10-21-2015, 01:05 AM
Michael,
Gotcha. The delegation included Tamils, and they described the intermediaries between the Chinese and themselves as people we now recognize as Tocharians or Yue-chi.
Here's another note (or connection) to the Altai, very similar to the Turkic-speaking Tashtyk tribe you mentioned as having European features. This additional tribe originally called themselves the "Ashina," derived from "ashin," and similar to "asvin" and "aswin," eg Wusun. Originally they were metal workers in the Altai and spoke Indo-Iranian, their language similar to Saka. By c. AD 440, when they entered Chinese history, they were Turkic speakers who had just broken from their Rau-ran overlords. The Ashina continued using Indo-Iranian titles for their rulers. The progenitor of their tribe had an identical legendary childhood as the Wusun's founder, abandoned on the steppe and raised by a raven.
It would appear that more that one tribe, later Turkic-speaking, started off as Indo-Iranian with Europoid features, the Turkic peoples of today still looking Iranian. Here is a Tashtyk death mask as an example:
[attachment=12930]inside_right.jpg[/attachment]
And here is the most famous steppe breed of all time, your favorite and mine-- the Akhal-teke-- straight from the Altai kurgans to today's Turkmen breeders. Her name is Star. On the steppe, a white-spotted horse was favored due to the belief they had harder hooves. A mount with a star on its forehead was considered a lucky horse, a "qash-ka-i." :-)
[attachment=12931]Star,Akhal-teke,female.jpg[/attachment]
Gotcha. The delegation included Tamils, and they described the intermediaries between the Chinese and themselves as people we now recognize as Tocharians or Yue-chi.
Here's another note (or connection) to the Altai, very similar to the Turkic-speaking Tashtyk tribe you mentioned as having European features. This additional tribe originally called themselves the "Ashina," derived from "ashin," and similar to "asvin" and "aswin," eg Wusun. Originally they were metal workers in the Altai and spoke Indo-Iranian, their language similar to Saka. By c. AD 440, when they entered Chinese history, they were Turkic speakers who had just broken from their Rau-ran overlords. The Ashina continued using Indo-Iranian titles for their rulers. The progenitor of their tribe had an identical legendary childhood as the Wusun's founder, abandoned on the steppe and raised by a raven.
It would appear that more that one tribe, later Turkic-speaking, started off as Indo-Iranian with Europoid features, the Turkic peoples of today still looking Iranian. Here is a Tashtyk death mask as an example:
[attachment=12930]inside_right.jpg[/attachment]
And here is the most famous steppe breed of all time, your favorite and mine-- the Akhal-teke-- straight from the Altai kurgans to today's Turkmen breeders. Her name is Star. On the steppe, a white-spotted horse was favored due to the belief they had harder hooves. A mount with a star on its forehead was considered a lucky horse, a "qash-ka-i." :-)
[attachment=12931]Star,Akhal-teke,female.jpg[/attachment]
Alan J. Campbell
member of Legio III Cyrenaica and the Uncouth Barbarians
Author of:
The Demon's Door Bolt (2011)
Forging the Blade (2012)
"It's good to be king. Even when you're dead!"
Old Yuezhi/Pazyrk proverb
member of Legio III Cyrenaica and the Uncouth Barbarians
Author of:
The Demon's Door Bolt (2011)
Forging the Blade (2012)
"It's good to be king. Even when you're dead!"
Old Yuezhi/Pazyrk proverb
