Origin of the Alans

[Alanus]

Thank you, Michael!

Your post contained exceedingly good grit. We seem to have the same general premise-- that pastoralism does not change, the localities do, the ethnicity does, but the basic success of pastoralism and horse breeding requires constant seasonal movement, and what was correct and successful in the days of the Pazyryks is also seen in the records of the Northern Wei Dynasty.

Even today, the breeders of Kabardins take their stock into the highlands of the Caucasus during the summer. Closer to "home," today's Kazakh pastoralists in Altay Prefecture use the high ground in the summer and then move further down into Dzungaria during the winter. This particular group has been studied by Fernandez-Gimenez, Wang, et al. in Restoring Community Connections to the Land, a terribly over-priced paperback that I found at a better price through Barnes & Noble. But even the B&N price is ridiculous for what it is. B&N doesn't actually carry it, but rather a small scholastic-book dealer in the Midwest. I ordered it 10 days ago, it still hasn't been shipped, and I'm guessing it's actually purchased from the publisher when an order like mine shows up.

   
First, here is a map of Pazyryk burial sites. Not all are shown, but we can get an idea of the territory's extent. Not exactly small.

   
I think it's reasonable to compare the pastoral needs of these Altay Kazakhs, territory-wise, with the requirements of the southern Pazyryks, those buried in Berel and earlier in Maiemir (which is close to Berel), and possibly those at Upper Kaljin and Ak-alakha (Ukok). The Maiemir-Berel groups had to be the ones using the ritual sites at Sandauhaizi, principally Shibal-kul 1. This is were we find 50 deer-stones, each one representing an individual warrior. That's not just a great number of years, it equates with centuries of use. Also, there are thousands and thousands of lesser burials in this area. Above is a map of the Altay Prefecture and the northern half of Dzungaria. It's my gut feeling these southern Pazyryks lived in Qinghe, Fuyun, Habahe, and Burquin counties. (I will narrow down the actual deer-stone locations in a following post.)

   
The other major area falls on the eastern side of the Altai, directly east of Altay Prefecture. This is the area studied by Esther Jacobson-Tepfer. She did not study the deer-stones in detail, nor did she elaborate on the many Pazyryk-related burials but four of them have been excavated starting with Parzinger. Like northern Dzungaria, this area is huge and was continuously occupied from the Bronze Age to the Iron Age with a single evolving culture-- DSK Complexes, ritual khirigsuurs, and Pazyryk graves. The area lies in the entire western third of Mongolia, and encompasses Bayan-Olgii Aimag, Kovd Aimag, and probably the northern province of Uvs. To actually see what this pastoral area looks like, you can view The Eagle Huntress, where Aisholpan and her family move from autumn camp to winter camp. You see the steppe in all its naked wonder, and precisely why Nobody practices agriculture in this harsh environment. The Pazyryk elites living in Olgii and Kovd were probably buried on the Ukok plateau, which also made an excellent summer grazing area. On the other hand, the warrior class was buried through-out the Western Mongolian aimags.

   
Another area is the Chuya Steppe, just northwest of Olgii and in Altai Republic of Russia. In the Chuya's Yustyd Valley, over 5,500 "memorials" have been found, 99.9% of them not excavated and most of them linked to the warrior class (with a good portion into the Turkic period). The map shows the dense location of the burials.

Frankly, by viewing the immense area the Pazyryks used for burials and ritual gatherings we are looking at a huge swath of Dzungaria and Western Mongolia. The whole area is larger than I initially imagined. Thanks again for the Northern Wei info.