At the Margin of a World System: Cultural Histories between the Eurasian Steppe and Northwest China

Summary

After 4,000 BC, prehistoric populations in southern Kazakhstan and the western side of the Urals in Central Asia began to migrate towards southwestern Siberia. At the same time, Yangshao culture began to spread, and the scale of their expansion towards the northwest was the greatest. The causes are likely multifold. Firstly, the emergence of agriculture in Holocene leaded to the increases in population pressure. Secondly, the arrival of the Copper Age increased the demand for metals such as copper and gold. The latter may also have been a significant cause for the appearance of new metallurgy exchange spheres to the west of the Urals.

These large-scale population migrations had a long lasting impact on the prehistoric cultures of southwestern Siberia and Xinjiang. The exchanges between the painted pottery-agriculture of the east and the pressure stamped pottery, animal husbandry of the north stimulated the formation of early East-West interaction pathway. This was an important pathway for cultural and trade exchanges between the East and the West. Here, I will name it the proto-Silk Road. This wide road greatly initiated the complexity of prehistoric societies in China, and laid down the earliest foundations for what is known as the Silk Road today.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 82nd Annual Meeting, Vancouver, BC (2017)   •
• Cultural Contacts along the Silk Road during the Early Bronze Age

Keywords

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 15684