An Imagined Past?

Abstract

Nomads, or highly specialized mobile pastoralists, are prominent features in Central Asian archaeology, and they are often depicted in direct conflict with neighboring sedentary peoples. However, new archaeological findings are showing that the people who many scholars have called nomads engaged in a mixed economic system of farming and herding. Additionally, not all of these peoples were as mobile as previously assumed, and current data suggest that a portion of these purported mobile populations remained sedentary for much or all of the year, with localized ecological factors directing economic choices. In this article, we pull together nine complementary lines of evidence from the second through the first millennia BC to illustrate that in eastern Central Asia, a complex economy existed. While many scholars working in Eurasian archaeology now acknowledge how dynamic paleoeconomies were, broader arguments are still tied into assumptions regarding specialized economies. The formation of empires or polities, changes in social orders, greater political hierarchy, craft specialization-notably, advanced metallurgy-mobility and migration, social relations, and exchange have all been central to the often circular arguments made concerning so-called nomads in ancient Central Asia. The new interpretations of mixed and complex economies more effectively situate Central Asia into a broader global study of food production and social complexity.

Multiculturalism and National-Building Processes in Kazakhstan: Theoretical Perspective

“…The historical relationship exists between nomadic and sedentary peoples, living in quite different environmentssteppes and oases-played a crucial part in shaping the cultural diversity of Central Asia and made an essential contribution to its originality. On the territory of Central Asia for thousands of years thrived various civilizations that have left unique masterpieces of material and spiritual culture (Spengler, 2021).…”

Life on the edge: Animal exploitation at the Shichengzi military fort (Xinjiang, China)

“…The relationship between pastoral and agricultural ways of life, which has shaped the history of conflict and congruence, invasion and integration, acceptance and resistance across Eurasian steppe, has been an enduring theme in archaeology (Frachetti, 2009; Khazanov, 1994; Lees & Bates, 1974; Spengler et al, 2021). Frontier regions between these two economic, political, and cultural landscapes are thus central to dissecting these interactions.…”

Late Bronze Age agriculture and the early westward transmission of rice at Luanzagangzi, Northern Xinjiang, China

“…These join a growing body of archaeobotanical research indicating the spread and diversification of domestic plant use through the Inner Asian mountains before 4000 BP (Doumani et al, 2015; Hermes et al, 2019; Motuzaite Matuzeviciute et al, 2020; Stevens et al, 2016; Yatoo et al, 2020). The past populations of this region have typically been characterised as ‘agropastoralists’, whose various settlement and mobility patterns, cultivation systems, and herd management practices allowed for the development of robust and long-standing adaptations to the environments of the Inner Asian mountains (Hermes et al, 2019; Motuzaite Matuzeviciute et al, 2022; Spate et al, 2022; Spengler et al, 2021b; Wang et al, 2021). Elsewhere, food production systems such as ‘agriculture’ and ‘pastoralism’ have been treated as discrete analytical categories with distinct material signatures (Chang et al, 2022).…”