Eurasian nomads form groups ofnomadic peoples who have lived in various areas of theEurasian Steppe. History largely knows them via frontier historical sources fromEurope andAsia.[1]
The steppe nomads had no permanent abode, but travelled from place to place to find fresh pasture for their livestock. The generic designation encompasses the varied ethnic groups who have at times inhabitedsteppe regions of present-dayKazakhstan,Kyrgyzstan,Tajikistan,Turkmenistan,Uzbekistan,Uyghuristan,Mongolia,Russia, andUkraine.
Theydomesticated the horse around 3500 BCE, vastly increasing the possibilities of nomadic lifestyle,[2][3][4] and subsequently their economies and cultures emphasisedhorse breeding,horse riding, andnomadic pastoralism; this usually involved trading with settled peoples around the edges of the steppe. They developed thechariot,[5] thewagon,[6]cavalry, andhorse archery, and introduced innovations such as thebridle,bit,stirrup,[7] andsaddle.
The very rapid rate at which innovations crossed the steppelands spread these innovations widely, making them available for copying by settled peoples living in areas bordering the steppes. During theIron Age,Scythian cultures emerged among the Eurasian nomads, which were characterized by a distinctScythian art.
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Scythia was a loose state orfederation covering most of the steppe, that originated as early as the 8th century BCE, composed mainly of people speakingScythian languages and usually regarded as the first of thenomad empires.[8] TheScythians wereIranic pastoralist tribes who dwelled the Eurasian Steppes from theTarim Basin andWestern Mongolia in Asia to as far asSarmatia in modern dayUkraine andRussia. TheRoman army hiredSarmatians as elite cavalrymen.Europe was exposed to several waves of invasions by horse people, including theCimmerians. TheScythians andSarmatians enjoyed a long age of dominion in the 1st Millennium BCE, but at the start of 1st Millennium CE they were displaced by waves of immigrations of other people, to the East, in the steppes east of theCaspian Sea. They were dislocated by theYuezhi people and were forced to assimilate into them, and many of these Eastern Scythians (Saka) moved and settled in the Parthian Empire in the region later named asSakastan.
The western Iranians, the Alans and Sarmatians, settled down and became the ruling elite of several easternSlavic tribes[9] and some of these Iranians also assimilated into the Slavic cultures,[10] while others retained their Iranian identity, and their languages are spoken today by the modernOssetian people.[11] Various peoples also expanded and contracted later in history, including theMagyars in theEarly Middle Ages, theMongols andSeljuks in theHigh Middle Ages, theKalmuks and theKyrgyz and later theKazakhs up to modern times. The earliest example of an invasion by a horse people may have been by theProto-Indo-Europeans themselves, following thedomestication of the horse in the4th millennium BCE (seeKurgan hypothesis). The Cimmerians were the earliest invading equestrian steppe nomads that are known in Eastern European sources. Their military strength was always based oncavalry, and they were among the first to have developed true cavalry.[12]
Historically, areas to the north of China includingManchuria,Mongolia andXinjiang were inhabited by nomadic tribes. Early periods in Chinese history involved conflict with the nomadic peoples to the west of theWei valley. Texts from theZhou dynasty (c. 1050–256 BCE) compare theRong,Di andQin dynasty towolves, describing them as cruel and greedy.[13] Iron and bronze were supplied from China.[14] An early theory proposed byOwen Lattimore suggesting that the nomadic tribes could have been self-sufficient was criticized by later scholars, who questioned whether their raids may have been motivated by necessity rather than greed. Subsequent studies noted that nomadic demand forgrain,textiles andironware exceeded China's demand for Steppe goods.Anatoly Khazanov identified this imbalance in production as the cause of instability in the Steppe nomadic cultures. Later scholars argued that peace along China's northern border largely depended on whether the nomads could obtain the essential grains and textiles they needed through peaceful means such as trade or intermarriage. Several tribes organized to form theXiongnu, a tribal confederation that gave the nomadic tribes the upper hand in their dealings with the settled agricultural Chinese people.[13]
During theTang dynasty,Turks would cross theYellow River when it was frozen to raid China. Contemporary Tang sources noted the superiority of Turkic horses.Emperor Taizong wrote that the horses were "exceptionally superior to ordinary [horses]". TheXiajiasi (Kyrgyz) were atributary tribe who controlled an area abundant in resources likegold,tin andiron. The Turks used the iron tribute paid by the Kyrgyz to make weapons, armor and saddle parts. Turks were nomadic hunters and would sometimes conceal military activities under the pretense of hunting. Their raids into China were organized by akhagan and success in these campaigns had a significant influence on a tribal leader's prestige. In the 6th century theGöktürk Khaganate consolidated their dominance over the northern steppe region through a series of military victories against theShiwei,Khitan,Rouran,Tuyuhun,Karakhoja andYada. By the end of the 6th century, following theGöktürk civil war, the short-lived empire had split into theEastern andWestern Turkic Khaganates, before it was conquered by the Tang in 630 and 657, respectively.[15]
Nomadism persists in the steppe lands, though it has generally been disapproved of by modern regimes, who have often discouraged it with varying degrees of coercion.
Social networks were a crucially important part of nomadic life on the Eurasian steppe.[16] Although Eurasian nomads usually considered themselves the descendants of a single ancestor, they also welcomed outsiders to join their tribe.[17] One could do this by becoming a "sworn brother" of a powerful tribal figure, or by forsaking one's own lineage, and becoming anöker.[17]
Alliances could also be established through intermarriage. Eurasian steppe nomads practicedexogamy, by marrying off women from their tribe to outside groups.[17] It was also common for nomadic men to marry foreign princesses.[17] These marriages were an important part of the empire-building process.[16]
Eurasian steppe nomads shared common Earth-rooted cosmological beliefs based on the themes of sky-worship.[18] Ancient origin-myths of the Turkic peoples often reference caves or mines as a source of their ancestors, which reflects the importance of iron-making among their ancestors.[18]
Ageism was a feature of ancient Eurasian nomad culture.[19] Steppe societies placed a premium on the value of young males, as shown by their harsh treatment of older people.[20] TheAlans held their elderly in low regard, and theSaka customarily executed people once they were too old to work.[20] TheXiongnu often withheldfood from older people during times of need or conflict.[20] Hsu argues that these phenomena can best be explained by the war-like nature of steppe society.[20]
Among theScythians, athird gender existed, known as theEnaree. The Enaree were described by a Greek historian as males with feminine characteristics, who wore female clothing and adopted women's mannerisms.[21] These transgender individuals belonged to the most highly-esteemed elements of Scythian society, and were believed to have had excellentshamanistic abilities.[21] The transgender features of the Enaree may have arisen accidentally through excessive horseback riding, or they may have consumed fermented mare-urine, which could have altered their hormonal profiles and facilitated the transition to a feminine gender.[22][23] The Scythians may have adopted this gender tradition from otherCentral Asian steppe or Siberian societies.[24] Similar transgender phenomena have also been documented amongTurkic peoples in Central Asia, as well as in other nomads from Siberia.[25][26]
There is striking uniformity in the material cultures of Eurasian nomads.[27]Cultural borrowing occurred frequently,[28]and cultural influences spread amongst the steppe peoples[29]and affected the art and practices of other groups with whom they came into contact—including the cultures of medieval Europe.[30]
Chronologically, there have been several "waves" of invasions of either Europe, the Near East, India and China from the steppe.
[...] this article demonstrates that [...] early European chariots date to no later than the first proto-chariots of the ancient Near East. This result suggests the earlier emergence of chariots on the Eurasian Steppe than previously thought [...].
Experiments with the wheel and the wagon were made in a natural environment that favored the free movement of wheeled vehicles, the steppes. It is especially noteworthy that technicians in those advanced civilizations that had established trade relations with the steppe people took due notice of the new technology and quickly recognized its immense potential. [...] the need for efficient transport facility beyond the use of pack animals must have been vital in communities with mobile life ways since local groups were accustomed to move from one camp site to another, depending on the seasonal movement of the herds in search of favorable pastures. Given the flatness of the steppes terrain, the innovation to introduce wheeled wagons as transport vehicles seems conclusive for such an ecological environment. [...] The time window for the origins of wheeled vehicles opens between ca. 4000 and ca, 3500 BCE. Archaeological evidence [...] comes from areas on the north-eastern periphery of the Danube civilization, dating to a period between 3500 and 3350. This area had been infiltrated by Indo-European migrants of the second out-migration from the steppes, Kurgan II.
Some scholars believe that the first true stirrups were devised in Central Asia during the first century BCE by a nomadic group known as the Sarmatians. This innovation soon spread to other Central Asian peoples, who would have quickly noted that bracing one's feet in a set of stirrups made it much easier to shoot a bow from the saddle. [...] Invaders from Central Asia, such as the Huns, brought the stirrup to Europe [...].
[...] there were elements of Inner Asian culture already deeply ingrained in the artistic traditions of Central and even to some extent Western Europe before the arrival of the Huns. In the Sarmatian-Alanic period that followed the Scythia hegemony, most noticeably in the third century AD, eastern steppe motifs and art styles started to have a major impact on Western Eurasian steppe art. [...] Influence across the steppes was often mutual and as a result by the fourth and fifth centuries AD it is nearly impossible to distinguish what is Hunnic from what is Sarmatian in the archaeological record, especially in the west, because the two groups had by then become so similar in terms of material culture via a long extended period of intense acculturation. The fusion of elements of Sarmatian and Hunnic cultures can already be noted in the later centuries of the first millennium BC in the Altai region [...].
[...] the Huns and other Oghuric Turkic peoples again mixed extensively with the Iranian speaking peoples in Kazakhstan and northern Central Asia in general before the fourth century, influencing them and being influenced by them in turn. The culture and art of the Huns therefore was already hybrid and had a strong Iranian (Sarmatian-Alan) flavour and vice versa. [...] the artwork belongs to the wider steppe region rather than a specific ethnic identity. [...] Eastern steppe influence was already making itself felt in the west even before the actual arrival of the Huns by a long process of diffusion and the Huns in the east in turn were being exposed to western steppe Sarmatian-Alan culture in Central Asia.
Like all their successors from Inner Asia the Scythians made a significant cultural impact on Europe, which manifests itself in the influence of Scythian art on Celtic art. [...] this was also affecting what is commonly known as eastern Germanic art that absorbed Sarmatian cultural influences. [...] artistic influences emanating from the eastern steppes had some interesting effects by the fourth century AD. It resulted in a degree of artistic homogeneity across the whole of the steppe zone from the Ordos region in Mongolia in the east to the Alan and Gothic areas in the west. [...] The eastern steppe cultural influences on the west that had begun well before the Hunnic invasions of the fourth century AD, became all-pervasive in the following fifth century. [...] The fifth century Hunnic Europe gave birth to a universal art style centred around the Danubian region which combined elements of Hunnic, Alanic, Germanic and Roman art forms and motifs. [...] This was the hybrid art of the Hunnic Empire that influenced all of later 'Germanic' Europe [...]. [...] The art forms that we label 'Gothic', 'Germanic', 'Early Medieval' and 'Danubian' were thus in reality later manifestations of pre-existing eastern steppe art brought to Europe by the Huns and various Sarmatian peoples such as the Alans.
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