Orlat Battle Plaque\'s Importance

[Alanus]

Firstly, what are those first illustrations of the scabbard slide from the Altai? Secondly, the hypothesis that the scabbard slide was used in the Altai (or anywhere else outside of China) before its first appearance in the Chinese archaeological record cannot be proved one way or the other... Until solid proof is found of scabbard slides outside of China before its introduction there in the 5th c. BC, therefore, any discussion of scabbard slides is useless to the matter at hand, which is the Orlat plaque.

What we have is the scabbard slide showing up in both Chinese and Altai cultures at the same time. Here is an Altai plaque showing the slide:
[attachment=885]orlofbeltplaque003.JPG[/attachment]
It's the companion piece to the more famous "tree of life" plaque. Rudenko attributed it to the 6th century BC. (see Rudenko, pp. 29, 36, 43; and Jettmar, pp. 209-213) Alekseev and Barkova give a date of 5th to 4th century BC. (see Golden Deer, pp. 290-290) So the date is either arguable or can be taken on average at the 5th century BC.

Now we need an illustration and accurate dating of the Chinese find, including sources.


I'd rather not believe the Chinese lived in a non-horse-riding void until the Warring States period. They had actual-physical contact with northwestern steppe tribes early on. Mencius tells us that Zhou Wen (1152-1056BC and founder of the Western Zhou Dynasty) was a "man of the Western Yi," a steppe tribe. Then we have the famous "Chinese bride" chariot found at Pazyryk. The chariot has a steppe origin but was obviously used by a neighboring culture. By 800BC we have Chinese metallic items depicting riders hunting, including people who looked like Saka-- "Images featured bearded Europoids with prominent long noses, thin lips, and rounded eyes." (Kelekna, p.138)

But none of this has relevance to the Orlat plaque. It simply points out that no society lived as an island. Vortigern Studies has mentionedd the futility of assigning dates that are unassignable. :mrgreen:

What we know or conjecture of the Orlat plaque will always be arguable. I feel no reason to post again on this subject. But I'm certainly awaiting the illustrated and reference-dated Chinese scabbard slide in MeinPanzer's upcoming post. :-)