered fire. The idea of Khan, was fleeing for his life with making boodog with livestock (as a few companions, among them The main reason for the heavy is common now) is relatively new his brother Khasar (Qajar): focus on dairy products in but may date as far back as the summer is the need to Fig. 2. Burial goods in a Xiongnu grave, time when people began herding including bronze cauldron containing consume milk and its animals. Excavations of Xiongnu animal bones. Tamiryn Ulaan Khoshuu, derivatives before they get graves in Mon- Arkhangai aimag, Feature 97. spoiled very fast in the golia from two summer heat. Plus summer is millennia ago not the time to slaughter have yielded animals and therefore the bronze caul- meat supplies drastically drons containing reduce in those months. bones of animals Herders also refrain from presumably slaughtering their animals in from the ritual hot weather lest the meat preparation of become spoiled in a very food to accom- short time (Baabar and pany the de- Enkhbat 2002: 34). ceased [Fig. 2]. The Mongolian language actually It is possible has specific words describing the that horhog hunger for meat during the could have been summer. Barbecue, an exception prepared in such Photo © 2005 Daniel C. Waugh 37 When they reached the Pan- because they are not as busy with Barbecue and Health chu-ni (Baljuni) River their the herds. The summer is also provisions were entirely when people have enough milk to There is a significant connection exhausted and, since the distill vodka from it, and when city between barbecue and healing. place was desolate and people have their month-long When the barbecue is done, remote, there was no way to vacations. The preparation of before eating it you must first toss obtain food. It happened that barbecue is always done in the one of the hot, greasy stones back a single wild horse came countryside. and forth between your hands, a northward. The prince Ha- practice that is supposed to be cha-erh (Qajar) shot it and Barbecue in Mongolia is used good for your health [Fig. 3]. killed it. Thereupon, they mainly for celebrations. Horhog removed the hide to make a and boodog, while they have long cauldron. They produced fire existed alongside other cooking from a stone. They drew the methods, have always been the water of the River. They boiled food of special occasions, such as and ate it. [Tr. by Cleaves Naadam (the big sports festival in 1955, p. 397; cf. Weatherford July) or the arrival of honored 2004, p. 57, where he in- guests. Purev told me people terpolates details not in the make barbecue during the felt- original.] making time in early summer and also when a family’s grown Purev related a modern children come home from the city equivalent of this old story of to visit. Today it remains the food destitute flight from pursuers. of celebrations largely because it Before the 1921 revolution, he is enough to feed a large group. said, there were men who stole People enjoy it since it isn’t livestock from the wealthy and everyday food, especially in the distributed it to the poor people summer when little meat is eaten. some distance to the east. To As much as anything, the focus is escape the animals’ owners, they not on the food itself but on the had to ride thousands of occasion for which it is served. kilometers, and they had no time to sit and eat while on the run. Generally, making barbecue in So, as they were riding, they Mongolia is thought of as would catch marmots, large something done by men. However, Photo © 2007 Daniel C. Waugh rodents that inhabit the steppe of gender roles may in fact vary. Fig. 3. Handling the hot stones Mongolia. They would stop to take Carengerel, mother of the family at a Mongolian barbecue. out the bones and heat up some I stayed with in Bayanhongor rocks in a fire, then stuff the rocks Aimag, said her husband can do Purev told me playing with hot inside, tie it shut, hang it from barbecue but doesn’t, though he stones makes you less tired, and their saddle and continue to ride. does hunt marmots. No one in the in the spring everyone is tired. After galloping for an hour or so area is well-known for barbecue, You’re supposed to touch them they would stop to remove the hair she said, but everyone can do it, with your fingertips, too. I was and put the marmot on a fire to horhog with mutton or goat. In her skeptical at first, but holding hot cook the skin. They would drink area, she said, people don’t make stones actually gets kind of the broth, eat the meat, drink boodog with goats, only marmots. addictive. some cold water from a stream, and keep riding. The description I received from According Martha Avery, “These Catherine Heffernan, an American stones are very therapeutic, so Barbecue in Mongolia: When, Peace Corps volunteer, on how you can use them. Hold them in Where, Why and by Whom? horhog is made in Selenge aimag your hands, or sit on them, or put and Tov aimag seemed to assign them under your feet. For Everyone I asked told me importance to gender division of example, if you have stomach barbecue in Mongolia is generally labor in making the barbecue. problems, put them on top of your a summer thing. It’s common When the layering of meat and hot stomach for a while. The stones knowledge in Mongolia that the rocks was done in the can, she will be black and oily. Don’t wash animals aren’t fat enough in the said, the wife put in the meat and them off!” (Avery 1996). winter or spring. People also have salt, while the husband put in the more free time for special meals hot rocks. The husband, she Ankhtaya, master teacher at the and gatherings in the summertime observed, kept the fire going. traditional medicine school at 38 Mambadatsun Monastery in Purev said of horhog, “but it takes normally do not have seals, it may Ulaanbaatar, told me a little bit a long time and hard work.” also be necessary create one (in about how the hot stones used in our case it involved placing under making barbecue are also used in The process of making horhog, the lid a layer of plastic bags and traditional healing. The tradition is begins with selecting the proper newspaper). The idea is that the not connected to Buddhism, she stones. About 100-200 km before container should be as airtight as says, and she has no idea when it we reached our destination in possible but also safe from began, though her guess is that southern Hentii aimag where I exploding. The key to the rapid people have been doing this as was to learn how to make cooking of horhog is the pressure long as they’ve been making traditional Mongolian barbecue, from the steam inside the boodog. These practices are being we stopped to collect stones for containeer. Readers should note used just as much now as in the making horhog and boodog. The that pressure cooking can be recent past, she said, though it is proper kind of stones, Purev dangerous. Making horhog in an possible these treatments were explained, are not available in the improvised pot at home is not used more in the 17th and 18th area where we were going. You recommended; even when using centuries than they are now. have to get river stones, he said, a proper pressure cooker with a because they will not break easily. For sleeping problems, safety valve, when opening the They must be round and smooth, cover one must be very careful to Ankhtaya says, you can put hot with no cracks. We collected the stones on your head, hold them release the pressure gradually stones by a small, slow-running first. in your hands, or place them on stream that used to be a big river. the back of your neck. Putting a We selected from the collection hot stone on the back of your neck the next morning but did not have Although any kind of meat may will also help to relieve nervous to clean them, since heating them be used, horhog is generally made problems. Placing a hot stone on in the fire killed any germs. with mutton. The sheep is the side of your head, directly in Occasionally stones will explode slaughtered immediately before front of your ear, can help improve when heated. Before placing them the horhog is assembled. Mongols a problem with your hearing. in the horhog, they must be red- do not use the word “kill” with Placing a hot stone on your back, hot. animals. The word is always in the area of your kidney, can help translated as “to cut.” They with a kidney problem. She said The other essential non-food slaughter sheep by cutting a slit these ailments are caused by requirement is the container itself. in the lower part of the belly and coldness, which is why hot stones We used a 40-liter (roughly 10 then reaching a hand inside up are helpful. Holding hot stones can gallon) metal container of the sort past the elbow to squeeze the also help prevent these conditions. used for storing water or dairy aorta [Fig. 4]. When a skilled Ankhtaya also had some health products—a small milk can, if you person does this, the sheep dies advice on eating barbecue. People wish. Some of these have a clamp in a matter of seconds, and no with liver problems, such as with which to fasten down the lid blood is spilled on the ground. Hepatitis B, should not eat boodog securely, although in Mongolia During the entire process, Purev because it contains a lot of fat, people have even been known to said, it is necessary to pray, which is not good for people with improvise by holding the lid down because that way it is not seen to liver problems, she said. with an iron anvil. Using wooden be against the tenets of Buddhism wedges to tighten the clamp may which prohibit killing living beings. The Process of Making Horhog be necessary. Since such cans If a goat is being slaughtered, they hit it on the head with a Making horhog can be hammer and then cut its described very simply, throat to drain the blood. although the actual The meat is cut into chunks, preparation process is leaving the bones in; the rather involved. You entrails are processed slaughter an animal, chop separately (see below). it up, and put the meat, still on the bones, into a The recipe metal container with Add to the can the potatoes, onions, spices, following: and hot rocks, then put it Water, maybe half a gallon; on the fire, cooking the meat from both inside and 1/3 of the meat and outside, with both heat vegetables: carrots and and pressure. “It tastes Photo © 2005 Daniel C. Waugh potatoes, peeled and nice and it looks nice,” Fig. 4. Cutting a sheep, Tamir River partially pre-cooked. region, Arkhangai aimag. 39 If necessary, add more water the sheep was being cut up for tially, it is the whole sheep. When to cover completely. horhog, everyone in the extended they made it in Hentii, the head, Add half of the spices (onions, family helped in processing the hooves and tail were taken garlic, salt, pepper, pepper- entrails. These insides are made outside, the hair cut short and corns and laurel leaves, or, if into several dishes: then burned off with a blowtorch [Fig. 7], and then all of it was you have them, traditional 1) Blood sausage, for which the washed very well and boiled. An seasonings of wild onions and blood is mixed with flour, salt, older person cuts and distributes grasses). water, onions and garlic, put into the meat, and it is distributed in a Add a layer of hot rocks, the large intestines and boiled. very specific way. A young woman, blowing off the ash on them 2) Liver wrapped in the fat lining I was given a small part of the first. from around the organs and mouth that is customarily given to Add another third of the meat cooked directly in the flames. The young girls because it is supposed and vegetables, the other half dung fire is supposed to give it a to help them sew better. of the spices and, as needed, good taste. The liver thus cooked water to cover. may be served as an appetizer To this point what I am describing is “traditional,” but as Then add another layer of hot during the preparation for cooking horhog. we know, tradition is not rocks. unchanging. Since my barbecue Add the final third of the meat 3) Soup made from the organ teacher Purev has spent the last and vegetables and cover with meats, seasoned with onions, several years working at tourist hot rocks. The can should then pepper and salt. It is cooked on camps, when he prepares horhog be approximately two-thirds top of a stove, inside the stomach and boodog in the countryside he full. where hot rocks have placed, a is making traditional Mongolian Close the can securely and smaller version of the process food but also adapting the menu place it in the stoked fire or on used for making horhog. It is to urban tastes and ingredients. called “origin myth soup” and is top of a stove on high heat. Thus, while the horhog began to Cook for approximately an hour not ever served to tourists; it is just a local dish. The boiled cook, we went to work making and a half. A smaller container salad: chopping cabbage and of the dish takes less time. entrails, like the liver, may be served as an appetizer. carrots. The salads were of the No part of the animal is allowed sort served at tourist camps. to go to waste [Figs. 5, 6]. When 4) Ikh Mongol, or “the great Cabbage and vinegar, salt, Mongolian meal,” is sugar, oil; called this because it Carrot, mayonnaise and garlic; includes the head, Cooked potato and carrot, the tail, the four corn, peas, salt and mayon- hooves and a naise. sausage made from the insides – essen- When the horhog was done, the container was re- moved from the stove and set on the floor of the ger to cool for a bit. Then every- one was called in, the container was open- ed, and the hot rocks were passed around (“juggled” might be a more appropriate term until they cool a bit). Then everyone drinks the broth, Fig. 5. Butchering the sheep. Fig. 6. Scraping off the stomach lining. Fig. 7. Using a blow- torch to burn off the Photos © 2005 Daniel C. Waugh hair around the tail. 40 make boodog, you must remove stomach breaks, it ruins the animal’s bones and internal everything. In Hentii, it took two organs through the neck. Then men to wrestle the stomach and you put pieces of meat on bones intestines out. It’s also important inside the skin, along with spices to avoid cutting anything that will and hot rocks. You remove the hair cause the whole carcass to fall with fire from the outside, and this down. “It’s like surgery, only fire also adds heat to the cooking without looking,” Purev explained. process from the outside, meaning Finally, when all the bones have that, as with horhog, boodog been removed, the de-boned goat cooks from both inside and skin is turned inside-out to outside. separate the remaining meat. The de-boned skin for boodog is called Boodog is made with either tulam. If a little bit of hair gets marmot or goat because these stuck inside, the hot stones will two animals have a skin that can burn it up and it will not be in the tolerate having hot rocks inside boodog. This time though, Photo © 2007 Daniel C. Waugh without breaking. It is theoretically because it was still May and the Fig. 8. Dishing out horhog. possible to make camel boodog, hair was very long, there was way which is very rich, thick and fatty. but in reality it is impossible too much hair, and they used a Finally the meat is divided [Figs. because a camel, which is large, blowtorch to remove the hair from 8, 9]. Traditionally, the meat is would take a whole truckload of the inside the skin. Watching two divided evenly among everyone in hot stones. Sometimes barbecue grown men, armed with a the ger. The choicest piece is the people in Mongolia tell jokes in blowtorch, wrestle with an inside- shoulder blade, called the out goat is an odd dal, which is offered to the sight for a visitor. honored oldest member of the group, who then Once the goat was divides it among everyone finally turned back present. One sheep right-side-out, they typically feeds around 30 stuffed it with the people. following: Spices (onions, It is important after garlic, laurel leaf, eating the meat from salt, pepper, pep- horhog not to drink cold percorns); water because it can hot rocks; cause the fat to congeal in your stomach and get meat, bone-in; stuck there, making you hot rocks; sick. Hot tea is an more meat and acceptable drink with Photo © 2007 Daniel C. Waugh spices, and one barbecue. Milk vodka Fig. 9. Horhog served al fresco Khoit Tsenkher kidney; Valley, Khovd aimag. (airag) is the traditional hot rocks. drink, although commercial which “camel boodog” is the bottled vodka is quite common punchline. They made a point of placing the nowadays, drunk neat, of course. hot rocks in certain places inside The Process of Making Boodog The process of removing all the the skin. Then they tied it up as bones and organs through the tightly as possible, even though As with horhog, the preparation goat’s neck takes a long time and steam continued to escape. process for boodog is a lot tougher requires a good knowledge of Traditionally the skin is tied shut than it sounds, and it takes a long anatomy. The carcass is with hair from a horse’s tail. time.The word boodog comes suspended during the process; Nowadays, wire or plastic string from the verb bookh, which means bones must be removed one at a may be used – whatever is “to tie.” As with horhog, pressure- time, each one requiring some available. Once the boodog bag is cooking is essential to the process, effort. It is absolutely essential to tied shut, they burned off the though with boodog the cooking remove everything without remaining hair with a blowtorch. is done inside the animal’s skin breaking the stomach or making Traditionally, the skin with hot instead of in a metal container. To any holes in the skin. If the rocks inside is placed on an 41 elongated fire that encompasses intact, the hunter must shoot the it in Ulaanbaatar. But it was the whole. Purev said that a big marmot in the head and be careful nowhere to be found, even though grill can be used for cooking not to put any holes in the skin. I had been told that there are boodog, like the one used for Hunting marmots relies on the restaurants in Ulaanbaatar which cooking pigs in the United States. rodents’ innate curiosity. “Twirling serve horhog made on a small As I observed it in Hentii aimag, a tuft of yak-tail will arouse the scale. The only advertised however, the cooking was done marmot’s curiosity. When it rises commercially available barbecue with a blowtorch. The meat is up to get a better look, the hunter in Ulaanbaatar was the new cooked both by the hot stones has a chance for a good shot” franchise of the Michigan-based inside and the fire from outside. (Goldstein and Beall 1994, p. 65). BD’s Mongolian Barbecue. As a If the cooking skin has really been Marmots are also trapped for their billboard announced, its general tightly sealed, it may be necessary skins, which have been exported concept is “Create Your Own Stir to open it occasionally during in such large numbers in recent Fry.” cooking to release some of the years that the government pressure and prevent its ex- enacted a ban on all marmot ploding. Purev said that many a hunting. Billy Downs, president of BD’s, burn has been caused by told me about the franchise. The exploding boodog after someone Bat, who works for a company project began when a restaurant accidentally burned a hole through catering to foreign hunters, owner in Ulaanbaatar who served the skin. explained that, despite the a similar style of “Mongolian hunting ban, which includes the barbecue” contacted him to ask The boodog takes about an hour penalty that the marmot and the for help with the cooking process. to cook (much less time than it hunter’s gun will likely be “They didn’t feel like they were took to de-bone the goat!); it is confiscated and the hunter fined, doing it the right way, so they done when soft all over. The skin people still hunt enough marmots contacted us for help,” Downs should be an even, golden-yellow to sell marmot boodog along the said. “We decided to open a whole color. When everyone has roadside in the country. The taste restaurant.” gathered, someone cuts open the boodog The restaurant is set and distributes the up like a salad bar of rocks and meat. uncooked things: meats, vegetables and As is the case with sauces. Diners fill a bowl mutton horhog, it is with their choice of important not to drink ingredients, and cooks cold water after eating prepare the food on a goat boodog, because hot griddle with two long it can cause the fat to metal cooking tools they congeal in your sto- call “swords” [Fig. 10]. mach. It is, however, Whether the food served a good idea to drink at BD’s is authentically cold water after eating Mongolian is a good marmot or horse meat question; both Mongols (the fat is different and and Americans in will not congeal). Mongolia said they don’t Photo © 2007 Daniel C. Waugh Marmot Boodog Fig. 10. Cooking on the griddle at BD’s in Ulaanbaatar. think so. Mongols said the slivers of meat Traditionally, boodog is made with for marmot boodog trumps designed to cook quickly are part marmot. Because marmot meat enthusiasm for enforcing the of their food culture, but not the has a lot of calories, it is believed hunting ban. As one Mongol rest. Americans suggested that to have good and healthy meat asserts, “Mongolians are crazy the BD’s concept may have first (Gongorjav 1999). Marmot about Marmot!” This, despite the been packaged as “Mongolian” in reportedly tastes a lot like danger that live marmots are China or Taiwan and then exported horsemeat. A strange thing about known to be carriers of the plague. to the U.S. marmot, Purev said, is that three people can eat a marmot and be Barbecue for Sale? full, and so can ten. In any event, it is certainly not Before I went to Hentii to learn the traditonal “Mongolian Because making boodog how to make Mongolian barbecue, barbecue” I have described above, requires that the animal’s skin stay I did a pretty extensive search for even if some aspects of the 42 preparation resemble what one been very successful is tourist About the author can find in everyday practice. camps. Employees at Chinggisiin Debra McCown is a newspaper Khuree, a tourist camp roughly 20 In the countryside, Mongols reporter and writer who spent five km from Ulaanbaatar, for generally cook in a big metal bowl months in Mongolia in 2005. She example, say that on a typical (we might call it a wok), either now makes her home in Abingdon, weekend they feed 70 to 100 balanced between three rocks or Virginia, where she continues her guests per day and business is set into a round hole over a fire. search for excellent barbecue. She increasing. On one hectic day In the process of making soup and may be contacted at 1,000 guests came. other dishes, they first brown all 43 Investigation of a Xiongnu Royal Complex in the Tsaraam Valley Part 2: The Inventory of Barrow No. 7 and the Chronology of the Site Sergei S. Miniaev Institute of the History of Material Culture (Russian Academy of Sciences), St. Petersburg Lidiia M. Sakharovskaia V. A. Obruchev Regional Museum, Kiakhta During the 1997-2005 field of the report, we expand on our although they suffice to seasons the Trans-Baikal earlier description of some of the reconstruct its size and Archaeological Expedition of the finds in the central barrow and decoration. The diameter is 13 Institute of the History of Material conclude with a discussion of the cm; around its edge is a rim 2.1 Culture, Russian Academy of chronology of the complex. cm wide and .3 cm thick. The Sciences, St. Petersburg, characteristic elements of the investigated a Xiongnu Royal Objects Found Inside the decoration make it possible to burial complex in the Tsaraam Burial Pit: The Chinese Mirror identify a wide range of analogies Valley, situated 1.5 km to the and reconstruct the entire south of Naushki village (Buriat Fragments of a Chinese bronze decorative scheme. Republic, Russian Federation) mirror [Figs. 3, 4, next page] were [Figs. 1, 2]. We published a found under the logs at the second Apart from the smooth rim, on level of the longitudinal partition the reverse surface of a mirror of in the center of the burial pit, 218 that type are several concentric cm below the surface. The ten ornamental bands. Directly fragments of the mirror were in adjoining the rim is a narrow (3 the following positions: six lay one mm) band with a comb-tooth above the other and the remaining pattern, inside of which is the main four alongside of them. Taken ornamental band with images together they do not form a which were separated from the complete mirror — its center is center of the mirror also by a only partially preserved — narrow band with a comb-tooth Fig. 1.View of the excavation of Barrow No. 7 from the north. preliminary report about the excavation in The Silk Road (Miniaev and Sakharovskaia 2006a), where the reader may Photos © 2007 S. S. Miniaev and L. M. Sakharovskaia S. Photos © 2007 S. find site diagrams and information about the construction of the tomb. Its complex structure included a number of vertical partitions and horizontal ceilings Fig. 1. View of the burial pit of Barrow No. 7 showing intraburial or covers. In this, the second part construction. 44 Figs. 3, 4. The Han mirror and four S-shaped found in Barrow No. 7. figures” (or dragons). The given group is pattern. A smooth dated normally be- protruding band 3 mm tween the 1st century wide separated the BCE and 1st century outer bands from the CE. center, where there was a pierced knob for An important charac- hanging the mirror. teristic of the mirrors Narrow protruding lines from Xiongnu sites is divided into four sectors their fragmentary the area around the state. Unlike those in knob and inner smooth Han burials (and in a band. In each sector in rare instance such as turn were three round the Xiongnu burial at knobs or nipples, the the Tamir site ex- central one of which cavated in 2005), the was connected with the mirrors in most protruding smooth Xiongnu burials are band by three short found either in lines. separate fragments or in several pieces of a The main ornamental mirror that had been band situated between intentionally broken. the two narrow bands Evidence of the in- with the comb-tooth tentional breaking of pattern was divided into mirrors is seen, for four sectors by means example, in the mirror of small rounded pro- discovered in a jecting knobs. The area residence in the between the knobs was fortress of Bayan- covered by virtually Under, where it was identical compositions, unearthed along with the center of which was the iron knife which a large scroll in the broke it (Huns 2005, shape of a comma. It is p. 46, fig. 63). possible that initially this was the depiction of It is very likely that the body of an animal the Tsaraam mirror, which with time had initially intact, likewise been transformed into a had been intentionally geometric composition. broken. Traces of Above and below this scale clearly visible on scroll were figures of its surface indicate birds, or, more rarely, that the mirror had other animals. been broken by means of heating it to a high Mirrors of this type temperature and then are not uncommon. abruptly cooling it, They are known in possibly in cold water. museum collections; After that, some of the Photograph and drawing © 2007 S. S. Miniaev and L. M. Sakharovskaia S. © 2007 S. and drawing Photograph some examples of such fragments were re- mirrors have been found in Chou 2000, p. 39, fig. 20, Cheng moved and the rest placed under archaeological excavations both of and Han 2002, fig. 25:1,2 and fig. the beams of the longitudinal the Han Dynasty itself and in 26:1,2; Wenwu 1977, fig. 27:2.) partition. Removed as a result of Xiongnu excavations of that same According to the standard this process were the central knob period on the territory of Mongolia classification (Zhongguo tongjing of the mirror, the three nipples and Russia. (See, e.g., Tal’ko- 1997, p. 247) they belong to the dividing the main ornamental zone Gryntsevich 1999, p. 50, fig. 3ñ; group of mirrors “with four nipples into parts, and two segments with 45 ornament in the form of a central collective which the deceased had the harness and frame, while the “comma” and adjoining birds. The left behind. southern one crossed the depiction of a bird above the presumed location of the seat, in “comma” in the third section also Objects Found Inside the the process demolishing a has been damaged. In essence Burial Pit: The Chinese Chariot considerable part of the canopy. then, the only remaining complete Altogether, the parts of the chariot segment is the fourth one. We A Chinese chariot was found in the were very poorly preserved: the note in particular that although the center of the barrow at a depth of wooden parts and organic material third and fourth segments had 10.5 – 11 m (Miniaev and Sakha- of the canopy had decayed almost been broken into several parts rovskaia 2007). To its north, at the completely, the bronze and iron during the ritual, these parts were wall of the pit about a meter from fastenings of the harness had not removed but placed in the the incline of the fifth step at a been severely oxidized and lost grave pit along with other depth of 10 m were the skull, two their original structure. Here is a fragments. At the same time, a neck vertebrae and the description of the preserved parts small fragment of the mirror with metapodials of a horse. The of the chariot [Fig. 6, next page]. the dividing knob between the arrangement of the chariot’s parts third and fourth segments was suggests that its body had been The remains of the canopy were removed along with two other placed beneath the third cover in the center of the pit 4 m from fragments with nipples. The when the pit was being filled, while its northern edge above the stones fragment with a nipple which was the canopy and wheels were found of the third cover. The canopy placed in the grave pit had first above the stones of the third cover consisted of a wooden frame, over been subjected to strong in the center of the barrow and which some organic material had secondary heating, the result of thus must have been located been stretched. The base of the which was that the knob had above the level of that ceiling [Fig. frame was composed of thin melted. The melting of the nipple 5]. Probably the was a result specifically of that chariot had been second heating of a separate set onto the fragment, since otherwise the stones of the adjoining more delicate parts of fourth cover the mirror also would have melted. where it was buried by the Thus one can hypothesize that filling of the pit as during the burial ceremony a well as by gravel, special ritual was performed over pebbles, char- the mirror, a ritual which possibly coal and slabs of was the norm for the burial the third ceiling practices of the Xiongnu more (the canopy and generally. The ritual involved the wheels of the subjecting the mirror to chariot having mechanical or heat treatment and remained above breaking it into several fragments. the latter). When One or several of such fragments the fill of the pit Drawing © 2007 S. S. Miniaev and L. M. Sakharovskaia © 2007 S. Drawing accompanied the dead, while sank, the parts of other parts of the mirror were the chariot were removed and possibly preserved displaced: in the by the family or relatives of the process, the deceased in order subsequently to movement of accompany other burials and stone slabs, serve as a kind of sign of gravel, and peb- recognition upon meeting in the bles — acting like other world. The burial of some millstones — parts of the mirror in the grave inflicted serious pit and the removal of others (of damage. Some analogous design) suggests that time later, the such mirrors and the ritual actions chariot was yet performed over them served as a further disturbed kind of connecting link between by robber pas- the world of the living and the sages: the north- world of the dead, symbolizing in ern passage Fig. 5. The remains of the chariot in situ at the level of both worlds the unity of the damaged part of the fourth cover. A and B are the looters’ passages. 46 Fig. 6. The remains of the canopy and body of the chariot. Figures in parentheses are depth measurements. 1. Bones of a horse (skull and metapodials). 2. Front yoke-pole. 3. Yoke-heads. 4. Bronze ferrule for front yoke-pole. 5. Bronze arc-shaped harness “rings.” 6. Remains of thin round wooden poles. 7. Rectangular iron buckles. 8. Iron plates. 9. Iron rings. 10. Bronze ferrules for rear yoke- pole. 11. Iron rings. 12. Rear yoke- pole. 13. Remains of the lattice-work body of the chariot. 14. Shafts. 15. Elbow-rests for the seat. 16. Eastern wheel. 17. Western wheel. 18. Iron clamps. 19, 20. Small iron bushings. 21. Iron plate. 22. Bones of a lamb. 23. Canopy. Drawing © 2007 S. S. Miniaev and L. M. Sakharovskaia © 2007 S. Drawing western edge had been completely destroyed during the collapse of the third cover. The preserved length of the pole was 2.5 m; its diameter was 18–20 cm. A bronze ferrule 10 cm long and 7 cm in diameter was attached to the eastern tip of the pole. The ferrule had completely oxidized and been crushed by the pressure of the fill. Probably a similar ferrule had been attached to the western, destroyed end of the pole. Five pairs of square mortises measuring 3 × 1.5 cm for attaching parts of the harness were discernible. They began 12 cm from the eastern tip of the yoke-pole and ran along its entire length at intervals of 40–45 cm (the mortises in each pair were spaced 4 cm apart). Near the mortises were fragments of bronze — probably traces of arc- shaped harness “rings” or guides which had been set into the mortises. Remains of yoke-heads were wooden strips about 4 cm wide set nails. The inside of the canopy was uncovered at the western and crosswise, to which were attached coated with red lacquer, which eastern sides of the yoke-pole, as a number of thick arched twigs. preserved traces of geometric well as in its center. These The base included as well thinner ornament rendered in white, consisted of boards 4 cm thick, 8 twigs 1–1.5 cm in diameter, brown and dark-red paints [Fig. 7, cm wide, and with the preserved arrayed radially from the center of next page]. A robber trench had length of 25–30 cm. The position the frame. The organic cover of destroyed the southern part of the of the western yoke-head in situ the frame was duofold, its upper canopy. suggests that the heads were layer consisting of a dark organic attached to the yoke-pole by material (leather or felt), below The front yoke-pole of the means of special incisions. The which there was a thin layer of chariot was found on the layer of lower parts of the yoke-heads cloth. This canopy covering was pebbles and charcoal under the were not preserved. In the upper fixed to the strips and twigs of the stones of the third cover of the pit, part of the western and central frame with thin, iron L-shaped 2.5 m north of the canopy. Its yoke-heads there was a cylindrical 47 The remains of wood on the outer side, whereas the wooden in the center of the large and small wheels were lo- hubs no traces of wood have been cated 1 m south detected. The iron nails with which of the shafts, on the hubs were fixed to the wooden the stones of the cores of the wheels were third ceiling. The preserved on the outer side of the lower part of the larger hubs. western wheel was in the layer The rear yoke-pole. This is an of pebbles and arbitrary designation for this part gravel underlying of the chariot, since its real that ceiling. The purpose still is not clear. A number wheels were of facts suggest, however, that it spaced 2 m from is not the axle of the chariot, viz.: one another, – the difference between the Photo © 2007 S. S. Miniaev and L. M. Sakharovskaia S. Photo © 2007 S. each consisting diameter of the pole and the inner of a felloe, diameter of the large iron hubs spokes and, pos- into which the axle must have sibly, a central been inserted; disc into which – the separate position of the the ends of the bronze axle-caps (as described Fig. 7. The lacquered inside of the canopy of the chariot. spokes had been below), which were usually put inserted and in onto the ends of the axle and projection on which a bronze the center of which the iron hub whose diameter differs from that ferrule had been placed. On the of the axle had been placed. The of the rear pole (which further- eastern head, this projection had wheels were considerably more had its own bronze caps). been broken off in antiquity but damaged by the pressure of the its traces were discernible in the filling of the pit and ceilings. The In its shape and dimensions (7 upper part of the head. The entire wheels were 120 cm in diameter cm in diameter and about 3 m surface of the yoke-pole and yoke- and had 22 spokes whose long) the “rear yoke-pole” heads was coated with black thickness was 3–4 cm. Remains resembled the front pole. The lacquer, over which a geometrical of a number of iron shackles were largest part of the pole had been pattern was drawn in white and traceable around the felloe of the cut off by the northern robber red paint. Stylistically, fragments western wheel. Tiny fragments of trench; only its eastern and of this pattern are similar to that red and white paint were western ends were preserved. on the inside of the canopy of the preserved on the felloe and Bronze caps 5.5 cm in diameter chariot. spokes. The felloe and the and 7 cm long were placed on the adjoining parts of the spokes were tips of the pole. On the surface of The two wooden shafts of the painted red to a length of 10–12 the caps was a small cylindrical chariot were beneath the front cm, whereas the rest of the spokes flange. Two arc-shaped iron yoke-pole lying parallel to each was painted white. Practically fastenings were driven into the other in the N-S direction and 60 nothing of the central parts of the yoke-pole 3-4 cm from these caps. cm apart. They were very poorly wheels survives; nevertheless Possibly some elements of the preserved: their southern parts traces of red paint detected there harness (straps or ropes) once had been cut off by the robber suggest that the central disc of the passed through these fastenings. trench; the preserved length was wheel into which the spokes had The surface of the rear yoke-pole 95–100 cm. Traces of lacquer and been inserted was painted red. showed traces of lacquer and a a pattern rendered in red and pattern rendered in white paint. white paints were visible on the Small iron hubs with two surface of the shafts. Near the projections were uncovered Wooden elbow-rests of the seat. eastern shaft at a distance of 10 directly outside of the wheels in After the wheels had been cm from it was a line of iron oval the pebble layer which underlay removed, directly below them plates with holes on the shorter the third ceiling. There were traces were found remains of some sides. Probably these had once of wood on the outer side of the pinewood blocks which possibly been sewn onto the leather straps hubs. Large iron hubs with three were once the elbow-rests of the of the harness or the reins. Below projections on the outside of each seat. These consisted of boards this line of plates, 30 cm to the were found under the wheels in 3–4 cm thick, decayed and east, was an iron ring 6.5 cm in the pebble layer of the third compressed by the powerful diameter. ceiling. These also bore traces of pressure of the filling of the pit. 48 The elbow-rests presumably pair of axle-caps (beneath the “chariot with a seat” (Taskin 1968- measured 25 × 50 cm. A painted trellised body) suggest that the 1973, Vol. 2, p. 35). Subsequently, geometrical design could be made chariot had been placed in the as mentioned in the Hanshu, on out on their lacquered surface. tomb in a disassembled and more than one occasion the possibly incomplete state. It is shanyü was given presents similar The body of the chariot. After also noteworthy that the presence to those he received the first time the wheels had been cleared and of three yoke-heads implies the (Ibid., pp. 36, 37, 51). During the removed, remains of a trellised use of three horses in the team. epoch of Wang Mang (9–23 CE), frame of the chariot and bronze However, as mentioned above, who intended to divide the axle-terminals were uncovered in only the skull, two cervical Xiongnu into separate nomadic the space between the wheels and vertebra and metapodials of a bands and to set his own chief at the remains of the chariot shafts. single horse were discovered. This the head of each, one of the The remains of the frame horse was evidently laid into the Xiongnu deserters, the right liyü- consisted of several wooden laths, tomb according to the principle “a wang Xian was awarded the title 2-3 cm. thick, from which the part instead of the whole.” of Xiao-shanyü and, among other trellised part of the body had been presents, given a “chariot with a constructed. The laths were The construction of this chariot seat and a chariot with a drum” attached to each other with iron and its decorations have very close (Ibid., p. 57). In 50 CE the shanyü nails where they crossed. The parallels among Chinese chariots of the southern Xiongnu, Bee northern and southern parts of the of the Han period. The most (grandson of Huhanye ruling trellised frame of the chariot, as comprehensive recent study of under the same name as his well as, perhaps, the entire seat these chariots distinguishes a grandfather) was granted “a had been destroyed by the robber number features very similar to carriage with a seat and an trenches. North of the trellised those of the chariot from Tsaraam umbrella of feathers and a team frame, under its wooden laths, (Wang 1997). Like the Han of four richly harnessed horses” were two cylindrical bronze axle- examples, the Tsaraam chariot (Ibid., p. 72). In 143 CE the caps at whose bases were circular has a canopy consisting of a southern shanyü Hulanzhuo in the flanges [Fig. 8]. The axle-caps wooden framework covered by throne hall of the imperial palace were 10 cm long and 12 cm in some organic material, four was granted along with other gifts diameter in their base and 5 cm wooden posts supporting the “a chariot with a black top in diameter on the top. In the canopy, a trellised seat and harnessed to a team of four lower part of the caps there were wooden “elbow-rests.” The body horses, a chariot with a drum, a rectangular holes measuring 3 × of the chariot and the painting of chariot with a seat”; the shanyü’s 1.5 cm for insertion of the pins. the wheels are remarkably closely wives were granted “two carriages In their upper part they had L- paralleled in a recently restored decorated with gold and brocade shaped projections probably to fix chariot from the burial of the and draught horses” (Ibid., p. 94). the straps of the harness. The iron famous Han general Huoqübing pins, found lying between the who fought against the Xiongnu It is thus quite possible that the caps, were 10 cm long with a (Cooke 2000). The use of two chariot found in Tsaraam was also rectangular section and a ring or yoke-shafts on the Tsaraam a gift from the Han court to one of eye on one end. chariot suggests it was originally the representatives of the Xiongnu intended for a team of three elite. However, judging by the The absence of the wheel axle horses, whereas the single central evidence from the Hanshu we and the unusual position of the shaft typical of the Han chariots might connect the chariot with a implies an even different event. In Wang Mang’s number of reign, the above-mentioned Xiao- horses on the shanyü’s son, Deng, who was then team. at the imperial court as a hostage, Written was executed because of his sources often father’s desertion to the northern attest that char- Xiongnu and his brother’s frequent iots were among raids on the borderlands. At the the gifts offered demand of the Xiongnu the by the Han court corpses of Deng and some other to the first-rank noblemen executed together with Xiongnu nobility. him were returned to their Thus in 51 BCE homeland for burial. The bodies shanyü Huhanye they were “laid into chariots” for Photo © 2007 S. S. Miniaev and L. M. Sakharovskaia received along transport (Ibid, p. 62). We may Fig. 8. Bronze axle caps and iron pins. with other gifts a not rule out that later these 49 chariots were buried in the tombs together with other funerary offerings. It should be emphasized that in any case the records of chariots either as gifts or in connection with funerary ceremonies concern only the first-rank Xiongnu nobility, i.e. shanyüs, their wives, or sons. This fact is a further confirmation of the probability that Barrow No. 7 at Tsaraam is a burial of a repre- sentative of the Xiongnu elite, possibly a shanyü. Parts of chariots were found also in the Xiongnu royal tombs at Noin-Ula, but unfortunately the archaeo- logical record from that site is Drawing © 2007 S. S. Miniaev and L. M. Sakharovskaia © 2007 S. Drawing insufficiently precise to permit reconstructing their details. Objects Found in the Burial Chamber The bulk of the burial goods were located in the corridors between the walls of the chamber, the frame, and the coffin. Several sets of harness (iron bits, cheek- pieces, harness buckles) and two burial dolls were found in the western external corridor. Iron hooks, found in the walls of the external chamber suggest that originally the bridle arrays had hung on such hooks and ended up on the floor of the chamber only after its deformation. The doll found in the center of the western corridor (the northern of the two, to which we have given the provisional designation “Doll No.1”) was formed in the following fashion [Fig. 9]. The head of the doll was made of a human skull, which, judging by the baby teeth, was that of a 2-4-year-old child. On the skull of the doll were six braids of black stiff hair, which probably had been attached to the skull using some kind of glue. Along with the braids on the skull were two round beads made of gold foil and inlaid with turquoise. Two more braids were in front and in back of the skull and two braids in the waist region along with iron plaques. Wooden sticks covered with red lacquer formed the extremities of the doll. Fig. 9. Drawing of Doll No. 1 in situ in the western corridor. 50 2,” was formed in an analogous fashion [Fig. 13, next page]. It lay one meter to the south of Doll No.1. The core of Doll No. 2 was also a human skull which had completely disintegrated. Only small baby teeth were preserved, on the basis of which it was determined that the skull might have belonged to a child only a few months old. In the vicinity of the skull was a short braid of stiff black hair. The modeling of the upper extremities could not be determined. The lower extremities were made of thin iron plates, placed in a wooden sheath and covered with red lacquer. Photo © 2007 S. S. MiniaevPhoto © and S. 2007 L. M.S. Sakharovskaia In the vicinity of the neck of Doll Fig. 10. Remains of birchbark and lacquered boxes found with Doll No. 1. No. 2 was a necklace of glass, turquoise, flourite and large The burial inventory of Doll No.1 Under the birchbark containers crystal beads. In the vicinity of consisted of two separate iron belt was a birch bark circle, on which the waist of the doll were two plaques measuring 15 x 6 cm (the was found a fragment of a Chinese corroded iron plates measuring 20 leather strap of the belt was bronze mirror. On one of the x 11 cm lying on the leather strap preserved along with the plaques) birchbark containers were unique of a belt, which was preserved only and [Fig. 10] a wooden lacquered drawings [Fig. 11], showing the in fragments and in places had box placed behind the been covered with red head of the doll next to lacquer. A loop of which were four beads, consisting of birchbark containers now almost com- (possibly they were pletely scattered glass originally inside the beads, had been box). The box was suspended from the covered in red lacquer belt. There were as and along the edges well some heart- decorated with a red shaped flourite and lacquer design along a amber beads. band of yellow lacquer. Fig. 11. Carved image on birchbark of trellised tents in Under the box was a hair nomad camp. Photo © 2007 Miniaev & Sakharovskaia Below the waist of pin of some kind of organic Xiongnu camp with carts and yurts Doll No. 2 under the bottom beam material (possibly tortoise shell). placed on carriers and [Fig. 12] of the outer chamber were the profile of a person in a helmet remains of a crushed wooden — possibly a copy of a depiction lacquered vessel with geometric on some coin. ornament. Inside the vessel were fragments of a bronze mirror, a In front and behind the skull of piece of mica, two wooden combs the doll were several iron buckles, and a collection of iron needles in a bit, cheek pieces and fragments a wooden holster. On the exterior of iron objects. Probably they of the vessel was a inscription in were not connected to the ideograms, which Prof. Michèle inventory of the doll but originally Pirazzoli-t’Serstevens analyzes in had hung on the wall of the a separate article below. chamber and ended up on the floor after its deformation. The finds in the eastern external The other doll found in the corridor were practically the same western corridor, given the as those in the western one. Here Photo © 2007 Miniaev & Sakharovskaia Fig. 12. Carving on birchbark disk, provisional designation “Doll No. there were also sets of bridles possibly depicting a coin. 51 Fig. 14 (above). Drawing of Doll No. 3 in situ in Drawings © 2007 S. S. Miniaev and L. M. Sakharovskaia S. © 2007 S. Drawings eastern corridor. 1. Iron buckles. 2. Iron plate covered with red lacquer. 3. Fragments of red lacquer. 4. Wooden object covered with red lac- quer. 5. Braids. 6. Fragment of clothes (?) (woolen cloth and organic material — either fur or felt). 7. Pendants made from wall of a lacquered wooden cup. 8, 10. Turquoise beads. 9. Glass bead. 11. Amber bead. 12. Fragments of a bronze Chinese mirror. 13. Birchbark case for mirror. 14. Birchbark containers. 15. Fragments of a lac- quered wooden cup. 16. Fragment of felt. 17. Hair. 18. Wooden comb. 19. Silk. Fig. 13 (left). Drawing of Doll No. 2 in situ in the western corridor. 1. Iron objects. 2. Fragment of felt (?). 3. Fragment of a braid. 4. A group of beads (a necklace?) (C—carnelian; T—turquoise; Cr—crystal; F— flourite; the rest—glass). 5. Leather covered with red lacquer. 6. Leather. 7 Iron plates. 8. Wooden lac- quered plate. 9. Iron plates, covered with red lac- quer. 10. Fragments of a lacquered wooden container with an inscription. 11. String of beads (C—carne- lian, F—flourite, A—amber, the rest—glass). 12. Hu- man teeth. 52 Drawing © 2007 S.S. Miniaev & L. M. Sakharovskaia At the waist of the doll were also two wide cor- roded iron buck- les measuring 19 x 12 cm. Behind the head of the doll were re- mains of a wooden object (possibly a box), on which was a Fig. 15. Drawing of a bronze plaque depicting a running small birchbark mountain goat. container and a (consisting of iron bits, large fragment of a Chinese cheekpieces and buckles) and mirror. burial dolls. The burial doll which The fourth doll apparently had lay in the center of the eastern been removed by the robbers; corridor to the south of the pieces only its feet remained. of harness and which was given the provisional designation “Doll But for two bronze coffin No. 3” was formed in the same handles, found near its south- Miniaev & L.M. Sakharovskaia Photo © 2007 S.S. western and southeastern way as the dolls in the western Fig. 17. White jade plaques. corridor [Fig. 14, previous page]. corners, there were practically no The skull of the doll had practically artifacts in the western internal southern internal corridor were a completely disintegrated. In the corridor: flat iron ring and two iron vicinity of the skull lay several The finds in the eastern internal fasteners. braids of stiff black hair, on the corridor were confined to its The northern section of the ends of which were little turquoise, southern part, since robbers had coffin had been destroyed by glass and amber beads. Lac- destroyed the northern part. robbers, but jade plaques of armor quered wooden sticks formed the These finds included sets of and a jade diadem were found extremities. Near the neck on harnesses — iron bits, cheek- there (Fig. 17). In the preserved both right and left in the vicinity plates, bronze harness-plates, bronze plaques with depictions of a running goat [Fig. 15]; silver chest medallions for horses (phalars) with images of mountain goats [Fig. 16] — arrowheads, a lacquered wooden staff, a lacquered wooden cup and a lacquered wooden quiver with iron arrowheads. To a substantial degree, the entrance of a looter had destroyed the northern external corridor, but fragments of ceramics and lacquered wooden objects were found there. Nothing Photo © 2007 S.S. Miniaev & L.M. Sakharovskaia Photo © 2007 S.S. was found in the southern Fig. 16. Silver horse harness chest medal- external corridor, but in that lion (phalar) depicting a mountain goat. corridor, attached to the of the skull were remains of two interior wall of the external round pendants of wood covered chamber, were remains of a with lacquer which possibly had woolen carpet which had been Miniaev & L.M. Sakharovskaia Photo © 2007 S.S. been formed from the walls of destroyed by the shifting of the Fig. 18. Gold image of a satyr wooden lacquered cups. beams of the chamber. In the from a buckle. 53 dated from the same period — from the end of the 1st century BCE to the beginning of the 1st century CE (cf. Louis 2007). As Guolong Lai recently cautioned in this journal, dating on the basis of Chinese mirrors can be problematic, given the fact that too many examples in museum collections lack details about their provenance (Lai 2006). With that caution in mind, we nonetheless feel that on the basis of modern classification (Zhongguo tongjing 1997) all four mirrors whose fragments were Photo © 2007 S.S. Miniaev & L.M. Sakharovskaia Photo © 2007 S.S. Fig. 19. Fragment of a ritual sword and inlaid gold objects in situ. found in the central barrow in the burial pit and amid grave goods southern section of the coffin were burial complex, put in place during of the dolls can be dated between the remains of a covering of some one funerary ceremony, in one day the end of the Western Han and organic material (felt or com- or a maximum of several days. early Eastern Han periods, that is pressed fur), two iron buckles The basis for determining the not earlier than the 1st century covered in gold foil and depicting chronology of the complex is the BCE. a satyr [Fig. 18, previous page], inscription on the lacquered box Eight 14C dates were obtained in and two gold fastenings. Next to found near Doll No. 2, fragments laboratory of the Institute of the 14 the remains of a ritual sword were of four Chinese mirrors, and C History of Material Culture [see three gold objects decorated with dates. table, next page]. While the dates turquoise inlay [Fig. 19]. Two of fall within a broad range, them may be finials; the third, Prof. Michèle Pirazzoli- calibration of values by the with the image of a mountain goat t’Serstevens has concluded in her program OxCal suggests (with a is a small flask [Fig. 20]. article published separately here probability 95.4 %) that the The Date of the Complex that the inscription dates no burials were made in approxi- earlier than 36-27 BCE and might mately the period period 30 - 120 We consider the central barrow date between 8 BCE and 4 CE CE. and sacrificial burials as a unique (that is, immediately before the Wang Mang period). In sum then, we know that the Drawing © 2007 S.S. Miniaev & L. M. Sakharovskaia However, she cau- complex is no earlier than about tions that these the last third of the first century dates are at best a BCE and very likely is to be dated terminus ante in the first century CE. quem, since the box Conclusion with the inscription might have been The application of modern placed in the grave archaeological techniques to the long after it had excavation of Complex No. 7 in the been manufactured. Tsaraam Valley has yielded We can add that entirely new information about fragments of a Xiongnu mortuary practice, the lacquered cup with construction of such barrows, and the same design as Xiongnu social structure. New in Noin-Ula were examples of Xiongnu art and found in the material culture were discovered. northern corridor in Yet much needs to be done to the central Barrow complete the study. Conservation No. 7 and in the of the finds is the first priority. Sacrificial Burial No. Study of the material must include 16. It is very prob- DNA and morphological analysis Fig. 20. Drawing of the gold flask shown in Fig. able that the of the skeletal remains and faunal 19, showing the image of a mountain goat. fragments can be and botanical samples and 54 component analysis of ceramic presented here combines several Mirrors). Xi’an: Shaanxi renming and metal objects and organic of these sources, with some of the chubanshe, 2002. materials such as the birchbark material being made available in containers, lacquerware, and English for the first time. Cooke 2000. textiles. The result should provide Bill Cooke. Imperial China: The Art impressive new archaeological About the authors of the Horse in Chinese History. evidence concerning the Louisville, Ky.: Harmony House, Long-time collaborators and co- organization, chronology, and 2000. authors Sergei Miniaev and regional interaction of the Xiongnu Lidiia Sakharovskaia are among Huns 2005 nomadic polity. This research will the leading experts on the complement on-going projects in Les Huns. Bruxelles: Europalia archaeology of the Xiongnu. Kazakhstan, Mongolia, Inner International, 2005. Miniaev is the founding editor of a Mongolia and Xinjiang and will a Russian monograph series on Lai 2006 contribute to the developing Xiongnu archaeology, Arkheolo- Guolong Lai. “The Date of the TLV theories on complex organization gicheskie pamiatniki Siunnu. He Mirrors from the Xiongnu Tombs.” among nomadic groups. will be spending part of 2008 at The Silk Road 4/1 (2006): 36-44. Acknowledgements the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton. Additional material Louis 2007 The authors are especially grateful on their excavations may be found François Louis. “Han Lacquerware to Dr. Maria Kolosova of the State at 55 Tsaram.” Arkheologicheskie vesti vesti (St. Petersburg) 13 (2007): the Xiongnu elite and Han court. (St. Petersburg) 9 (2002): 86- 130-140. A lacquered box with a Chinese 118. In English as: “Sacrifice Tal’ko-Gryntsevich 1999. inscription from Barrow No. 7 burials of the royal complex no. 7 deserves special attention. This at the Tsaraam cemetery” Iulian D. Tal’ko-Gryntsevich. box was found in the western 56 “second” or “third” or “fifth.” This After the name of the master formula [regnal title] [year] is artisan Shang who made the box typical at the beginning of ( ), the inscription lists the inscriptions of this kind. people (functions and names) who managed (zhu ) and The name of the master artisan inspected (xing ) the workshop. who directed the work in the Each name is preceded by the imperial workshop and the names character “chen” (your servant). of the officials who managed and inspected the workshop then [ (?)] [ (?)] — “[the follow. The name of each official workshop overseer ] your is preceded by the character x servant Kang,” (chen — “your servant”) which x — “the lacquer bureau was used in an inscription only head your servant An.” (The when the piece was fit for use by names Kang and An were read the emperor. From this fact I infer by Prof. Gao Chongwen.) that the inscription started with Missing characters here could be the characters (chengyu — reconstructed as (sefu — “for use by the emperor”) which “the workshop overseer”). If so, had been written before the regnal this part of the inscription could title and year and were destroyed be read as: with them. x —“the workshop The two following characters overseer your servant Kang.” (after “nian”) are (kao gong Inspected by: — “imperial workshop”), followed x [...] — “the Assist- by a sign which indicates that ant Director of the Right your the preceding character (here servant […],” “gong”) is duplicated. Thus this x [...] — “the Director your part of the inscription can be read servant […] and” as “kaogong gong.” The second “gong” character means here x — “the Com- “master artisan.” The kaogong mandery Clerk for Workshop ( ) workshop, where the box Inspection your servant Zun” was made was an imperial (? – I am not certain about the workshop at the Han capital reading of the name). Chang’an. The two imperial Thus the Tsaraam inscription can workshops in Chang’an, the be reconstructed: Gonggong ( ) and the Kao- gong, whose production was in [ ] […] [...] [...] x quantity and quality a little inferior x [...] to the production of the official Shu [...] [...] . and Guanghan workshops of Sichuan, made many pieces to be It translates: given as diplomatic presents (Barbieri-Low 2001; Hong 2005). [Fit for use by the emperor] The style of the inscription and of made in the [?] year of the [? the décor of the Tsaraam box era] by the master artisan of corresponds to the style of the the Kaogong imperial workshop Chang’an Imperial workshops as Shang. Managed by the Photo © 2007 S.S. Miniaev & L.M. Sakharovskaia Photo © 2007 S.S. Fig. 1. The beginning of the preserved well. Unfortunately only fifteen workshop overseer, your part of the Chinese inscription on the pieces with inscriptions coming servant Kang; the lacquer lacquereed box from Tsaraam Barrow from the Gonggong or the bureau head, your servant An. No. 7. Kaogong (not including the Inspected by the Assistant Tsaraam piece) have been Director of the Right, your changed every five years or so, published so far (Hong 2005, pp. servant [?]; the Director, your and as the lacquer box does not 407-408). Their inscription style is servant [?]; and the seem to date from the Eastern different from the official Shu Commandery Clerk for Han (when regnal titles lasted for workshop inscriptions found at Workshop Inspection, your longer periods), this year could be Noin-Ula. servant Zun. 57 The inscription suggests the corridor of the burial chamber of civilisations, 1987), and Giuseppe following considerations regarding the central Barrow No. 7 and in Castiglione 1688-1766: Peintre et its date. The formulae of the the sacrificial burial No. 16. The architecte à la cour de Chine inscription indicate that the piece painted décor on these lacquered (Paris: Thalia, 2007). She has is probably not earlier than 36-27 pieces is similar to that on written on the Chinese BCE. It is in this period, 36-27 lacquered objects manufactured in lacquerware found at Begram in BCE, that we first find the the official workshops of Sichuan Afghanistan and on Han food distinction between “made” (zao), province during the period vessels; she is participating in a “managed” (zhu) and “inspected” between 8 BCE and 4 CE. This forthcoming book directed by John (xing), as it is written in the style was copied by the imperial Lagerwey on Chinese Religion inscription. The piece was certainly workshops at the Han capital before the Tang, and in Michael not made during the reign of Wang Chang’an and was maintained Loewe and Michael Nylan (eds), Mang (9-23 CE), because during there maybe a little longer. Thus, The Chinese First Empires: A Re- this period the character (zhu I believe that the period between appraisal (Cambridge, Cambridge — “managed by”) was replaced by 8 BCE and 4 CE could be a possible University Press). She may be x (zhang). The character “zhu” date for the lacquer box from contacted at 58 of northeastern tracks to Erzurum, On Ancient Tracks in Eastern the Caucasus and Iran. Anatolia The diagonal was the spine of Frank Harold the system, its most ancient University of Washington, Seattle (USA) element and the only one that Photographs by Ruth Harold continued to function through the turbulent centuries of the Arab and Turkish conquests. Portions of Glance at a map, and you are apt in Ottoman times, thanks in the the diagonal paralleled the Royal to see the Anatolian peninsula as first place to the scholarly labors Road of Achaemenid times, which a bridge that links Asia with of Franz Taeschner eighty years linked Susa in the foothills of the Europe; and it has served that ago (Taeschner 1924-1926), and Zagros Mountains with Sardis near purpose many times, most notably there is every reason to believe the Aegean shore. Roman, in giving passage to the Turks. that those routes recapitulate in Byzantine and later Arab armies Look more closely, and you will outline (albeit not in detail) trails marched that way. For the notice that Anatolia is corrugated in use for centuries before. The Ottomans, the diagonal served as with mountains, the eastern map of the trade routes in the 17th the military road that connected portion in particular, and makes for century [Fig. 1] has been Istanbul with the important rough traveling. Eastern Anatolia simplified so as to highlight the seaports of Tarsus, Adana and has always been remote country, chief overland tracks and their Payas. When Sultan Selim (“The the frontier between empires and connections with the high roads Grim”) set out in 1514 CE to annex home to fractious and inde- of Iran and the Arab lands. eastern Anatolia, his army pendent-minded peoples; and so Several branches, deviations and followed that well-trodden track all it remains today. connectors have been omitted for the way to Eregli before turning clarity. To make sense of the northeast for Sivas, Erzurum and Such were the hazards of travel Anatolian road-net, think of three the Iranian frontier (Taeschner out there that long-distance major cords: the diagonal route, 1924). In early Ottoman times traders preferred the sea-lanes linking Istanbul to Tarsus (Adana), merchant caravans, too, relied on across the eastern Mediterranean Antakya, Damascus and ultimately the military road, but with the whenever possible. In Roman and to Mecca in faraway Arabia; a return of centralized government early Byzantine times, for central route passing through trade reverted to the more direct instance, a bolt of silk might make Sivas, Malatya and Diyarbakir en central route to the east. Yet the its way overland from one oasis route to Mosul and then to Basra diagonal lost none of its to the next all the way from China, on the Persian Gulf; and a skein significance, for it carried the Hajj, but would probably travel the final leg of its journey by sea. It would Map © 2007 Frank & Ruth Harold first be carried on camelback across the Syrian Desert to Antioch (today Antakya, in Turkey’s Hatay); or perhaps skirt the desert to the north via Nisibis (Nusaybin) and Edessa (now Sanliurfa, or plain Urfa); and then it would be loaded aboard a ship bound for Rome or Constan- tinople. For much of that period, eastern Anatolia was a zone of conflict between Romans and Parthians, Byzantines and Sassanians, with Kurds and Armenians thrown in. All the same, established trade routes did traverse those highlands, and when the sea-lanes turned unsafe or the tolls too high the caravan tracks came into their own. We are quite well informed about the Anatolian trade routes Fig 1. Towns and trade routes of Anatolia in the 17th century. 59 the annual pilgrim caravan from state in earlier centuries, when its Anatolia until they were mas- Istanbul to Mecca. trade routes formed part of that sacred and expelled at the larger net that we designate as the beginning of the 20th century. The central route, well Silk Road. The Anatolian silk trade established in Byzantine times, led The ancient Christian kingdom goes well back into classical times. through settled country with of Armenia, intermittently in- For example, despite the frequent ancient and populous cities such dependent, lay astride the trade wars that pitted the Byzantine as Amasiya (classical Amaseia) routes of eastern Anatolia, from Empire against Sassanian Iran, and Sivas (Sebaste). Turning more the Pontic Alps in the north to Lake the Emperor Justinian I was to the south, it passed through Van in the south. Armenia reached pleased to negotiate a treaty that Malatya (Melitene), Diyarbakir its zenith of power and prosperity designated fixed ports of entry (Amida) and Mardin, towns that in the 10th and 11th centuries, as where silk could be purchased later came to mark and defend the the ruins of its capital city Ani (a from Persian merchants: Nisibis frontier of Byzantium. The route few miles from Kars) still attest. (Nusaybin) on the Syrian plain, crossed onto the Syrian plain at The safest route between Erzurum Raqqa on the Euphrates River and Nusaybin (Nisibis), and then and Iran passed through Ani, and Artaxa on the Aras, near modern followed the river Dicle (Tigris) the city continued to flourish even Yerevan (Boulnois 2004). south to Baghdad and the Gulf. after its capture, first by the Byzantines and then by the Seljuk The Byzantine port city of The northeastern route Turks (1064 CE). The 13th century, Trebizond (modern Trabzon) holds branched off at Sivas and marched however, brought misfortune: the a prominent place in the annals of eastward to the frontier strong- Mongol conquest, a devastating Anatolian trade. We learn of a hold of Erzurum (Theodosiopolis; earthquake and eventually the Sogdian embassy in 509 CE, which the contemporary name comes realignment of the trade routes traveled there overland from from the Arabic for “Land of the southward. Ani was not destroyed Central Asia via the Volga River Romans”). But east of Erzurum in war, but rather abandoned by and clear around the Caucasus the country grows wilder, and the its inhabitants in the 14th century. Mountains, with the object of by- information sparser. Taeschner is They left behind the imposing and passing the rapacious Persians by of no help here, for his inquiries evocative shells of churches, establishing direct commercial stopped at Erzurum. Fig.1, drawn palatial houses and vast defensive links with Constantinople. The from several sources (Le Strange walls. 1905; Brice 1981; TAVO 1994), Emperor responded with a mission shows two main routes. One ran of his own, but little came of it at The Mongols get a bad press and through Ani (near today’s Kars), the time (Boulnois 2004). A deservedly so, for wherever the down the valley of the Aras River, century later, the situation hordes galloped they left little but past Yerevan to Tabriz in Iran; the changed dramatically. The Muslim smoking ruins in their wake. other corresponds to what is today armies burst out of Arabia, Baghdad was sacked and burnt in the main road, from Erzurum via overwhelmed Sassanian Iran, 1258 CE, and the Abbasid Dogubeyazit to Tabriz. Some maps drove the Byzantines out of the Caliphate collapsed in chaos. Yet show a third route, from Erzurum lowlands (contemporary Syria and subsequent Mongol Khans ruled southeast to Lake Van and on to Iraq), and disrupted the familiar an empire that stretched from Tabriz, but this has been omitted sea-lanes. The caravans were China to Syria, peaceful and as the mountain crossing appears forced northward, reaching orderly and hospitable to to have been a minor track. Note Trebizond from Central Asia either commerce. Eastern Anatolia was also the spur that leads from by way of northern Iran or else open to traffic as never before. Erzurum northwest to the port of around both the Caspian Sea and Marco Polo is only the best known th Trabzon (ancient Trebizond) on the the Caucasus. Trebizond in the 8 of the travelers who passed this th Black Sea. In practice, trade through 10 centuries was a major way, riding from Sivas to Tabriz routes from Iran and Central Asia transit port, where silk, paper, and clear across Iran to Hormuz were likely to terminate at perfumes and spices from eastern on the Gulf in 1271 CE, on his way Trabzon, from where goods were lands were exchanged for western to the court of the Great Khan. It shipped to the capital by sea. linens, woolens, medicinal sub- is not altogether clear just where stances and especially gold and the high road then ran, for Marco By the 17th century CE the glory silver coins. Incidentally, those Polo’s account is quite vague. days of the caravan trade were were not camel caravans: mules However, Marco’s failure to long past, and the protracted and donkeys were preferred for mention either Ani or Lake Van, warfare between the Ottoman the stony tracks of Anatolia. The coupled with his specific Sultans and the Safavid Shahs of carrying trade was chiefly in the description of Mount Ararat, Iran had left eastern Anatolia hands of the Armenians, who suggest that he may have passed impoverished and depopulated. played a large role in the not far from today’s Dogubeyazit. The country was in much better commercial and cultural life of Trebizond continued to flourish as 60 the chief port for trade between its prime attractions, yet facilities offshoot of Shiism, with their own Constantinople and Khanbalik for visitors are entirely adequate unique beliefs and places of (contemporary Beijing). It even and for the time being the country worship). Of ancient Antioch little enjoyed a spell of autumnal glory is quiet. The map [Fig. 2] shows remains above ground, apart from in the 13th and 14th centuries, our itinerary for a three-week the superb mosaics displayed in when it was the capital of a journey in the spring of 2006. We the local museum; they come diminutive independent empire arranged it as a private trip from Daphne, once a wealthy that left us the Byzantine monu- through Geographic Expeditions suburb in the foothills of the ments that visitors come to (geoEx.com), with our own vehicle Ammanus Mountains. An hour’s admire. Annexed to the Ottoman (quite indispensable). Our guide, drive away are the ruins of Empire in 1461 and renamed, driver, and mentor was Serdar Seleucia ad Piera, Antioch’s port Trabzon remained a significant Akerdem, an archaeologist and in classical times until silting port and provincial capital, where native of the region, intimately rendered it unusable. crown princes were sent to learn familiar with its places and peoples the art of governing. But with the (not to mention the local deli- decline of the caravan trade it lost cacies); we could not have wished Gaziantep is a prosperous and its pre-eminence as the seaport for better company. forward-looking city of about a of Inner Asia. million, which boasts a medieval * * * Adana is a large commercial city citadel and an archaeological Travelers to Eastern Turkey leave of little antiquarian interest. But museum dedicated to the mar- behind the celebrated Greek and Antakya is the ancient Antioch, velous Roman mosaics recovered Roman ruins, the mosques and one of the four great cities of the from the ruins of Zeugma on the palaces of the Ottoman Sultans, classical world (with Rome, Euphrates River. A major crossing and also the swarms of tourists. Constantinople and Alexandria), and the staging post for military Instead, they can savor an older and a terminus of those branches expeditions eastward, Zeugma Turkey: slower, traditional in dress of the Silk Road that traversed or was destroyed by the Sassanians and manners, intensely Muslim, skirted the Syrian Desert [Fig. 1]. in 252 CE; the site is now largely conservative and ethnically Antakya today is a lively and drowned by the lake rising behind diverse. On these marches of the livable city with a Mediterranean the Birecik Dam. Gaziantep is also Ottoman Empire, the minorities ambience, ethnically as much Arab the starting point for an excursion come to the fore: Syrian as Turkish. Christians, Muslims to the castle of Rumkale, whose Christians, Alevis, Armenians, and Alevis mingle in the streets ruins brood over those same Kurds, Georgians. The remote- in apparent amity (Alevis are a waters. Rumkale is quite ness of eastern Anatolia is one of somewhat secretive sect, an accessible but not mentioned in any of the guidebooks that we Map © 2007 Frank & Ruth Harold have consulted, and well worth a detour for that reason alone. About 30 km northeast of Gaziantep is the small town of Halfeti, half-drowned by the waters, where one hires a boat for the short journey upstream. The castle consists of a large fortified enclosure atop a narrow rocky ridge, bounded by cliffs and reinforced with walls; at its base, a great fosse cut into the rock makes Rumkale an island in the sky. Fortunately, a placard in English supplies the basic facts: built by the Byzantines, occupied by Arabs and then Crusaders, sold to the Armenian Kingdom of Little Cilicia which made it a bishopric as well as a citadel, later held by the Mamelukes and at last taken by the Ottomans. The ruins of a church and of several monasteries date to the Armenian phase (12th Fig 2. Itinerary of a journey in eastern Anatolia, spring 2006. – 13th centuries CE). 61 Still on the western hold in the endless wars side of the Euphrates is against the Sassanians of the astonishing funerary Iran; the modern name extravaganza of Nemrut comes from the Arabic Dagh. In the first century (“Home of the Bakr” B.C.E. this region made tribe). Subsequently, the up the independent fortress was held by kingdom of Commagene, Seljuks, Turkomans and which grew rich on its Ottomans. All of them fertile soil and on the contributed to the massive proceeds of trade along black walls that still ring the route that skirted the most of the old city. Syrian desert [Fig. 1]. Within are narrow, King Antiochus I (64 – crowded streets, a bazaar, Photo © 2006 Ruth Harold Photo © 2006 Ruth 38 BCE) had himself Fig. 4. A coppersmith in the bazaar, Urfa. mosques, churches and buried beneath a gigantic Hans built of bands of tumulus atop Mount Nemrut at Romans and Byzantines held it black and white stone (you can 7100 feet; terraces flanking the and the Crusaders made it the stay in one, converted into a tumulus bore statues of the king County of Edessa; much of the hotel). Diyarbakir has long since and his relations, including Zeus citadel is thought to date to their burst the confines of its ancient and Herakles, whose heads now reign. Urfa was destroyed by the walls; now a city of more than two stand on the ground. The kingdom Mongols in 1260 CE, and never million, swollen with refugees did not long outlast the king: really recovered; Commagene was annexed by it was absorbed Rome, and the sanctuary on the into the Ottoman mountaintop lay utterly forgotten Empire in the 17th until rediscovered by a German century. Urfa’s surveyor in 1881. bazaar is a wonder, a maze Once across the Euphrates River of alleys, court- we are fairly into eastern Anatolia, yards and old and there is no better place to Hans, where savor Turkey in the Middle East craftsmen still than the ancient city of Sanliurfa ply their trades (usually called by its old name, [Fig. 4], and a Urfa). Memories are long in a visitor catches place that can trace its history glimpses of an back for 3500 years, and tradition earlier day when has it that that Urfa was the caravans birthplace of Abraham; pilgrims traveled from come here in droves to pray at here to Aleppo Harold Photo © 2006 Ruth Abraham’s cave, and to feed the and Baghdad. Fig. 5. A view of Mardin. carp in the sacred pool [Fig. 3]. Alexander conquered Urfa, Heading east we enter basaltic displaced by the civil war of the lands, harsh and ‘nineties, Turkey’s ethnic tensions poor. This is are palpable here even to the most largely Kurdish innocent of travelers. country, and Diyarbakir is their Mardin has charm to enhance its capital. Here is interest, and will be a highlight on another city of any tour of eastern Turkey. The almost town extends in tiers along the unimaginable slope of a steep hill; stairs and antiquity, whose narrow alleys, buttressed with foundations go arches, connect one level to the back nearly 4000 next [Fig. 5]. The summit is years. In Roman crowned by a large fortress, and Byzantine unfortunately a military zone and Photo © 2006 Ruth Harold Photo © 2006 Ruth times it was closed to visitors, which held off Fig. 3. Pilgrims at the sacred pool, Urfa. Amida, a strong- the fearsome Mongols in the 13th 62 not be out of place in nearby Iran Van is an ancient place, but the [Fig. 6]; it will be drowned if the old town was completely de- planned dam is built. stroyed in the fighting of 1915. What survives is the Castle of Van Continuing eastward we leave on its whaleback of a rock, the last echoes of the Medi- crowned with ruins that reach terranean world, cross the high from the Urartian period to the Taurus Range and climb onto the Ottoman. In the surroundings are Anatolian plateau. Lake Van, a number of Urartian sites, and my surrounded by snowy peaks, is Photo © 2006 Ruth 2006 © Photo Harold personal Ultima Thule: the Kurdish wild and lonesome. Historically, all castle of Hoshap on the high this country was occupied by mountain road into Iran [Fig. 8]. Armenians who were violently Truck drivers love Hoshap; gas is driven out between 1915 and uncommonly cheap there, just 1918; most of the inhabitants don’t expect a receipt. today are Kurds. The numerous Armenian churches in the hills are From Van northward the road falling to pieces, but one exception traverses bleak but magnificent Fig. 6. The 15th-century tomb- is the splendid Akhtamar church volcanic country to the frontier tower (türbe) at Hasankeyf. on an island in the lake, built in town of Dogubeyazit (“affec- the 10th century CE and decorated tionately dubbed ‘doggie biscuit’ century (it fell to Tamerlane a with stone reliefs [Fig. 7]. At the by tourists over the years”; Rough century later). Mardin overlooks time of our visit the interior was Guide), just a short hop from the the Syrian plain; it was always a closed for restoration. The road Iranian border. Agri Dagh, Mount citadel rather than a trading mart, from Diyarbakir through Bitlis to Ararat (17,000 ft) looms over the and served as the capital of the Van was an important trade town, and may (or may not) local Artukid dynasty from condescend to peek out the 12th century to the of the clouds. Of anti- 14th. Syrian Orthodox quarian interest is the Christianity has long had fantastic palace of Ishak a strong presence in the Pasha, built in the 18th city; the community has century by a local shrunk in recent years but grandee on a plateau several churches survive, overlooking Dogubeyazit; and the Christian imprint it blends all the regional on Mardin’s architecture is styles into a most quite visible. charming potpourri [Fig. 9, next page]. Dogu- Mardin is the gateway to beyazit straddles the the Tur Abdin, the main road into Iran, once “Mountain of the Servants” again named Ipek Yolu; (of God), historically a this route seems only to Christian district but now have become prominent predominantly Kurdish. after the Mongol con- Several of the grand Fig. 7. The 10th-century Akhtamar church on Lake quest, replacing the older monasteries remain Van (watercolor by Ruth Harold). route via Ani. active, notably Mor Gabriel, parts of which date back route in Ottoman to Byzantine times. The bleak, times; a fine 15th stony plateau, dotted with flocks century of sheep, leads eventually to caravanserai Hasankeyf, built on a rocky spur testifies to that. overlooking the Dicle (Tigris) River. And just in case A Roman and then Byzantine you had forgot- frontier post, it contains remains ten, the name of from the Seljuk, Artukid and the road entering Kurdish occupations. Down by the Van will jolt your river stands the tomb-tower memory: Ipek th (türbe) of a 15 century prince, Yolu, the Silk Harold Photo © 2006 Ruth covered in colored tiles, that would Road. Fig. 8. The Kurdish castle of Hoshap. 63 of the transience of all human achievement. North and west stretch the Pontic mountains, and yet another culture. The “Georgian Valleys” hold numerous churches dating from around 1000 CE, when this Photo © 2006 Ruth 2006 © Photo Harold country was the home of the Georgian state before the capital was moved to Tbilisi. It is sad to see these splendid buildings falling into ruin, with almost nothing being done to arrest the decay. The country is mountainous and beautiful, laced with large rivers, and turns progressively greener as Fig. 9. The 18th-century palace of Ishak Pasha overlooking Dogubeyazit. we proceed north. By the time we A few more hours’ drive, north Road between Erzurum, Yerevan reach the Black Sea, the across glorious rolling plateau with and Tabriz. Today the frowning landscape feels almost like home views into the green valley of the walls (restored), and the exquisite (except for the tea plantations): Aras, brings one to the small city ruins of the cathedral and of a narrow, densely populated of Kars. Though notorious for its several churches, accentuate the coastal strip, painfully green and chilly and damp climate, Kars is lonesome landscape and the relentlessly damp. an attractive and relatively liberal sweeping views. Though Ani The Towers of Trebizond have town. Held in turn by Armenians, ceased to be a capital in the 11th haunted my imagination ever century it con- since I read Rose Macaulay’s novel Fig. 10. The fortress of Ani. tinued to pros- by that title thirty years ago; and per, and the even though Trabzon is a modern finest of its commercial city, I was not surviving disappointed. There has been a churches [Fig. settlement on the Trapezus, the 11] was built as narrow tableland between two late as the 13th steep ravines, at least from the century. Few time of the Greeks. Trebizond was places speak so a flourishing port in Byzantine eloquently as Ani times, and after the sack of Fig. 11. The 13th-century Church of St. Gregory at Ani. Photo © 2006 Ruth Harold Photo © 2006 Ruth commissioned by a merchant, Tigran Honents. Seljuks, Georgians and even Russians, it still keeps its large grey castle. But the reason for coming out here is to visit the melancholy ruins of Ani, capital of the Armenian state from 961 to 1045 CE (until recently, this was a somewhat hazardous excursion, requiring military permission, but is presently quite routine). The city was built on a triangular plateau bounded by deep and rugged ravines, and defended at the base by a massive wall reinforced with bastions [Fig. 10]. With a population of over 100,000, Ani in its heyday was said to rival Baghdad and Constantinople. It was certainly a flourishing city that did well on the trade along the Silk Harold Photo © 2006 Ruth 64 Müller GMBH, 1924-1926). For the region east of Erzurum, limited information can be found in Guy Le Strange, The Lands of the Eastern Caliphate (1905, reprinted by Al-Biruni, Lahore, Pakistan), and in Donald Pitcher, An Historical Geography of the Ottoman Empire from the Earliest Times to the End of the Sixteenth Century (Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1972). See also Luce Boulnois, Silk Road: Monks, Warriors and Merchants on the Silk Road (Odyssey Books, n.d., ca. 2004). Jason Goodwin’s Lords of the Horizons (New York: Henry Holt, 1998) offers a very readable appreciation of the Ottoman Empire. For Armenia see David Photo © 2006 Ruth Harold Photo © 2006 Ruth Marshall Lang, Armenia – Cradle Fig. 12. The Monastery of Sumela. of Civilization (London: George Allen and Unwin, 1970); and A.E. Constantinople it became the University of California at Redgate, The Armenians (Oxford: capital of a successful commercial Berkeley. Now retired from forty Blackwell, 1998). For historical state on the Black sea (1205 – years of research and teaching, he maps see: An Historical Atlas of 1461 CE). Its emperors left us a is Professor Emeritus of bio- Islam, W.E. Brice, ed. (Leiden: E.J. clutch of monuments: the chemistry at Colorado State Brill, 1981); and the Tübinger dignified cathedral church of University, and Affiliate Professor Atlas des Vorderen Orients Haghia Sophia, several smaller of microbiology at the University [TAVO]. H. Kopp and W. Röllig, churches now serving as of Washington. Ruth is a micro- eds. (Tübingen: Dr Ludwig mosques, the magnificent mon- biologist, now retired, and an Reichert Verlag, 1994). For travel, astery of Sumela plastered onto a aspiring watercolor painter. The we recommend the Rough Guide cliff in the mountains [Fig. 12], Harold family lived in Iran in 1969/ to Turkey, by R. Ayliffe, M. Dubin, and yes, a few fragments of walls 70, while Frank served as Fulbright J. Gawthorp and T. Richardson, 5th and battlements that recall a more lecturer at the University of ed. (2003), which we found to be martial past. Modern Trabzon Tehran. This experience kindled an inexhaustible mine of in- belongs to our time — workaday a passion for adventure travel, formation on all matters Turkish. and up to date and frantic with which has since taken them to traffic. But if you give rein to your Afghanistan and back to Iran, imagination you may still hear the across the Middle East, into the clip-clop of hooves in the shopping Himalayas and Tibet, up and down streets, and catch a glint of the Indian subcontinent and along sunlight on what remains of the the Silk road between China and fabled towers of Trebizond. Turkey. They can be reached at 65 original 13th/14th-century building. Dschingis Khan und seine Erben: Das Hans-Georg Hüttel (pp.140-146) Weltreich der Mongolen. München: Kunst- suggests an interpretation of the “grand hall” as a 13th- or 14th- und Ausstellungshalle der Bundesrepublik century buddhist shrine. He Deutschland; Hirmer Verlag, 2005. 432 pp. compares it (and seems to be inclined to identify it) with the Reviewed by “pavilion of the ascent of the Yuan” Florian Schwarz described in a Chinese-Mongolian University of Washington, Seattle (USA) inscription of 1346. Within the “palace area” as well, three kilns for the production of construction The popular clichés of Mongol goal of the project as follows: to materials were excavated and history evoked in the title of this gain a better understanding of dated to the late 13th/early 14th beautifully produced exhibition urban planning and development centuries (Christina Franken, catalog did not fail to attract at Karakorum and of the site’s pp.147-149). several hundred thousands of “changing role as the political and paying visitors to the exhibition administrative center of the The MDKE also excavated a shown in Bonn, Munich, and empire and the central Khanate, segment of the main North-South Vienna in 2005 and 2006. Steppe as a manufacturing city and long- street and the adjacent residential archaeology, the imperial Mon- distance trade hub, and as a and commercial area near the gols, and the legacy of Chingis religious center and locus of center of the city [Fig. 1] (Ulam- Khan are all covered in this book national cult” (p.139). The bayar Erdenebat and Ernst Pohl, on Chingis Khan and his Legacy: seemingly contradictory terms pp.168-175). The rich evidence the Mongol World Empire. What used in this context, “late-nomad allows the identification of the makes this project stand out from and medieval urban history of 13th- and 14th-century residents of the crowd is that its main focus is Central Asia,” indicate the new this part of the city as Chinese a city, Karakorum (Kharkhorin) in impulse this research gives to artisans, including a coppersmith Mongolia. An exhibition on the Central Eurasian studies. It is not and a goldsmith. The archeologists largest nomad empire in history hard to predict that the Karakorum identified four to five strata over centered around a city? Specialists campaign will contribute in an a period of around 200 years. might find this less surprising than important way to the changing Particularly intriguing is a the general public. But until very perceptions of the history of the paleoenvironmental study of recently historians had to look at nomad-sedentary continuum in sediments from Lake Ögij (40 km the residence of the Great Khan Central Eurasia. mostly through the eyes of north of Karakorum) which seems Within the built-up area of medieval visitors and chroniclers. to indicate that the Mongol Karakorum the campaign focuses Precious little was known about foundation of Karakorum fell into on two spots: the so-called palace the historical development of and a period of stronger forestation in area and the city center. The daily life in medieval Karakorum. the Orkhon valley (Michael complete excavation of the “grand This is changing thanks to the Walther, pp.128-132). The study hall” interpreted in 1949 by Sergei efforts of a joint Mongol-German of ecological changes in the Kiselev as part of Ögedei’s palace archaeological campaign, the “steppe belt” is only beginning, confirms Kise- “Mongolisch-Deutsche lev’s general re- Karakorum-Expedition (MDKE)”. construction of The MDKE, a collaboration the plan. But it between the German Archae- also shows that ological Institute (Deutsches the building can- Archäologisches Institut DAI), the not have been University of Bonn, and the the palace hall. Academy of Sciences of Mongolia, The countless began work at Karakorum in July Buddhist finds 1999. The exhibition and catalog from the hall do present the first results of this not represent project to the general public. It later strata was designed and first shown in (“monastery Bonn, the center of Mongol studies Photo © 2005 Charlotte K. Green phase”), as in Germany. Fig. 1. The excavation of the Mongol-German archaeologi- assumed by cal expedition in the center of Karakorum. The flat stones The German archeologist Hans- Kiselev, but be- in the center at the first step below the surface apparently Georg Hüttel formulates the main long to the are the 13th-century paving of the main street. 66 and the historical implications is devoted to burials in crevices fold). Other objects that deserve remain to be seen. and caves (Ulambayar Erdenebat to be singled out are the finds from and Ernst Pohl, pp.81-89). The the cave burials (particularly the Illustrations to this part of the Mongols of Chingis Khan seem to men’s and women’s headgear on catalog include newly discovered come to life again in the almost pp.86 and 89, so familiar from fragments of the 1346 inscription perfectly preserved weapons, medieval paintings), and the early and Buddhist finds from the grand gear, clothes and jewelry from one 20th-century manuscript maps hall. Small finds from the city dig 10th-century and two 13th/14th from the collection of Walther give a vivid impression of daily life century burials. Heissig on pp. 390-395 (now in the and work. A small ivory wand from Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin – the “palace area,” probably of Part 3 is the least even section Preussischer Kulturbesitz). European origin and tentatively of the book. It includes some described as a stylus, underscores excellent overviews of the Mongol Altogether this exhibition the cosmopolitan character of successor states, for example catalog presents a well-rounded Karakorum’s medieval population. Birgitt Hoffmann’s elegantly survey of Mongol history and Very aptly the section on the written historical sketch of the culture, while at the same time archaeology of the Mongol capital Mongols in Iran. Several brief pointing to new directions in city Karakorum (part 4 of the chapters provide insight in topics Mongol studies. Not atypical for a catalog) stands at the center of such as Mongol monetary history German exhibition catalog, the the volume. It is framed by six (Stefan Heidemann) and Qubilai texts are quite scholarly. The chapters offering different Khan’s failed attempt to conquer appeal to a non-specialist perspectives on the “Mongol Japan (Josef Kreiner). Some readership lies mostly in its experience” as a context for the contributions, however, are not illustrations. Complaints? A map Karakorum chapter. An intro- completely up-to-date. The one- of the Republic of Mongolia ductory section contains two page (!) historical sketch of the showing the archeological sites essays by a Mongol and a German Ulus Jöchi/Golden Horde serves up mentioned in the catalog would historian who look back on Chingis the cliché of the “Tatar yoke” have been welcome. Wishes? The Khan and his legacy (Dschingis without any reference to more publication of an English Khan und seine Erben). The differentiated interpretations of translation. second part (Vorläufer) traces the Moscovite-Mongol interactions. history of Asian “steppe empires” The following chapter by Mark About the author from the Xiongnu to the Mongols. Kramarovski makes up for some Part 3 (Chinggis Khan und das of these shortcomings with an Florian Schwarz is an Assistant Mongolische Großreich) looks at intelligent discussion of 13th- and Professor, Department of History, political, military and cultural 14th-century golden belt orna- University of Washington. aspects of the early Mongol ments and drinking vessels from engaged in teaching and research Empire. Part 5 (Das Weltreich der the region of the Golden Horde, on the medieval and early modern Mongolen) covers the history of showing the diversity of their history of the Middle East and the Mongol Empire and its artistic traditions. His attempt to Central Asia. Publications include successor empires after Chingis determine the stratigraphy of Unser Weg schliesst tausend Wege ein: Derwische und Khan in the 13th and 14th centuries. styles and techniques and connect The next section (Der mongolische them historically with the Gesellschaft im islamischen Buddhismus) discusses the history formation of the Golden Horde is Mittelasien im 16. Jahrhundert of Buddhism among the Mongols, very persuasive (though perhaps (Berlin, 2000), and two volumes followed by a relatively brief more geared toward a specialist of Sylloge Numorum Arabicorum concluding section on the post- audience). The chapter on the Tuebingen (Berlin & Tuebingen, Chingisid history of Mongolia and Ulus Chaghatai would certainly 1995, 2002). He may be contacted its relations with China and later have gained from using Michal at 67 Conference report seem to have been limited. Of particular interest to me was the Marking the Centenary of Dunhuang paper by Wang Jiqing of Lanzhou University which explained the Daniel Waugh context of what was going on at Seattle, Washington (USA) Dunhuang before and during Stein’s first visit there and offered The title of this conference report Rudolf Hoernle, a prominent evidence about the ways in which may seem mystifying, since, as we British orientalist, was important Stein allegedly took advantage of all know Dunhuang and the Mogao in the early development of the local officials being distracted Caves there are much more than Central Asian collections in Britain by local discontent about tax a century old. What the British and encouraged Stein to increases and outbreaks of Library, British Museum and British undertake his first major Central cholera. It is good now to have Academy had in mind in hosting Asian expedition. As is well known, this careful examination of the two important conferences last Hoernle, an important expert in local history at the time. We seem spring in London was the Indic languages, had the to have moved away from strident centenary of Aurel Stein’s first misfortune to be taken in by the denunciation of the “foreign acquaintance with the riches of forgeries of ancient documents by devils” having plundered cultural Mogao Cave 17 in May of 1907, Islam Akhun, whom Stein treasures, but I sensed a kind of which opened this trove of texts exposed. In 1879 in conjunction defensive sub-text in the and visual material to the world with his studies of Inner Asia, the suggestion that the local officials of international scholarship. The Hungarian geologist Lajos Loczy were hoodwinked and that two conferences were “A Hundred had been in Dunhuang, which he somehow they might have Years of Dunhuang, 1907-2007” advised the Hungarian-born Stein intervened to keep the treasures (May 17-19) and “The Con- to visit. We might note here the of Cave 17 from leaving. A short servation of Dunhuang and Central extensive Stein collections in the version of his paper is in IDP News Asian Collections, the 7th Inter- Library of the Hungarian Academy 30. national Dunhuang Project of Sciences, where significant John Falconer’s overview of the Conservation Conference” (May progress has been made in photographic records of the Stein 21-23). All the presentations of cataloguing and digitization expeditions was of considerable the first were open to any prior (Falconer et al. 2002, 2007). interest. For the most part the registrant. The first day of the Stein’s first discoveries in their collection is in the British Library second was public presentations, turn provided the stimulus for and the Library of the Hungarian followed on the subsequent days Count Otani to undertake his Academy of Sciences. A good by workshops only for con- Central Asian expeditions, setting many of the photos from his servators. a not necessarily felicitous various expeditions are already precedent for private collection in available on the IDP website. As My report will highlight some of Japan of Central Asian material. was true of most of what he did, the presentations and valuable Even though a certain amount of Stein prepared carefully for his information presented but cannot correspondence passed between photography and kept meticulous attempt to discuss every paper or Otani and Stein, their interactions records. He had learned his name every participant. The photography material here is organized from his close thematically, mixing to some friend Fred An- extent the presentations from drews in India in both conferences. For further the 1890s and information at any time con- even consulted cerning Dunhuang collections and with the eminent projects, readers should visit the Italian photo- International Dunhuang Project grapher Vittorio (IDP) website Hundred Years” provided insights Photo © 2007 Daniel C. Waugh special theodolite into how Stein interacted with and Fig. 1. Dr. Helen Wang of the British Museum, one of the camera for land- received support from a number conference co-organizers, presenting on Stein and his team scape photo- of key individuals [Fig. 1]. One, and on the history of the Dunhuang collections in London. graphy, and he 68 recorded exposures, time of day project, described by Seishi and other details. In some notable Karashima, has appeared; the cases such as the murals at Miran, report on it was illustrated by which he could not remove dramatic images of how the because of their delicate state but manuscripts had been deter- which later crumbled as they were iorating and how some of the being removed by others, Stein’s fragments may now be pieced photos, made in very difficult together. conditions, are our only record of part of what was there. An I had not previously been aware interesting footnote on the that hundreds of Dunhuang Dunhuang photographs is the fact textiles are housed in the Victoria that the much-published image of and Albert Museum in London. manuscripts stacked outside of They have now all been properly Cave 17, with Cave 16 in the conserved and images of them background, is in fact a composite made available on the IDP of two photographs (see the photo website. Furthermore, the con- in Whitfield 2005, p. 3). The Stein ference coincided with the photos include extensive “ethno- publication by Zhao Feng and his graphic” images, in addition to the British colleagues of Textiles from Dunhuang in UK Collections, the Photo © 2007 Daniel C. Waugh landscapes and archaeological Fig. 2. Detail of attendant to the first in a series of volumes of ones. Taken together, the Stein, bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara, 10th c. Oldenburg (Russian) and Nouette Dunhuang textiles in major banner from Dunhuang. BM, OA (French) collections form perhaps international collections (Zhao 1919.1-1.046. the largest and most important 2007). As Helen Persson, the collections of early archaeological curator of the collection at the V digitally on the IDP website. A photography anywhere and & A summarized, “the Dunhuang bonus was the British Museum’s thoroughly document Central Asia finds demonstrate a colourful small special exhibit, “Gods, in the first decade of the 20th range of beautiful, yet subtle Guardians and Immortals,” which century. damasks, vibrant polychrome included a number of the pattern woven silks and em- Dunhuang paintings [Fig. 2]. The A number of the presentations broidered gauzes, clamp-resist important collection of the provided overviews of the major dyed and painted silks.” Granted, Dunhuang banners housed in the Dunhuang and related collections many are fragments, but these Musée Guimet in Paris has also around the world — in London, and also most of the large banners been digitized and will be reunited Paris, St. Petersburg, Japan, New found by Stein in Cave 17 may digitally with the British collections Delhi, but other locations as well now all be viewed in fine detail on the IDP website [Fig.3]. — and updated information on the progress that has been made in cataloguing and conserving them. There is a wide range of cata- loguing, publication and digi- talization projects of ambitious scope. For me, there were many highlights. Of course the progress in the work of IDP, reported by Susan Whitfield in our journal in 2005, has been immense; it seems as though every time one re-visits the IDP website new digital collections and new catalogues have become available. Recently one of the impressive achievements was the cataloguing of the Dunhuang Tibetan manuscripts in the British Library. The first volume of the British Library Sanskrit fragments Photo © 2007 Daniel C. Waugh Fig. 3. Donor images on a large Dunhuang silk banner depicting the bodhisattva Kshitigharbha. Dated 981 CE. Musée Guimet, MG 17662. 69 As Nathalie Monnet of the the material acquired by Stein on other locations in Central Asia. Bibliothèque nationale reported, his third Central Asian expedition. There is too little here even to be the cataloguing and digitization of Work on cataloguing and con- certain about the texts’ language, the Dunhuang materials collected servation has proceeded at best although it seems to be a very by Paul Pelliot’s expedition and fitfully. To illustrate how important archaic Sogdian. possibly dating held by the BN in Paris is now well it is to complete this work, Chhaya a century earlier than the “Ancient advanced. While the Chinese Bhattacharya-Haesner provided Letters.” manuscripts of the collection were an example of a banner where the published in Shanghai between pieces are now divided between As Rong Xinjiang of Beijing 1995 and 2004, the Tibetan, Delhi and the Hermitage in St. University outlined in his excellent Khotanese and others are still in Petersburg. There are other survey, great deal of new material process, with nearly 1000 of the instances where pieces of the from the Turfan area has emerged Tibetan ones not previously same textiles are divided between in recent years. Some of the most catalogued. Some 50,000 digital Delhi and London. important finds filled gaps in the images of Dunhuang material previously scanty written record Apart from the several have been made; an online for the region’s history in the late prominent collections of Dun- catalogue should soon be fourth and fifth centuries, in- huang material, it was of particular available. Since in some cases cluding interesting information on interest to learn of yet another separate parts of a single the relations between the small group of Kharosthi manuscripts to manuscript are in Paris and Gaochang kingdom and the Jou- have come out of the Gandharan London, bringing them together in Jan. Epitaphs of the Kang family region (here, specifically, north- digital form on the IDP website will of the late sixth and early seventh west Pakistan, near the border be a major step forward. centuries tell of the sinicization of with Afghanistan) in recent years. the Sogdian population. There is In addition to discussing a specific Some of the other collections of new material on details of the early Buddhist text project, Ingo Dunhuang material are so far less region’s administration under the Strauch provided more general readily available or incompletely Tang, and, as Rong emphasizes, information on the Bajaur catalogued. Irina Popova of the fascinating evidence about the Collection of birchbark manu- Institute of Oriental Studies frequency of envoys from scripts from the first and second described the substantial Ferghana to the region in the centuries CE, housed at the collection brought to St. period of the famous battle of University of Peshawar and now Petersburg by the Oldenburg Talas, in which the Arabs defeated being studied by a joint German- Central Asian expedition in 1914 Tang armies in 751. Pakistani project. Among the (Popova 2006). Included are treasures in these fragile scrolls Study and publication of older sculpture, painting fragments, and are the earliest Mahayana and Turfan collections has proceeded thousands of manuscript frag- Vinaya texts. apace in recent decades, among ments. In addition, there is a them the publication of the Otani large number of photographs and Texts in Sogdian, the Iranian collection and a four-volume a substantial archive of expedition language of the Central Asian edition of Turfan documents, diaries, site plans, etc. Some of merchants who were so important which appeared in Beijing in 1992- the very impressive sculpture and for centuries across much of Asia, 1996 and is included on the Yale painting is on display in the provide critical evidence for the Turfan database (and available on Hermitage Museum where, as I history of the Silk Road. As IDP). One of the major new digital discovered in recent years, access Nicholas Sims-Williams pointed initiatives is that of the German may be limited to alternate days, out, most of the extant Sogdian Turfanforschung. A good overview due to constraints on staffing for texts are from the last quarter of of its very extensive cataloguing, the galleries. In Japan, as Akao so of the first millennium. The so- publication and digitization Eikei of the Kyoto National called “Ancient Letters” discovered projects may be found in the Museum reported, there are by Stein in a watchtower near pamphlet Turfan Studies which important Dunhuang and Turfan Dunhuang are amongst the was distributed at the conference materials in private collections, earliest Sogdian texts of any and may be downloaded from the many of which have not been substance, dating from the early Internet (Berlin 2007). properly inventoried, in part for 4th century. Sims-Williams re- fear that some of the objects may ported on interesting new material Among the presentations about turn out to be forgeries. Among from Kazakhstan which had not conservation challenges and the most significant collections of been deciphered by its discoverer successes, I found of particular Dunhuang and other Central Asian (Podushkin 2000). The short texts interest Vera Fominikh’s de- materials are those in New Delhi are inscribed on plaques, probably scription of the process by which at the National Museum (more from a wall or gateway, and the huge sculpture of the than 11,000 objects), including all mention Samarkand, Bukhara and Parinirvana Buddha found at 70 issues, in some book. The Diamond Sutra from cases focusing Dunhuang, dating from 868 CE, narrowly on a few has long been considered the examples, in world’s oldest dated printed book, other cases pro- although it is now known that viding an over- some printed fragments held in St. view of what is Petersburg are older. The being learned Diamond Sutra scroll may be both from the viewed in an innovative digital Dunhuang presentation of the British Library material and 71 Washington in 2006. He feels (Tadzhikistan)” (Restoration and In Japanese: 72 Summer Programs Co-Sponsored by the Silkroad Foundation Dunhuang Art and Society: On-site Seminar (June 29-July 12, 2008) With the strong support of the Dunhuang Research Academy, China, the Silkroad Foundation and Yale University are organizing its fourth seminar on Dunhuang art and society, to be held at the Mogao Caves, Dunhuang, Gansu Province, China, from June 29-July 12, 2008. A trip to visit Buddhist art sites in east Xinjiang, including Balikun, Hami, Turfan, Jimsar, and Urmuqi, will follow (July 13-20). The invited speakers include Roderick Whitfield, Mimi Yiengpruksawan, Neil Schmid and Ning Qiang from the US side and Peng Jingzhang, Wang Huimin, Liu Yongzheng, Zhang Xiantang and Wang Binghua from the China side. Seminar participants will examine the paintings and sculptures in the Mogao and Yulin caves with the experts listed above and interact with local scholars formally and informally. In addition to visits to the Buddhist caves, this interdisciplinary seminar will provide onsite lectures/discussions examining a wide range of issues relating to Chinese art, religion, politics, and society. The official language of the seminar is English. For additional details, including a list of the lectures by Profs. Whitfield, Ning, Yiengpruksawan and Schmid, visit Seminar Fee: The comprehensive seminar fee is $1,060 for double which covers cave visit fees at Mogao and Yulin, accommodations at the Mogao Guest House and weekend excursions in the Dunhuang region. The July 13-20 trip to other Buddhist sites is not included in this fee. Registration: The online registration For the summer of 2008, the Silkroad Foundation, in conjunction with the National Museum of Mongolian History and the University of Pennsylvania, will be sponsoring excavations and surveys in the Altai Mountain region of Khovd aimag, Mongolia. The Mongol-American Khovd Archaeology Project aims to advance material investigations of the peoples and cultures of the Altai Mountains, a crucial region between the nomads of the Mongolian steppes and the Silk Roads area within present-day northwest China. Chinese historical documents attest to the emergence of a strong nomadic confederacy called the Xiongnu in the late first millennium BCE which held sway over the steppe and mountain regions north of the Chinese realm for several centuries and well into the Common Era. Our understanding of this nomad polity and its constituents has, within the past few decades, been transformed by archaeological discoveries not only of royal tombs but of standard- burial graveyards, regional analyses and settlement studies. A wealth of new material is being unearthed, and new methods are being applied to its analysis. Excavations in 2008 will take place at three separate Xiongnu cemeteries — Baishin uzuur in the low valleys, Dood Takhilt adjacent to the elite cemetery of Takhilt, and Shombuuzin belchir in the high mountain pass — to analyze the relationship between those interred in different geographic locales of the Altai region of Khovd and the degree of variation between sites attributed to the Xiongnu in the western periphery and those elsewhere in Mongolia. The project offers a variety of excavation activities with focuses on the analysis of human remains and processes of in-field conservation. In addition, several lectures will be provided on-site, and a cross- country trips between Ulaanbaatar and Khovd will allow participants to see a large collection of sites within varied geographic zones and relating to different periods of Mongolian history and culture. This program provides an exciting opportunity for participants with a wide range of interests. Participants need no special training, but should be prepared for physical activity and wilderness camping (no electricity and living on the steppes in Mongolian tents) for extended periods of time. Participants will be given training on archaeological survey and excavation, including proper methods of unearthing, documenting and mapping the materials. If you have excavation experience, we welcome your assistance, and if you have not, we look forward to the learning process! The most important things you need for this project are: 1) patience and a good sense of humor; 2) the ability to adapt to radically different cultures and climates and environments (without electricity and all the trappings that go with it); and 3) a sense of adventure, for we will be traveling to and seeing some fantastic places! More details on Takhilt Xiongnu Cemetery: 73 Language: The official language of the expedition is English. Lectures by local Mongolian scholars will be translated. Site Descriptions Tsenkher Cave Tsenkher cave lies a few kilometers further up the Khoit Tsenkher river valley from the site of Takhilt cemetery. Here can be found some of the earliest cave paintings in Mongolia and in the world. Animals are painted on the walls of the cave in an array of red, black and white. Uyench Pass The Uyench river valley at the southern end of this mountain pass through the Altai has numerous sections of rock wall carved with animals, chariots and hunting scenes from the Bronze Age through Turk period. Some of the most famous rock-cut art in Mongolia, for example the often depicted Xiongnu chariot with escorts, can be found on the walls of this canyon. Baishin uzuur, Darvi sum, Khovd aimag Several Xiongnu cemeteries have been found in Darvi sum amongst the foothills. Excavations in 2008 will focus on two sites in the vicinity of a hill named Baishin uzuur. One site is a small cluster of eight features where we will excavate several graves. The more significant site consists of over thirty Xiongnu period graves on the eastern slope of a small hill, two small Bronze Age burials on the western side, and a dense collection of Turkic inscriptions on the boulders on top of the hill. We will excavate several graves at this site, including the two Bronze Age burials, several small Xiongnu graves, and a large circular Xiongnu grave with adjacent burials and a line of stones to the north. This manner of stone line was excavated for the first time in 2007 at Takhiltin-khotgor, and we found ritual deposits of burnt animal bone. It is our goal to further investigate this phenomenon of ritual stone lines outside the context of the more elite tomb complexes like those at Takhiltin-khotgor. Dood Takhilt, Manhan sum, Khovd aimag The elite Xiongnu cemetery of Takhitin-khotgor sits in a flat area between two river valleys: the Khoit (North) Tsenkher River and the Dund (Middle) Tsenkher River. In summer 2007, while excavating at this elite cemetery, surveys of the Khovd Archaeology Project discovered two small groups of Xiongnu period graves nearby the elite grounds and next to the Khoit Tsenkher River. In 2008, we will excavate two graves here; one with apparent accompanying interments and another with a stone line to the north. Shombuuzin belchir, Monkhkhairkhan sum, Khovd aimag Numerous Xiongnu cemeteries and Bronze Age monuments were documented in the Altai mountain pass area of Monkhkhairkhan sum during surveys in 2006, and one of the larger sites is located in a mountain niche called Shombuuzin belchir. We will excavate a long cluster of burials here, including a large circular grave with a stone line to the north. Program Fee: A tax deductible donation of $1500. This donation does not include airfare, visas nor incidentals in Ulaan Bataar and Khovd. 74 Preparations: Participants should be prepared for physical activity and wilderness camping for extended periods of time. We are going out on the Mongolian steppe and will be anywhere from 50 km to 150 km from any sizable towns. We will live in gers (Mongolian traditional tent houses), without electricity and plumbing. Access to water, for bathing and drinking, will be a river nearby the campsite, so participants will need to bring water filters (or share with other participants). The diet will be heavy on sheep and dairy products. Vegetarians will have a difficult time with such a diet, and thus will need to come prepared with some of their own additional food options. Application/Deadline: The online application The Silkroad Foundation also a proud supporter of Silk Road House: A Cultural and Educational Center Silk Road House is a non-profit organization created to promote and support an impressive array of diverse ethnic cultural traditions. The main goals of the Silk Road House are: to create a center for the collection of pertinent cultural and historical information to provide a place where creative activities can bring to life the traditions of the Silk Road here in United States to celebrate the Silk Road’s tradition of hospitality Silk Road House symbolizes the connections, communications and bonds between peoples and cultures united by the Silk Road concept, and at the same time, a real network of the modern day contacts between those peoples and cultures. The Silk Road House is a welcoming cultural center where everyone who might be interested could find a wide range of accurate information concerning the history, culture, and everyday life of Silk Road countries. For extensive listings of the many events, including programs in December 2007, visit the website at: Humanities West presents: Empire on Horseback: Genghis Khan and the Mongols February 22 and 23, 2008 at the Herbst Theatre, San Francisco The program includes: Friday, February 22 8:00 PM. “The ‘Owl of Misfortune’ or the ‘Phoenix of Prosperity’? Reassessing Genghis Khan and the Mongol Empire.” Daniel Waugh (Emeritus Professor, University of Washington) attempts to separate myth from reality and provide a balanced picture of the Mongols’ impact on their contemporary world. 9:00 PM. “From Steppe to Stage: An Exploration of 800 Years of Mongolian Music.” Peter K. Marsh (Assistant Professor of Music, CSU East Bay), explores the history of Mongolian music from Imperial times to the present, paying particular attention to how traditional music, including the two-stringed fiddle and khöömii or ‘throat singing’ traditions, intersect the human, natural, and spiritual worlds. He’ll end by looking at how Mongolian music has fared in the era of globalization. 75 Saturday, February 23 10:00 AM. “On Culture and Commerce.” This illustrated lecture by Morris Rossabi (Professor of History, Columbia University) reveals that the Mongols promoted commerce and fostered some of the arts in the vast empire they subjugated. 11:00 AM “The Women in Genghis Khan’s Life.” James D. Ryan (Emeritus Professor, CUNY) focuses on several of the remarkable women, including Genghis’ mother, his chief wife and mother of the four sons who figured in succession to his empire, and several of his daughters-in-law. Their histories reveal that Mongol women enjoyed higher position and greater recognition than those in China, the Arab world, or Europe. 1:30 PM. A Performance of Mongolian Music, coordinated by Peter K. Marsh and Orna Uranchimeg-Tsultem. 2:00 PM. “The Mongol Influence on Islamic, Especially Persian Art.” With rich illustrations, Stefano Carboni (Curator, Islamic Art, Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York) explores the impact of China’s Yüan dynasty on the art and culture of Iran’s Ilkhanid dynasty. In a period of great cultural achievement and profound changes, local artists and artisans were introduced to previously unknown artistic traditions from East Asia, and attempted to respond to the tastes of their new royal patrons, the Mongol rulers. 3:00 PM. Panel discussion and Q & A, moderated by Fred Astren. This event is by paid admission ticket, which may be obtained from City Box Office The Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco present a selection of premier examples from their world-class holdings of Turkmen rugs and textiles in For Tent and Trade: Masterpieces of Turkmen Weaving at the de Young Museum December 15, 2007, through April 27, 2008. During the past twenty-five years, FAMSF has developed the finest public collection of Turkmen carpets and other pile textiles outside Russia. This exhibition includes approximately 40 of the finest rugs, bags, and tent and animal trappings from these extensive holdings. This exhibition provides an overview of Turkmen pile weaving and addresses some of the unanswered questions surrounding Turkmen carpets in addition to new findings that are changing our understanding of this complex weaving tradition. The textiles included in For Tent and Trade come from the plains, oases, and low hills of Turkmenistan, northwest Iran, Uzbekistan, and Afghanistan. Many are woven from the superb wool of Saryja sheep, which are bred solely in this region. This exhibition provides the opportunity to contrast objects traditionally woven for a woman’s dowry or domestic use with those made for the market or a prosperous city dweller. Diane Mott, Curator of the Caroline and H. McCoy Jones Department of Textile Arts, is the curator of this exhibition. The exhibition will be accompanied by various educational programs and public lectures, with two of the latter scheduled for December 6 and January 12. Visit the museum website for details Camel trapping for bridal procession (khalyk). Central Asia, Turkmen, Yomut? tribe. Wool or goat hair; knot- ted pile (sym- metrical knot). Gift of George and Marie Hecksher 2000.186.12. Photo © 2007 The de Young Museum. Used with permission. 76