"The Northern Frontier in Pre-Imperial China", Cambridge History of
Ancient China (pp. 885-966) ch. 13, Nicolo Di Cosmo.

This is a tremendously fascinating account of the rise of nomadic
cultures on the periphery of Chinese civilization.

   Beginning in about the eighth century B.C., throughout Inner Asia
   horse-riding pastoral communities appear, giving origin to
   warrior societes. Known by the Greeks as Scythians in the western
   end of Asia, their cultural expansion was by no means limited to
   the Pontic steppe to the north of the Black Sea, but extended
   across the Eurasian steppe belt. p. 886

Informing the reader that the primary purpose of the chapter is
consideration of the origin of the Hsiung-Nu, Di Cosmo proceeds to a
listing of periods and a look at the culture complex in the Northern
Zone.

   Most characteristic of the Northern Zone complex are bronze
   weapons, probably indicating that the development of metallurgy
   was linked to the rise of military elites and to increased
   warfare--possibly resulting from competition for economic
   resources. p. 893

Di Cosmo mentions the early Qijia culture (in Kansu and widely
beyond from c. 2000 B.C.E.) sedentary, agricultural, pig raising,
pig sacrificing, horse domesticating, and practising oracle
divination. Then, there are successor cultures, especially the mid
to late second millenium Siwa showing continuity in pottery with the
Qijia. There follow references to contact with Shang China and the
interesting tomb of Fu Hao, consort of Wu Ding (c. 1200 B.C.E.).
This tomb contained many jades from quarries in Sinkiang.

Di Cosmo turns to the chariot, referring to finds from "as early as
2026 B.C." (p. 903) related to the Andronovo culture.

   Though based on preexisting models of wheeled vehicles, the war
   chariot seems to have been developed by the agropastoralists of
   the Andronovo culture. This successful culture was advanced in
   animal domestication and breeding and mastered the art of bronze
   metallurgy to the point that craftsmen were able to manipulate
   alloys so that the quality of the bronze would be harder or
   tougher according to the specific functions of weapons and tools.
   Indeed, economic success and the development of the war chariot
   may have been the basic factors accounting for the rapid spread
   of this culture across the Eurasian steppe from the Urals to
   South Siberia. p. 903

There's mention of chariots depicted in petroglyphs in Inner
Mongolia, South Siberia, the Tienshan Mountains and the Altai
Region. There is mention of foreign peoples named in oracle bone
inscriptions and the Shang Shu (venerated documents). There is
reference to contact, including hostile contact, with Northern
peoples in Shang times. The Karasuk cultural complex of South
Siberia enters the scene. It lasted from the 12th to the 8th Century
B.C.E.

   By the eighth century B.C., many people in different parts of the
   steppe had taken to nomadism. At this time a military aristocracy
   was formed that concentrated in its hands a higher percentage of
   the common wealth (mostly weapons, ornaments, and, especially,
   animals) removed from the rest of the community. p. 911

There's a look at the gradual southward move of horseback riding, at
the spread of iron technology in the early first millennium, at
archaeological cultures such as the Upper Xiajiadian and at the
various Northern peoples named in some Chou literature. This
includes the expression that "Rong" is a general term for hostile
foreigner (p. 921). Mentioning Herodotus's Scythians in the West,
the chapter continues:

   To the east, in Transbaikalia and Mongolia's southern Gobi
   region, is a complex charecterized by ciststone tombs, bronze
   knives with characteristic human and animal decorations on the
   handle, and a Northern Asiatic anthropological type, similar to
   that of the Xiongnu burials of Noin Ula. In Western Mongolia, the
   Altai region, and Tuva, there are timber-chamber burials similar
   to those of Pazyryk, as well as petroglyphs, bronze objects, and
   decorations in the Animal Style typical of the steppe region of
   Kazakhstan, Tuva and South Siberia; the totemic sculptures known
   as "deer stones"; and a racial type with Europoid
   characteristics. p. 925

There follows a look at a variety of archaeological sites across the
Northern Zone. There is reference to the difficulty in attributing
sites to prehistoric peoples. For example, Taohongbala has now come
to be seen as a Hsiung-nu site, though it predates their appearance
in history by a couple of centuries.

   The so-called pre-Xiongnu culture, therefore, should be seen as a
   synchronic evolution of different core areas where a true nomadic
   aristocracy established itself either by migration or internal
   evolution. Throughout the steppe and mountain areas of the
   northern region, increasinly homogeneous material culture,
   religious beliefs, and rituals were adopted, some of which
   co-existed and blended with the mortuary practises of preexisting
   and neighbouring people. Due probably to increased contacts with
   China, the character of this aristocracy gradually began to shift
   from a notion of power and status symbolized by weapons and
   tools, to one in which wealth, accumulated in precious metals and
   stones, horses, and ornamental art, became its predominant
   pursuit. p. 937

There is consideration of the Saka (Scythians) in Sinkiang, of iron
technology moving from the north to China, of the non-nomadic people
called Di in historical sources, of the period from c. 350 B.C.E.
that nomads directly and significantly impacted China with the
building of the walls. There is a look at the very rich tombs of
this later period, and the contact between north and south from
Ssu-ma Ch'ien's mentioning the Hsiung-nu joining an attack against
Ch'in in 318 B.C.E.

   The militarization of the frontier was due to the robust
   territorial expansion of the three northern Chinese states, all
   determined to protect their newly acquired lands. p. 961

There is a look at Chinese knowledge of foreigners, trade or gift
giving, and of the massive thrust north by General Meng in the Ch'in
Dynasty. This led to the unification of the Hsiung-nu and their
powerful status in later history.

Michael McKenny


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