Eurasian nomads

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Scythian
shield ornament of deer, in gold

The Eurasian nomads were groups of nomadic peoples living throughout the Eurasian Steppe, who are largely known from frontier historical sources from Europe and Asia.[1]

A nomad is a member of people having no permanent abode, who travel from place to place to find fresh pasture for their livestock. The generic title encompasses the varied ethnic groups who have at times inhabited the

Scythian art
.

History

Map of various Iranic nomadic peoples in Central Asia during the Iron Age highlighted in green
Cuman–Kipchak confederation in Eurasia c. 1200
The boundary of 13th century Mongol Empire and location of today's Mongols in modern Mongolia, Russia and China

Sakastan
.

The western Iranians, the Alans and Sarmatians, settled down and became the ruling elite of several eastern

Slavic tribes[6]
and some of these Iranians also assimilated into the Slavic cultures,
4th millennium BCE (see Kurgan hypothesis). The Cimmerians were the earliest invading equestrian steppe nomads that are known in Eastern European sources. Their military strength was always based on cavalry, and they were among the first to have developed true cavalry.[9]

Historically, areas to the north of China including

wolves, describing them as cruel and greedy.[10] Iron and bronze were supplied from China.[11] An early theory proposed by Owen Lattimore suggesting that the nomadic tribes could have been self-sufficient was criticized by later scholars, who questioned whether their raids may have been motivated by necessity rather than greed. Subsequent studies noted that nomadic demand for grain, textiles and ironware exceeded China's demand for Steppe goods. Anatoly Khazanov identified this imbalance in production as the cause of instability in the Steppe nomadic cultures. Later scholars argued that peace along China's northern border largely depended on whether the nomads could obtain the essential grains and textiles they needed through peaceful means such as trade or intermarriage. Several tribes organized to form the Xiongnu, a tribal confederation that gave the nomadic tribes the upper hand in their dealings with the settled agricultural Chinese people.[10]

During the

Yada. By the end of the 6th century, following the Göktürk civil war, the short-lived empire had split into the Eastern and Western Turkic Khaganates, before it was conquered by the Tang in 630 and 657, respectively.[12]

Nomadism persists in the steppe lands, though it has generally been disapproved of by modern regimes, who have often discouraged it with varying degrees of coercion.

Culture

Social networks were a crucially important part of nomadic life on the Eurasian steppe.

noker.[14]

Alliances could also be established through intermarriage. Eurasian steppe nomads practiced exogamy, by marrying off women from their tribe to outside groups.[14] It was also common for nomadic men to marry foreign princesses.[14] These marriages were an important part of the empire-building process.[13]

Eurasian steppe nomads shared common Earth-rooted cosmological beliefs based on the themes of sky worship.[15] Ancient Turkic origin myths often reference caves or mines as a source of their ancestors, which reflects the importance of iron making among their ancestors.[15]

Ageism was a feature of ancient Eurasian nomad culture.[16] Steppe societies placed a premium on the value of young males, as shown by their harsh treatment of older people.[17] The Alans held their elderly in low regard, and the Saka customarily executed people once they were too old to work.[17] The Xiongnu often withheld food from older people during times of need or conflict.[17] Hsu argues that these phenomena can best be explained by the war-like nature of steppe society.[17]

Among the

shamanistic abilities.[18] The transgender features of the Enaree may have arisen accidentally through excessive horseback riding, or they may have consumed fermented mare urine, which could have altered their hormonal profiles and facilitated the transition to a feminine gender.[19][20] The Scythians may have adopted this gender tradition from other Central Asian steppe or Siberian societies.[21] Similar transgender phenomena have also been documented among Turkic peoples in Central Asia, as well as in other nomads from Siberia.[22][23]

There is striking uniformity in the material cultures of Eurasian nomads.[24]

Chronological division

Chronologically, there have been several "waves" of invasions of either Europe, the Near East, India and China from the steppe.

Bronze Age spread of Yamnaya steppe pastoralist ancestry into two subcontinents—Europe and South Asia—from c. 3300 to 1500 BC[25]
Bronze Age
Indo-Aryan migration
Classical Antiquity
Iranian peoples;
Migration period
Early Middle Ages
Gurjars
  • Jurchen
    • Early Modern period
    Kalmyks
  • Kazakhs
  • Kyrgyz
  • Karakalpaks
  • Yörüks
  • Dzungar Khanate

    • See also

    By region

    For a more comprehensive list, see List of nomadic peoples.

    References

    1. ^ the Steppe at the Encyclopædia Britannica
    2. ^ Matossian Shaping World History p. 43
    3. ^ "What We Theorize – When and Where Domestication Occurred". International Museum of the Horse. Archived from the original on 2016-07-19. Retrieved 2015-01-27.
    4. ^ "Horsey-aeology, Binary Black Holes, Tracking Red Tides, Fish Re-evolution, Walk Like a Man, Fact or Fiction". Quirks and Quarks Podcast with Bob Macdonald. CBC Radio. 2009-03-07. Retrieved 2010-09-18.
    5. S2CID 154140533
      .
    6. ISBN 978-0-300-00247-8
      . "Though the Alans were originally typical nomads, in time some of their clans settled down and, as they mixed with the native agricultural population, gradually came to dominate several of the east Slavic tribes,
    7. ISBN 978-0-8090-1593-1
      . "In the same way as the Sarmatian 'Croats', they dominated and then melted into Slav populations around them."
    8. ISBN 978-0-19-087690-6
      . " In terms of language, Ossetians are descended from a medieval people called the Alans,³
    9. ISBN 978-0-19-511216-0
      . "Cimmerians were among the first mounted nomads to use real cavalry; the objects from their graves include personal ornaments, weapons, and horse harnesses: most importantly horse bits of North Caucasian types..."
    10. ^ a b Di Cosmo, Nicola. "Ancient Inner Asian Nomads: Their Economic Basis and Its Significance in Chinese History". The Journal of Asian Studie 53, no. 9 (1994): 1092–126.
    11. ISBN 978-0-521-77020-0
      .
    12. ^ Wang, Zhenping and Joshua A. Fogel (Ed.). 2017. Dancing with the Horse Riders: The Tang, the Turks, and the Uighurs. In Tang China in Multi-Polar Asia, 11–54. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press. Retrieved 12 Feb 2018 [ISBN missing]
    13. ^
      ISBN 978-1-4008-3470-9
      .
    14. ^ a b c d Burbank 2021, p. 95.
    15. ^
      ISBN 978-1-4422-1445-3
      .
    16. ^ Hsu, Yiu-Kang (2010). Archaeological investigations of Xiongnu-Hun cultural connections (Thesis).
    17. ^ a b c d Hsu 2010, p. 126.
    18. ^
      ISBN 978-1-108-57486-0
      .
    19. ^ Surtees 2020, p. 40.
    20. ISBN 978-1-136-45519-3
      .
    21. ISBN 978-0-304-33760-6
      .
    22. ISBN 978-0-8147-7165-5
      .
    23. ISBN 978-1-4744-4706-5
      .
    24. ISBN 978-1-58839-205-3
      .
    25. ^ "Steppe migrant thugs pacified by Stone Age farming women". ScienceDaily. Faculty of Science - University of Copenhagen. 4 April 2017.

    Bibliography

    External links

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