The Steppes: Crucible of Eurasia - units.muohio.edu - Miami University

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herbivore, fantastic scenes (a struggle between two dragons for example). ). Simpler belts consisted of small bronze plaques and beads. The details of the simplest belt were constructed from one or two iron buckles only. The collection considerably supplements a presentation about Xiongnu art: an image of a he-goat on a seal; a plaque depicting a skirmishing between two dragons; other plaques and plates are unique. Aleksandr Naymark, Department of Fine Arts, Art History and Comparative Arts and Culture, Hofstra University (Aleksandr.Naymark@hofstra.edu) (Abstract unavailable) Yihong Pan, Department of History, Miami University (pany@muohio.edu) Locating Advantages: The Survival of the Tuyuhun 吐谷渾 State on the Edge (300-580s) From the early fourth century, the proto-Mongolian-speaking Särbi (Xianbei 鮮卑 in Chinese) and four other semi-nomadic peoples—the Xiongnu 匈奴, Jie 羯, Di 氐, and Qiang 羌 —established a series of states in north and northwest China. One of these states was Tuyughghun, or Tuyuhun in Chinese, which was established by a branch of the Murong 慕容 Särbi and located in present Qinghai 青海. While most other states lasted no more than a couple of generations and the Dai 代 state of the Tabgatch (Ch. Tuoba 拓跋) Särbi went on to establish the Northern Wei 魏 dynasty (386-534), Tuyuhun was successful in transforming itself from a clanbased polity into a dynastic power that survived into the Sui 隋 dynasty (581-617). Although severely defeated by the Sui in 609, it recovered its territory with the collapse of the Sui and rose as a considerable power in the early Tang period (618-907), only to be conquered by the newly risen Tibetan empire in 663. Its history lasted for 350 years. Exploring why Tuyuhun was able to keep its ethnic and political identity for so long, this article asserts that Tuyuhun’s geographical location and ecological conditions on the northeastern Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau placed it in a relatively advantageous position. It enabled the Tuyuhun to develop a mixed economy of herding, farming, handicraft, and trade. It provided the space the Tuyuhun needed to evolve into an aristocratic, semi-nomadic power that ruled over a variety of ethnic peoples. It situated Tuyuhun on the edge of the core regions that were in competition with one another during the Period of Division: north China, south China, the Hexi corridor, the Mongolian steppes, and the Western Regions. Their distance from these powers protected the Tuyuhun from destruction or incorporation, enabling their self-preservation, providing the Tuyuhun with space to retreat to and to expand and to exercise a multilateral form of diplomacy. Furthermore, Tuyuhun’s control over the Qinghai road, a branch of the Silk Road south of the Hexi corridor route, raised its status as a crucial intermediary for trade and regional diplomacy during the Period of Division (220-589) when the Hexi corridor route suffered from political instability. However, the Qinghai location in the end worked against the Tuyuhun when China and Tibet each became a unified power, and Tuyuhun was caught between them, leading to its land annexed by the Tibetan empire. In his study of the relationship between Inner Asia and China, Thomas Barfield has identified four key ecological and cultural areas: Mongolia, north China, Manchuria, and Turkestan. His paradigm leaves out Tuyuhun and Tibet. The article shows that states such as Tuyuhun were important players in the political history of China and Inner Asia and had ripple 10
effects upon the geopolitics of the time. It is not an accident that the Tuyuhun land fell into the rising Tibetan empire from the 630s. Therefore, Tuyuhun and Tibet could be added to Barfield’s analysis as another key ecological and cultural area that played an important role from the early seventh centuries onwards in China’s frontier relations with Inner Asia. Daniel Prior, Department of History, Miami University (priordg@muohio.edu) Integral or Incidental? Indo-European Mythic Fragments in Inner Asia In this paper I trace and seek to explain a number of thematic parallels between a midnineteenth century oral epic poem of the Kirghiz, entitled Joloy Qan, and two seemingly unrelated symbolic phenomena: a Hsiung-nu–era Siberian figurative bronze belt buckle plaque from the Arthur M. Sackler Collections, and a diverse set of mythic themes from a broad range of ancient Indo-European traditions. Judging the soundness of these correspondences is a matter of methodological and theoretical interest, as they involve ethnolinguistic diversities and spans of time and space on scales that push the bounds of plausible reconstruction. The movements of peoples and ideas suggested by these correspondences conform to some models of Inner Asian prehistory while challenging others. The three items under comparison display “exquisite correspondences,” thematic parallels the number and narrative precision of which would seem to demand some kind of explanation besides pure chance. A hero/god figure who is guilty of kin killing, breach of oath, and sexual transgressions, goes berserk and kills his own warriors, and decapitates an enemy; his sister has a sexual liaison with an enemy, and is dragged to death by horses; a young hero/god (the aforementioned one or his son) is born of the waters, has nine joint parents who are siblings, has sword- and sheep/goat-associations, and lacks a wife: these themes are found in Joloy Qan and in dispersed remnant form in Norse (Germanic), Roman (Italic), Vedic (Indo-Aryan), Ossetic (Iranian), and Nuristani (Dardic/Indo-Iranian) traditions. The young hero/god, who has a relationship with a hawk–spirit-maiden, transports his elders in a cart to a land of everlasting happiness: these themes are found in Joloy Qan and the Hsiung-nu belt buckle. Although the composition of the recent Kirghiz epic Joloy Qan is a process about which very little is known, it seems that some elements of the story preserve very ancient narrative complexes that have elsewhere been scattered almost beyond recognition. Leland Rogers, Department of Anthropology, Indiana University (lelroger@indiana.edu) Ancient DNA from the Elite Xiongnu at Ögiinuur Sum, Arkhangai, Mongolia It has been fairly well established that the Bronze Age inhabitants of the Hangai mountain range in Mongolia were predominantly “Europoid”; the Xiongnu population shows a substantial mixing. Nine Xiongnu period ancient bone samples from Elite Xiongnu period burials at Ögiinuur Sum, Arkhangai, have had preliminary testing of the HVS 1 region of their mitochondrial DNA. Seven of the samples have produced some results. While all the results must be confirmed, results suggest a higher proportion of “Europoid” markers than expected. The region of study was chosen due to its relative proximity to the ancient Mongol and Uyghur capitals, along with its relative proximity to known burials of the Xiongnu imperial house. This is a work in progress of 44 Xiongnu period samples from the southeast Hangai range granted by the National University of Mongolia. 11
Page 1 and 2: PROGRAM AND ABSTRACTS The Steppes:
Page 3 and 4: Saturday, December 1 9:30-10:00 a.m
Page 5 and 6: fox, and birds (Chang et al. 2003).
Page 7 and 8: ise of the Silk Roads. In this pape
Page 9: came to the fore after M.I. Rostovt
Page 13: Robert S. Wicks, Miami University A

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