Origin of the Alans

[Alanus]

John Carpenter's Halloween 14-- an Entire Civilization Vanishes.

We now turn to the Iron Age. In the Mongolian valley of Baga Oigor (discussed above), we find additional and rather interesting petroglyphs. Here's a great image:

   
We have riders hunting argali, and the central figure is mounted on a horse with a triple-crenellated mane. We know from past posts on this thread that trimming a horse's mane with three crenellations was characteristic of only a few tribes-- the Yuezhi, Wusun, and Aorsi. In this case, we are looking at horsemen from the Pazyryk-Ukok culture... no more than 50 to 75 kilometers from these rock drawings. (These Yuezhi riders were identified by Esther Jacobson-Tepfer as "Turkic." French historian-- Dr. Jean Clottes-- seconded her observation. This RAT thread has pictorial proof to dismiss any Turkic scenario.)

   
Here's additional proof. Wusun and early Yuezhi  warrior graves had a "log cabin" constructed around the deceased, typically built on the mortise and tenon principle. Later Yuezhi internments in the Ganzu Corridor were "podboi" catacomb graves, but this is Western Mongolia in the mid Iron Age... and the grave is not Turkic.

Warriors and lower-strata members of the Arzhan-to-Ukok culture were buried on the steppe; only leaders and high-ranking elites are found in mountain valleys of the Altai. This society revered the highest altitudes, no doubt through religion. Only in the upper reaches of this mountain chain do we find "royal" burials. The archaeological progression runs from the north (earliest) to the south (latest). Here it is simplified, using Herodotus, with approximate or specific dates:

Arzhan I: 9th to 8th Century BC. (Origin of the "Scythian Culture," includes Issedones and Arimaspi.)

Arzhan II: 659 to 622 BC. (Prior to 700 BC, Issedones driven southwest by Arimaspi.) 

Pazyryk: 6th to 3rd Centuries BC. (Arimaspi)

Ukok Plateau: End of 3rd Century BC. (Arimaspi)

The above sites are from a single culture-- the Arimaspi or Pazyryk People-- the oldest, most sophisticated, and most eastern confederation in the Scythian-Saka continuum. No other tribes can fit within this connective and geographic belt. (I follow Sulimirsky, who placed the Arimaspi in this location back in 1970.) But a lingering question remains, "Is there a way to prove the Pazyryk culture was actually, and undoubtedly, the Yuezhi?"

   
Here we go. Recently, an investigative team (Slusarenko, Christen, Orlova, Kuzmin, and Burr) obtained accurate C14 dates on the actual logs used to make the "cabins" in Pazyryk and Ukok graves. They studied 12 logs from different sites, using tree rings as a yearly count, then refining the data by "wiggle-matching," a very accurate method. The map (above) shows the areas where the logs were obtained.

   
The last kurgan built by this "culture" was Ulandryk-4, Kurgan 1. Prosaic barbarians like me know it as "The Ukok Priestess" Kurgan. Now here's something interesting-- After Ukok Kurgan 1 was built, the Pazyryk culture disappeared. They completely vanished, and neither archaeologists nor historians have given any kind of account for it. But we can... if we think about it. Look at the dates on the above graph, perhaps the most interesting being just below 180 BC, somewhere like 178 to 176 BC. The survey team was conservative, noting, "Thus, the end of creating the Pazyryk culture kurgans at Ukok Plateau corresponds in general to the same time [as the tree-ring dating], approximately 230 to 190 BC."

So, here's the test. You choose the correct answer, because I'm not giving it to you.

Fact: The last Pazyryk kurgan was built c. 230-190 B.C. Then the entire culture vanished. (corrected,3/11/16,perR.Vermaat)

Q. Where did the Pazyryk Culture go?

a) A terrible organism-eating plague swept through the Altai, killing all the Pazyrykians and their live-stock, which rotted to dust almost immediately.

b) A large Mothership from the planet Argonia hovered over the Altai, beaming up all the people, their horses, their cattle, and their sheep... then transporting them to Ryjel 7 as a "seed colony."

c) The Pazyrykians were the Yuechi, and they were driven from the Altai and Ganzu by the Xiongnu in the 4th year of the rein of Emperor Wen (177-176 BC.) (historical source: Sima Quang, Shiji, Chapter 110)

d) All of the above.



   
It's Nice to be King. Even when you're Totally Dead.