When Is a Foraging Society? The Loplik in the Tarim Basin

Ståhlberg, Sabira; Svanberg, Ingvar

doi:10.1007/978-3-319-42271-8_2

Cited by 5 publications

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“…Seasonal migrations between summer and winter settlements were common. Especially the abundance of mosquitoes forced many Loptuq away from the waterways in summer [ 35 , 60 ] The limited biological resources and ecosystem services provided by their habitat were mainly provisional, food, raw materials, energy, folk medicine and ornamental, but they were also used in several important biocultural domains [ 65 , 66 ].…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Before 1958, the Tarim River was home to around 15 native fish species [ 68 ]. A few other fish species known by the Loptuq were mentioned by travellers, but cannot be identified; among them is Hedin’s and Malov’s laqu , the biggest fish in Lop Nor with a big head [ 31 , 63 , 66 , 69 ]. Another unidentified large fish was the juγan [ 63 ].…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Other fur and skin animals the Loptuq hunted were Eurasian otter, Lutra lutra , red foxes, Vulpes vulpes and whooper swans, Cygnus cygnus . All these were bartered with traders or peasants in settlements [ 49 , 66 ]. Local begs also collected tax in furs, and the Loptuq paid yearly a certain amount of otter skin to the amban of Turpan.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Making the most of scarce biological resources in the desert: Loptuq material culture in Eastern Turkestan around 1900

Hällzon,

Ötkür,

Ståhlberg

et al. 2024

J Ethnobiology Ethnomedicine

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Background Most fisher-gatherer communities we know of utilized a limited number of natural resources for their livelihood. The Turkic-speaking Loptuq (exonym Loplik, Loplyk) in the Lower Tarim River basin, Taklamakan desert, Eastern Turkestan (Xinjiang), were no exception. Their habitat, the Lop Nor marsh and lake area, was surrounded by desert and very poor in plant species; the Loptuq had to make the most of a handful of available biological resources for housing, furniture, clothing and fabric, fishnets and traps, tools and other equipment. The taxa used by the Loptuq were documented by foreign explorers at the end of the nineteenth and beginning of the twentieth centuries, prior to the forced resettlement of the group in the 1950s and subsequent destruction of their language, lifestyle and culture. Methods and sources Ethnobiology explores the relationship between humans and their environment, including the use of biological resources for different purposes. In several aspects, historical ethnobiology is more challenging; it studies this relationship in the past and therefore cannot verify results with informants. As the present study discusses an extinct culture on the basis of literary and material sources, we apply a method called source pluralism. This approach allows the inclusion and combination of a wide range of data and materials, even scraps of information from various sources, with the aim to understand phenomena which are sparsely mentioned in historical records. Travel reports by Swedish, British, German, American and Russian explorers together with linguistic data provide the most important sources for understanding Loptuq interaction with the environment and its biota. Especially the large number of toponyms and phytonyms recorded by the Swedish explorer Sven Hedin and materials from his expeditions, including voucher specimens kept in Stockholm in the herbarium of the Swedish Natural History Museum, and objects of material culture in the collections of the Ethnographical Museum, are crucial for our analysis about local knowledge among the Loptuq. Illustrations and photographs provide us with additional information. Results The question of how the Loptuq managed to survive at the fringe of a desert, a marsh and a lake which changed its location, intrigued all foreign visitors to the Lop Nor. The Loptuq’s main livelihood was fishing, hunting and gathering, and their material culture provided by plants and other organic materials included their usage, consumption and trade. Only a handful of species formed the basis of the Loptuq material culture, but they had learned to use these specific plants for a variety of purposes. The most important of these were Lop hemp, Poacynum pictum (Schrenk) Baill., the riparian tree Euphrates poplar, Populus euphratica Olivier, and the aquatic common reed, Phragmites australis (Cav.) Trin. ex Steud. Several species of tamarisk were used for fuel and building fences. A few plants were also harvested for making foodstuffs such as snacks and potherbs. In addition, the Loptuq also used fur, bird skins, down, feathers, mammal bones and fish bones for their material needs. The habitat provided cultural ecological services such as motifs for their folklore, linguistic expressions and songs, and the Loptuq engaged in small-scale bartering of plant products and furs with itinerant traders, which ensured them with a supply of metal for making tools. Conclusion This article discusses the now extinct Loptuq material culture as it existed more than a hundred years ago, and how the scarce biological resources of their desert and marsh habitat were utilized. Loptuq adaptation strategies to the environment and local knowledge, transmitted over generations, which contributed to their survival and subsistence, were closely connected with the use of biological resources. For this study, a comprehensive approach has been adopted for the complex relationships between human, biota and landscape. The Loptuq are today largely ignored or deleted from history for political reasons and are seldom, if at all, mentioned in modern sources about the Lop Nor area. Their experience and knowledge, however, could be useful today, in a period of rapid climate change, for others living in or at the fringe of expanding deserts.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Making the most of scarce biological resources in the desert: Loptuq material culture in Eastern Turkestan around 1900

Hällzon,

Ötkür,

Ståhlberg

et al. 2024

J Ethnobiology Ethnomedicine

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“…contemporary Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, were underutilizing the resources in lakes and rivers of balïq 'fish' in Eastern Turki and béliq 'fish' in Modern Uyghur as nutrients (Le Coq, 1916: 38;Jarring, 1998: 8). With the exceptions of the Loptuq people in the Lower Tarim and Lop-Nur area, who were specialized fishermen, and Dolan villagers along the Yarkand river near Maralbashi, fishing does not appear to have been a common livelihood (Ståhlberg & Svanberg, 2010, 2017Svanberg, 1996). The few articles written by missionaries working in the Tarim area in the early twentieth century also reflect this view.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Fish and Fishing in Eastern Turkestan A Contribution To Central Asian Ethnoichthyology

Ötkür¹,

Hällzon

Svanberg

2020

Uluslararası Uygur Araştırmaları Dergisi

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This article provides some glimpses into the importance and many uses of fish in Eastern Turkestan in the late 19 th , early 20 th century and today. Apart from a few scholarly articles, mainly dealing with the Loplik and Dolan, little has been published on fish among the Turkic speaking Muslims of Eastern Turkestan. According to a common perception among foreign observers in Central Asia, the sedentary Turkic Muslims of Eastern Turkestan, i.e. contemporary Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, were underutilizing the available fish resources. Despite the fact that fishing and the local population's knowledge about fish is poorly documented, fish seems to have been used for more than food, especially along the rivers of the region. This essay reviews the historical use and economic importance of fish in Eastern Turkestan in areas like food and traditional medicine. Other aspects discussed in the text are naming, folk taxonomy, mythology and additional facets of the importance fish among the Uyghurs today. Finally, the article will also present examples from oral literature such as folktales, proverbs, poetry, folk songs and riddles mentioning fish.

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“…Setiap komunitas cenderung memiliki sistem pengetahuan khas tentang pemilihan lokasi yang ideal dan lokasi yang dihindari sebagai areal permukiman, bahkan ketika permukiman sudah terbentuk, setiap komunitas juga memiliki cara khas bagaimana menata permukiman tersebut. Bermukim di tepian sungai, bisa dipandang sebagai ujud pola gagasan dan perilaku masyarakatnya (Ririmasse, 2007;Stahlberg, 2017). Dengan kata lain, sebuah permukiman lebih sebagai hasil pengejawantahan (ekspresi) konsepsi manusia mengenai ruang, serta hasil upayanya untuk mengubah dan memanfaatkan lingkungan fisik berdasarkan atas pandangan dan pengetahuan yang mereka miliki mengenai lingkungan tersebut (Ahimsa-Putra, 1997;Langub, 2016).…”

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Living in the riverbanks: Case of the Ogan malay community settlement, South Sumatera

Arifin

Rahman

2020

ETNOSIA Jurnal Etnografi Indonesia

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This article attempts to understand how the settlement layout of riverbank communities, with the case in the Ogan Malay community in South Sumatra province. This article is based on empirical reality in which the community tends to always live on the riverbank, especially the riverbank, with raging water. For the Ogan Malay community, the settlement is an area consisting of villages as dwellings, but also include agricultural areas (fields, fields, and gardens) and other supporting areas, as a source of life. As a riverbank community, the river has always been central in determining the layout of elements of its settlements, thus creating a unique settlement layout pattern. This article is the result of ethnographic (anthropological) research conducted by the author in April - June 2019. Data were collected through depth interviews with indigenous leaders and local communities in the location, as well as through participant observation of life activities in the research field. The results showed that living on the riverbanks is not arbitrary, but based on the community's knowledge system on the river environment itself. This knowledge creates a unique pattern of community settlement layout, where the river has always been central in the preparation of layout planning.

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When Is a Foraging Society? The Loplik in the Tarim Basin

Cited by 5 publications

References 11 publications

Making the most of scarce biological resources in the desert: Loptuq material culture in Eastern Turkestan around 1900

Making the most of scarce biological resources in the desert: Loptuq material culture in Eastern Turkestan around 1900

Fish and Fishing in Eastern Turkestan A Contribution To Central Asian Ethnoichthyology

Living in the riverbanks: Case of the Ogan malay community settlement, South Sumatera

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