Nomads as Agents of Cultural Change: The Mongols and their Eurasian Predecessors ed. by Reuven Amitai and Michal Biran (review)

In addition to an introduction written by Michal Biran (Hebrew University, Israel), this book includes eleven chapters. Three are for pre- and early historical periods of the Eurasian Steppes, namely the articles of Gideon Shelach Lavi (Hebrew University, Israel), Anatotly M. Khazanov (University of Wisconsin-Madison, United States), and William Honeychurch (Yale University, United States); four focus on medieval Inner Asia and China, including pieces by İsenbike Togan (Bogaziçi University, Turkey), Thomas Allsen (University of New Jersey, United States), Michal Biran (Hebrew University, Israel), and Morris Rossabi (City University of New York and Columbia University, United States); two on Mongols and West Asia by George Lane (SOAS of the University of London, UK) and Reuven Amitai (Hebrew University, Israel); and the remaining two are written by István Vásáry (ELTE University of Budapest, Hungary) and David Morgan (University of Wisconsin-Madison, United States). Collectively, the authors are from Europe, the United States, and Israel.

Gideon Shelach Lavi's chapter, "Steppe Land Interactions and Their Effects on Chinese Cultures during the Second and Early First Millennia BCE," criticizes the formal popular idea in China's academic circles before the 1990s stating that the Yellow River basin was the cradle of China's civilization and its culture spread step by step to the neighboring areas surrounding it. He stressed that the introduction of wheeled transport, metallurgy, horse riding, and wheat from Eurasian nomads had a significant impact on the development of China's early civilization.

In fact, there have been varying views in China. Some Chinese scholars had already challenged this idea after observing the development of archaeological results done outside China. Some scholars noticed that some stone implements found in Shuidong Gou 水洞沟 of Ningxia showed evidence of a strong Levallois technique.¹ When discussing the east-west communication in pre-historical period, Wang Wei, director of the Institute of Archaeology of China's Academy of Social Sciences, made mention of the introduction of wheat to the Central Plains via Eurasia and West China, the west-east transferring process of metallurgy based on the bronze relics found in Majiayao (马家窑) and Siba (四坝) cultures of West China, and the possible link between the earlier iron working in west Asia which developed in China in 800 b.c. in the Western Zhou period. The same author discussed Eurasian influence on the origin of horse breeds and wheels in Shang China and the introduction of cattle and sheep breeds from West Asia to China based on DNA evidence.² Lin Meichun, another Chinese archaeologist, even discussed the possible route through which the barbed spear passed from the Seima-Turbino culture of Ural-Artai area to China.³

Anatotly M. Khazanov's chapter, "The Skythians and Their Neighbors," provides a panoramic introduction of the Scythians and their relationships with neighboring nations. For Chinese scholars, among the most interesting ideas in this chapter is the similar customs shared by both Scythians and the Xiongnu mentioned by the author, in particular the making of cups from the skulls of killed enemies.

Due to the fact that the primary written resources describing the Xiongnu are Chinese sources, which usually focused on the relationship between the Han and contemporary Eurasian nomads, modern Chinese historians have very little information about the role that the Xiongnu played in the east-west communication. William Honeychurch's chapter, "From Steppe Roads to Silk Roads: Inner Asian Nomads and Early Interregional Exchanges," discusses the artifacts and cultural relics found through archaeological excavation in Mongolia and in northern and western neighboring areas, and he analyzes their possible meanings from the perspective of the role played by the Xiongnu in cultural exchanges between east and west during the Western and Eastern Han period. This chapter will be of interest to many Chinese scholars.

In the second section, İsenbike Togan's "The...