Origin of the Alans

[Alanus]

Adrian,

Interestingly, the woman on the Pazyryk Kurgan 5 felt hanging is viewed from the side. The woman on the Ordos-styled buckle in the Peter the Great collection also faces sideways as her headdress entwines in the branches of the Tree of Life. (Also, a goryotos hangs in the tree.) Both of these women appear to be bald-headed. Herodotus describes the Argippians as bald-headed ("from birth"); plus the woman in P K5 had her head shaved bald, and so did the shaman-priestess from Ukok (aka the "Ice Princess). The K5 woman also had Chinese-styled tattoos unlike those of other Pazyryk deceased. Was she Chinese? We'll never know because her skull was crushed by robbers.

As speculation, I believe the woman in Berel K 11 was Chinese... and that her husband (buried 30 years earlier) may have been the famed horse dealer Wushi Lau (or Lou). Sima Qian claims he was treated with the same respect as "the lords of a state of 10,000 chariots." If anything, the Wushi Lau tale punctuates the lively trade between the Qin Dynasty and the Yuezhi.

On the other hand, the Chinese "Mother of the West" is always seated facing the viewer, but we wouldn't think she would have any connection to Egypt. These depictions are an enigma.

   
Here is a Han-era ink-rubbing from Chengdu. The Queen Mother of the West, again, is seated front-facing. She is totally surrounded by animals with offerings, even a frog (or toad).