I know I’m supposed to be back by now. Just an update, it will probably be another month or so before I’m back. Unfortunately, I lost my job so I’m preoccupied with employment stuff. Will be posting again as soon as I can, haven’t forgotten about the blog.
Going to take a brief break due to time constraints. Will be back in a month or two with more posts.
Female Europid Mummy from the Necropolis of Subexi III, Grave M6, Turfan District, Xinjiang. 5th-3rd C. BCE. Source: Baumer, Christoph.The history of Central Asia. Vol.1. The age of the steppe warriors. London : I.B. Tauris, 2012. pg. 218 left DS329.4 .B38 2012. Image via University of Pennsylvania. See maps in the post before this one for a better understanding of the geography discussed.
“Section 26 – The Kingdom of Nearer [i.e. Southern] Jushi 車師前 (Turfan)
1. ‘Nearer Jushi’ 車師前 refers to the kingdom or state centered in the Turfan oasis or, sometimes, to the tribe which controlled it. There can be no question that Nearer Jushi refers here to the Turfan Oasis. See for example: CICA, p. 183, n. 618; also note 1.5 above. For the etymology of the name Turfan see Bailey (1985), pp. 99-100, which is summed up in his sentence: “The name turpana- is then from *druva-pāna- ‘having safe protection’, a name suitable for a walled place.”
“One other oasis town is currently under excavation. At Yarghul (Jiaohe), 10 km (16 miles) [sic – this should read 10 miles (16 km)] west of Turpan, archaeologists have been excavating remains of the old Jushi capital, a long (1,700 m (5,580 ft)) but narrow (200 m (656 ft)) town between two rivers. From the Han period they uncovered vast collective shaft tombs (one was nearly 10 m (33 ft) deep). The bodies had apparently already been removed from these tombs but accompanying them were other pits containing form one to four horse sacrifices, with tens of horses for each of the larger burials.” Mallory and Mair (2000), pp. 165 and 167.
“Some 300 km (186 miles) to the west of Qumul [Hami] lie [mummy] sites in the vicinity of the Turpan oasis that have been assigned to the Ayding Lake (Aidinghu) culture. The lake itself occupies the lowest point in the Turpan region (at 156 m (512 ft) below sea level it is the lowest spot on earth after the Dead Sea). According to accounts of the historical period, this was later the territory of the Gushi, a people who ‘lived in tents, followed the grasses and waters, and had considerable knowledge of agriculture. They owned cattle, horses, camels, sheep and goats. They were proficient with bows and arrows.’ They were also noted for harassing travellers moving northwards along the Silk Road from Krorän, and the territories of the Gushi and the kingdom of Krorän were linked in the account of Zhang Qian, presumably because both were under the control of the Xiongnu. In the years around 60 BC, Gushi fell to the Chinese and was subsequently known as Jushi (a different transcription of the same name).” Mallory and Mair (2000), pp. 143-144.
“History records that in 108 BC Turpan was inhabited by farmers and traders of Indo-European stock who spoke a language belonging to the Tokharian group, an extinct Indo-Persian language [actually more closely related to Celtic languages]. Whoever occupied the oasis commanded the northern trade route and the rich caravans that passed through annually. During the Han Dynasty (206 BC-AD 220) control over the route see-sawed between Xiongnu and Han. Until the fifth century, the capital of this kingdom was Jiaohe.” Bonavia (1988), p. 131.
“Turpan is principally an agricultural oasis, famed for its grape products – seedless white raisins (which are exported internationally) and wines (mostly sweet). It is some 80 metres (260 feet) below sea level, and nearby Aiding Lake, at 154 metres (505 feet) below sea level, is the lowest continental point in the world.” Ibid. p. 137.
“The toponym Turfan is also a variation of Tuharan. Along the routes of Eurasia there are many other place names recorded in various Chinese forms that are actually variations of Tuharan.” Liu (2001), p. 268.”
-Notes to The Western Regions according to the Hou Hanshu. Second Edition (Extensively Revised and Expanded). John E. Hill. University of Washington.
Maps of the Tarim Basin 2nd C. BCE - 8th C. CE.
“The Battle of Jushi (Chinese: 車師之戰; pinyin: Jūshī Zhī Zhàn) was a battle between the Han Dynasty and the Xiongnu for control of the people of the Jushi culture in the Turpan Basin in 67 BC. The battle was a success for the Han, who were led by Zheng Ji. The king of Jushi Wugui surrendered to the Han after the Han launched the attack from the Tarim Basin and besieged the city Jiaohe, capital of Jushi. The Xiongnu came with aid to Jushi, but escaped after Zheng Ji and Sima Xi confronted the armies. Zheng Ji then left 20 men with a general to protect the king of Jushi, but he was afraid of the return of Xiongnu, and fled to Wusun. The Xiongnu installed Doumo as the king of Jushi, and moved the population further east from Jiaohe. Zheng Ji then sent 300 men to seize the city.
In 60 BC, an internal disturbance occurred among the Xiongnu ruling clique, and Xianxianshan, Prince Rizhu of the Xiongnu stationed in the Turpan Basin, led 12,000 of his troops and 12 royals to pledge allegiance to the Han imperial court. That same year, the Han appointed Zheng Ji as the Protector General of the Western Regions, with his office in Wulei (near Qiuci) to oversee the entire region of the Tarim Basin west to the Pamir. The last Protector General, Dan Qin, was killed during a rebellion led by Yanqi in 13 AD. A brief attempt to restore the protector generalship was launched by Wang Mang in 16 AD, under the new appointed Protector General Li Chong. The armies soon advanced towards the state of Yanqi, but were eventually defeated by Yanqi with its allies. Li Chong fled to the state of Qiuci, and died soon after the fall of Xin Dynasty.”
-taken from wikipedia
A Han Heqin bride by unknown artist. Special Exhibit: Xiongnu, Henan Provincial Museum, Zhengzhou. Image credit: Gary Todd’s flickr. I couldn’t find much Wusun artwork so I’m just going to summarize them here and move on.
A summary of the rise and fall of the Indo-European Wusun:
As Han Emperor Wu’s offensive campaign against the Xiongnu began to falter (and eventually fail), he sought out the Wusun as allies. The Wusun were said to be the strongest nation in the Western Regions. Though the Xiongnu were overall more formidable, the Han believed that with Han and Wusun combined they could finally defeat the Huns. Han repeatedly offered financial incentives to purchase the Wusun’s influence, “Emperor Wu then ordered Qian to take on an envoy mission to Wusun, bringing with him much gold and money.” (116 BCE, Book of Han Volume 96 Number 66 Part B).
Emperor Wu also offered a Han princess to the Wusun khan/kunmo as a ‘heqin’ marriage alliance. And when the Wusun envoys visited the Han kingdom, they were swayed by the wealth and appearance, “The envoy learned that Han was a populous and prosperous Kingdom, upon his return he reported what he saw, ever since Wusun began to place emphasis on Han.” (116 BCE, Book of Han Volume 96 Number 66 Part B).
In 108 BCE the Wusun king/kunmo agreed to diplomatic marriage with Han, and the following year a Han princess arrived. A few years later the Wusun king asked this Han princess to marry his grandson, essentially transferring their marriage to his descendant as was custom. The Han princess originally refused and petitioned the Han Emperor, but he replied: “Please abide by the custom of the State; I intend to ally with Wusun to annihilate the Hu (Xiongnu)”. (101 BCE, Book of Han Volume 96 Number 66 Part B).
In 71 BCE the Wusun and Han attacked the Xiongnu because they observed the Xiongnu farming at Jushi in alliance with the people of Jushi (in the Tarim Basin): “The Han court rallied 150,000 cavalrymen led by five generals to take different routes to march forth. The Kunmi personally led 50,000 mounted men under the Marquises Xi to attack the Xiongnu forces from the west. The army penetrated the court of Right (You) Luli King and captured the father generation of the Chanyu, the sisters-in-law, the wives of the Xiongnu leaders, petty kings, Liwu Commanders, 1,000 men regiment officers, and cavalrymen numbering over 40,000 people. 700,000 heads of horses, cattle, goats, donkeys, and camels were also captured. It was the 3rd year of Benshi (71 BCE).” (71 BCE, Book of Han Volume 96 Number 66 Part B).
A few years later the Wusun submitted completely to the Han Dynasty, promising to make the Han prince the heir of Wusun: “I intend to make Han’s grandson, Yuanguimi, my heir. It is hoped that he could marry a Han Princess to strengthen our tie. We intend to sever the connection with Xiongnu entirely. We will present 1,000 heads of horses and 1,000 heads of donkeys as dowry”. (64 BCE, Book of Han Volume 96 Number 66 Part B).
In 53 BCE the female attendant, Feng Liao, of the Han princess reorganized the Wusun state. She split it into two, with the minor state led by the Wusun king’s son (Wujiuchu) by a Xiongnu woman and the major state led by the Wusun king’s son (Yuanguimi) by Han princess Jieyou. Han oversaw both states: “Lady Feng Installs Major and Minor Kunmi (53 BCE): The Princess of Chu had a personal woman attendant, Feng Liao, who could read and write. The Regional Protectorate Governor, Zheng Ji, sent Lady Feng to see Wujiuchu and relate to him that the approaching Han forces would have him annihilated easily, and he should consider surrendering. Wujiuchu was terrified and pleaded, "I merely wish to retain a minor Kunmi title”. In the city, the Lady designated Yuangimi as the Major Da-Kunmi of Wusun, and Wujiuchu was made Minor Xiao-Kunmi of Wusun.“ (53 BCE, Book of Han Volume 96 Number 66 Part B).
According to ancient Chinese historians, the Xiongnu Chanyu had saved the Wusun prince Liejiaomi, employed him as a Xiongnu general, and helped revive his nation in the 2nd C. BCE. Whereas the Huns had helped the Wusun reach the climax of their power by teaching them the Hun’s art of war and giving them the technologically superior Hunnic bow that allowed the Wusun to take their revenge on the Yuezhi and reclaim their home, the Han had left the Wusun split into two kingdoms of "Major and Minor Kunmi” and trapped in an eternal civil war until they largely vanished from the history books. Han had manipulated the Wusun into a state of ruin: “Later at the time of the regnal years of Yuanshi (1-5 CE), Beiyuanzhi killed Wuriling (the Wusun noble who killed Cilimi) and surrendered to Han and was enfeoffed as Marquis Guiyi (Return to Righteousness). At this stage, both states had become weak and enfeebled. Beiyuanzhi repeatedly attacked the Major and Minor Kunmi. The Western Regional Protectorate Governor, Sun Jiang, attacked Beiyuanzhi and killed him. Ever since the Kingdom was divided into two states of Major Kunmi and Minor Kunmi the Han court had to resort to intermittent pacification and suppression; there was hardly a year of peace." (1-5 CE, Book of Han Volume 96 Number 66 Part B).
-Quotes are from The Hanshu (Book of Han) Xiyu Zhuan Volume 96 Number 66 Part B. Translation and notes by Joseph P. Yap: The Western Regions, Xiongnu, and Han.
The Kargaly/Wusun diadem 2nd C. BCE - 2nd C. CE. Note, Katheryn’s article below is much longer and has more info, I just took snips of what I found most interesting. It can be found online.
“According to Chinese archaeologists, the excavated skeletal remains presumed to be Wusun are of the short-headed Europoid Central Asian interfluvial type (Mallory Mair 2000: 93-94). On the basis of six skulls from the last centuries BC/first centuries AD found in Semirechye and presumed to be those of the Wusun, Soviet archaeologists have described them as ranging from primarily Europoid with some Mongoloid admixture to pure Europeans (Mallory Mair 2000: 93-94). Evidence from ancient Chinese texts is contradictory about the appearance of these peoples and only DNA and other types of scientific testing will bring clarity to this issue.
Although gold artefacts and inlay can be found dating from the Late Neolithic through to the Bronze Age in China, it was most prevalent in its borderlands (Bunker 1993: 27-46) until the Qin and Han, when it found preference on a broader scale.
In addition, the lost-wax lost-textile casting technology was developed and used (Bunker 1988: 222-27) in the area adjacent to the very tombs from where the iconography and style of the diadem hails. Observations about the inlay technology used on the diadem are important clues as well. Inlay appeared on Chinese-produced objects almost exclusively where a cell was created into which the stone was placed and adhered with some fixative (Bunker 1993). This is not the technique used to produce the diadem, where the gold was hammered into a matrix-template, then engraved (or chased) on the surface. Many of the cells for inlay were created in the hammering process and after the stones were in place, secured by hammering the bezels surrounding each stone. In addition, there were pierced cells filled from behind with stone and secured with the addition of a gold sheet adhered behind the stone. Items produced using such techniques would probably not have been created in Chinese foundries.
Moreover, gold animal plaques known from earlier Xiongnu tombs (third century BC) use inlay to enhance the natural conformation of the beasts (Figure 5). By placing inlays at the points of movement such as at the haunches of quadrupeds or at the wing joints of birds, the potential of movement and thereby the power of these wild creatures is underscored. Inlays also mark such features as eyes. On the Kargaly diadem, however, circular inlays are used decoratively as a patterned design, still often at the haunches, but also throughout the clouds. They no longer emphasize the natural form or movement of the animals or the clouds, but create an overall pattern. This recommends a later date for the diadem, perhaps late first or second century AD.
But why would such models be used in south-eastern Kazakhstan at this time? This is a unique piece—its style and iconography were nor known before or after in the region. The models for the iconography were taken from types known near Han imperial military outposts in a place where the Chinese hoped their troops could contain barbarian incursions and where peace and stability were difficult to maintain. Those units often included conscripts whose allegiance was opportunistic. The models for diadems (Stark 2012: 134) or for applications to adorn carts or clothing come from further west.
So, was this piece made in the Western Regions, in the territory beyond the Jade Gate of the Great Wall (in present day Gansu) that marked the boundary of Han hegemony, and then carried west? Was it perhaps made as a gift for an embassy to present to a Wusun or Yuezhi leader far outside of Han territory, such as in Wusun? Or, alternatively, was it carried by a regional princess to her place of exile and burial as the partner of one of those ‘foreign’ leaders?”
-Katheryn Linduff, Immortals in a foreign land: the Kargaly diadem. 2014, Antiquity, Vol 88, issue 339
Bronze figure of a Saka warrior 6th-3rd C. BCE. Unearthed in Gongliu county, in the collection of the Ili Kazak Autonomous Prefecture Museum, Yining.
The Book of Han describes the Wusun Kingdom as “overgrown with thicket and scrubs. The area is rainy and cold, and in the Mountains, there are many pine and elm trees. The people here do not farm, except they plant trees and they follow their live herds in search of water and pasture; the customs are like the Xiongnu.” The demographic information lists not only Wusun people, but some conquered Da Yuezhi (Greater Yuezhi) people and Sai (Saka) ethnic races. The Sai (Saka) were the original inhabitants, but were later conquered by the Yuezhi and Wusun.
-The Hanshu (Book of Han) Xiyu Zhuan Volume 96 Number 66 Part B. Translation and notes by Joseph P. Yap: The Western Regions, Xiongnu, and Han.
Bronze warrior (probably a Saka) from Xinyuan 5th-3rd C. BCE. Tuanchang, Burial Site.
“This warrior sports distinctive headgear that resembles a type fashionable in ancient Greece and Rome. The figure was recovered in the far northwest of China at a site linked to nomadic peoples, perhaps the Scythians, who dwelled in that region from the fifth to third century B.C. Although crudely cast, the figure’s well-modeled shoulders, arms, and collarbones reveal an awareness of human anatomy—a characteristic of the Hellenistic sculpture that Alexander the Great introduced into Central Asia in the fourth century B.C. Nomadic peoples helped transmit this influence to their Chinese neighbors.
42cm high, 4 kilograms. Documented in "Cambridge Ancient History” IV. Also in Boardman “The diffusion of Classical Art in Antiquity”, with photograph: “A bronze figurine of a kneeling warrior, not Greek work, but wearing a version of the Greek Phrygian helmet. From a burial, said to be of the 4th century BC, just north of the Tien Shan range”. Urumqi, Xinjiang Region Museum"
-taken from MetMuseum and wikipedia
Wusun King/Kunmo Liejiaomi 2nd C. BCE (the middle statue). In the Li Xijun (刘细君) pavilion of the Han Guangling Tomb Museum, Yangzhou. The exhibit is dedicated to the story of a Han Guangling princess, Li Xijun, who was sent to what is now Xinjiang or Kyrgyzstan to marry the Wusun king Kunmo.
“Shanyu Maodun, leader of the Xiongnu from approximately 209 and 174 BCE, was said to have indirectly caused chaos for the Wusun people by driving a group known as the Yuezhi into Wusun territory near the end of his reign. The then khan, or kunmo, of the Wusun was reportedly named Nandoumi, and he fought back against the Yuezhi incursion into his land. Nandoumi, however, died in battle and the Wusun people had to flee to the Xiongnu for protection. During the retreat, possibly due to politics after the kunmo’s death, Nandoumi’s young son, Liejiaomi, was reportedly left behind to face the wild alone.
Yet—as folkloric origin stories of kingly or heroic figures often go—mother nature and her animals took pity of young Liejiaomi and cared for the abandoned boy during this vulnerable time. Grand Historian Sima Qian (c. 145-90 BCE), citing an explorer who interacted with the Wusun, wrote that Liejiaomi, “then only a baby, was cast out in the wilderness to die. But the birds came and flew over the place where he was, bearing meat in their beaks, and the wolves suckled him, so that he was able to survive” (Shi Ji 123). Living on bird regurgitation and wolf milk, Liejiaomi stayed alive long enough to be rediscovered by the Xiongnu, who were impressed by his survival skills. By this time Shanyu Jizhu was reportedly in power, a position he would have over the Xiongnu from around 174 to 159/158 BCE. As the stories go, Jizhu gave shelter to Liejiaomi and took interest in raising the boy, encouraging his education in the ways of leadership and war.
When Liejiaomi grew to adulthood, he was given a military command and eventually was supported by the shanyu in becoming the next kunmo of the Wusun. In conjunction with the Xiongnu, Kunmo Liejiaomi was able to have his revenge against the Yuezhi, pushing them westward toward the region of modern Uzbekistan, allowing for the Wusun to claim the vacated land left by the Yuezhi. Despite this partnership, Kunmo Liejaomi and the Wusun would eventually be recruited by the expansionist Emperor Wu of Han China (r. 141-87 BCE) to combat the Xiongnu.”
-Written by C. Keith Hansley, from the The Historians Hut
Wusun rider 3rd-2nd C. BCE. The Wusun (lit. grandchildren of the crows) tribe became one of Han’s main auxiliaries, they were an Indo-European people. This exquisite golden brooch was found in the burial mound of one of its nobles. Rider burial mound Tenlik (III.-II. B.C.) The Tenlik kurgan is associated with the Wusun.
“Wusun 烏孫 [wu = crow; black + sun = grandson. Wu-sun]. The Wusun, “M. ·ou-suən < *·aĥ-smən, a nomadic people north of the T’ien-shan in the Han period, are probably to be identified with the Άσμίραιοι [Asmiraioi] of Ptolemy.” Pulleyblank (1963), p. 136. Pulleyblank, ibid. p. 227 says: “There is good reason to think that the Wu-sun spoke a Tocharian type of language.”
The Wusun were a semi-nomadic people who raised horses and grazed their flocks on the rich steppe-lands in the basins of the Ili, Naryn and Chu rivers in Semirechye to the north of the Tianshan ranges and around lake Issyk-kul. They were a large and powerful group; the Hanshu estimating their population as some 630,000, with 188,800 men able to bear arms (CICA, p. 143 and n. 376).
The Wusun became of great importance to the Chinese as soon as they began extending communications to the west during the Early Han Dynasty. The Wusun not only controlled the main northern branches of the Silk Routes, but also provided a buffer against the raids of the Xiongnu, and were an important source of horses.
The Chinese proceeded on a complex course of diplomacy and bribes to win their favour and prevent them falling into the arms of the Xiongnu. A princess was sent to marry their leader, the ‘Kunmi’ c. 110 BCE, but she had to take second place to the princess sent to the Kunmi (or Kunmo) by the Xiongnu. CICA, p. 148, n. 400.
Little is heard of them during the Later Han Dynasty and we find only occasional references in the Hou Hanshu. However, there is a rather telling remark in the Chapter on the Western Regions that following the re-establishment of Chinese control in the Tarim Basin in 127 CE, “the Wusun and the countries of the Congling 葱嶺 (Pamirs), put an end to their disruptions to communications to the west.”
The last reference to them in the Chinese histories is a report of an exchange of diplomatic missions in 436 CE. It is not clear what happened to them after this date. See: Zadneprovskiy (1994) pp. 459-4
The capital of the main branch of the Wusun, referred to as the ‘seat of the Greater Kunmi’ in the Hanshu, was named Chigu 赤谷; literally, ‘Red Valley’ [chi = ‘red’ + gu = ‘valley’. Ch’ih-ku]. This town has so far remained unidentified but I believe it is now possible to locate it with a fair degree of precision and certainty.
First, there is the name of the town, Chigu or ‘Red Valley.’ There is, in fact, a very dramatic and famous red-coloured mountain and valley not far west of the present town of Karaköl:
“About 25 km west of Karakol, at the mouth of the Jeti-öghüz canyon is an extraordinary formation of red sandstone cliffs that has become a kind of tourism trademark for Lake Issyk-Kul.
A village of the same name is just off the main around-the-lake road. Beyond it the earth erupts in red patches, and soon there appears a great splintered hill called Razbitoye Serdtse or Broken Heart. (Legend says two suitors spilled their blood in a fight for a beautiful woman; both died, and this rock is her broken heart.)
Beyond this on the west side of the road is the massive wall of Jeti-Öghüz. The name means Seven Bulls, and of course there is a story here too – of seven calves growing big and strong in the valley’s rich pastures. Erosion has meant that the bulls have multiplied. They are best viewed from a ridge to the east above the road. From that same ridge you can look east into Ushchelie Drakanov, the Valley of Dragons.
Below the wall of the Seven Bulls is one of Issyk-Kul’s surviving spas, the ageing Jeti-Öghüz Sanitorium, built in 1932 with a complex of several plain hotels, a hot pool, a restaurant and some woodland walks….
From here you can walk up the park-like lower canyon of the Jeti-Öghüz river to popular summer picnic spots. Some five km up, the valley opens out almost flat at Dolina Svetov, the Valley of flowers…. There are also said to be pre-Islamic petroglyphs up here, similar to those at Cholpon-Ata.” King, et al. (1996), p. 392.
As there are no other noteworthy red-coloured rock or cliff formations around Issyk-köl, it seems probable that Jeti-öghüz is identical to the ‘Red Valley’ and ‘Red Mountain’ of the early Chinese accounts. This is confirmed by the distances contained in the Hanshu between Chigu and the town of Wensu, to the south of the mountains.
The Hanshu (CICA: 162) gives the distance from Wensu to Chigu as 610 li (254 km). Wensu, was located in the valley of the Dashigan He (also known as the Taushkan Darya), and is usually identified with the region of modern Wushi (Uch Turfan or Urqtur pan), about 85 km west of Aksu (see note 21.7 below).
My measurements range from 230 to 270 km from the Jeti-Öghüz Sanatorium, over the relatively low (4,284 m or 14,055 ft) Bedel Pass to the town of Wushi, depending which of several possible routes are chosen through the mountains. (Checked on Russian Military 1:100,000 topographic maps, 1970 and 1973, and the U.S. Defence Mapping Agency Aerospace Center map ONC6, Sheet F6, 1:1,000,000, revised Feb. 1981). This confirms the likelihood that Chigu was located somewhere in the upper Jeti-Öghüz Valley.
Notes on Bedel Pass adapted from Merzliakova (2003): “In ancient times the Middle branch of the Silk Route went from Chaogan to Kashgar, then Aksu over the Bedel Pass toward Issyk-Kul. Further two branches of the Silk route went from the Pass along the Southern and Northern side of the Issyk-Kul.” “This is the most convenient Pass to the North of Kashgar.”
-Notes to The Western Regions according to the Hou Hanshu. Second Edition (Extensively Revised and Expanded). John E. Hill. University of Washington.