Vortrag The late Bronze Age and Early Iron Age Ritual Complex at Sandaohaizi in the Altay Mountains Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region

Der Vortrag wird gehalten von Prof. Wu Guo (Archäologisches Institut der chinesischen Akademie der Sozialwissenschaften, Peking). Professor Guo ist im Zeitraum vom 15.04.-31.05.2016 als Gastprofessor an der LMU. Die Vortragssprache ist Englisch. ------ The 8th-6th century site of Sandaohaizi is located at around 2700 m above sea level on a peak of the Altay Mountains. Situated in the very east of modern-day Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, the site comprises various round stone tumuli of different sizes – so-called khirigsuurs – that are sometimes marked by additional stone fences or deerstones. The decoration on the latter is very similar to that on deerstones found in other parts of Xinjiang as well as at sites in central and western Mongolia, the Russian part of the Altay and Tyva Republic, suggesting close connections between both areas. In 2013, the Archaeological Institute of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences started a large-scale re-investigation of Sandaohaizi. This lecture introduces and discusses the latest archaeological discoveries in more detail. Similarities between the khirigsuurs found at Sandaohaizi and the kurgans excavated in the valley of Arzhan in Tyva Republic suggest that both regions were closely related – while Arzhan was probably the cemetery of imperial kinsmen, the region of Sandaohaizi was their ritual centre, which was mainly used in the summertime. The early nomads associated with both sites could be the -Arimaspians” mentioned in the Histories by Herodotus or the -Single-Eye-People” that we find in Chinese texts. We will discuss the formation and expansion of the Sandaohaizi culture in the early first millennium BCE and reflect upon the questions whether it was the impetus for other cultural changes, such as the western migration of Scythian groups and the collapse of the Western Zhou Dynasty. Department für Asienstudien LMU München SoSe 2016 Dozent