Tracking Nomads networks | The Economist
- 5 years ago
AN exhibition at the Institute for the Study of the Ancient World, in New York, tells the story of Central Asian nomads, their seasonal rituals and foreign networks, through the objects they crafted and exchanged
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The ancient nomads of Central Asia are often perceived as a wandering people - societies that lack the sophistication of their sedentary counterparts. But a new exhibition at the institute for the study of the ancient world in New York presents a collection of artifacts from Kazakhstan in the first millennium BCE gathered from recent excavations and museums. These objects show the cyclical movement patterns, established rituals, and foreign networks of ancient nomadic people.
Many of the objects on display were found in the burial places or Kurgans of elite members of nomads Society. Tombs high in the mountains that have been frozen in permafrost for millennia. As a result, organic items that would have decayed in any other environment - objects like bone, wood, leather, and felt, have been preserved. Some burials contain whole horses and mummified bodies, revealing in detail the decorations and seasonal rituals of ancient nomadic culture.
The manufacture and design of many of these objects show that ancient nomads craftsmen were influenced by their sedentary neighbors the Achaemenid Empire, or Persians, to the west and the Chinese to the east.
The jaw luli treasure which dates from the 7th and 6th century BCE shows the influence Western neighbors like Persia had on nomadic art. Later objects show the growing influence of the Chinese. The exhibition aims to revise outdated characterizations of nomadic people.
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The ancient nomads of Central Asia are often perceived as a wandering people - societies that lack the sophistication of their sedentary counterparts. But a new exhibition at the institute for the study of the ancient world in New York presents a collection of artifacts from Kazakhstan in the first millennium BCE gathered from recent excavations and museums. These objects show the cyclical movement patterns, established rituals, and foreign networks of ancient nomadic people.
Many of the objects on display were found in the burial places or Kurgans of elite members of nomads Society. Tombs high in the mountains that have been frozen in permafrost for millennia. As a result, organic items that would have decayed in any other environment - objects like bone, wood, leather, and felt, have been preserved. Some burials contain whole horses and mummified bodies, revealing in detail the decorations and seasonal rituals of ancient nomadic culture.
The manufacture and design of many of these objects show that ancient nomads craftsmen were influenced by their sedentary neighbors the Achaemenid Empire, or Persians, to the west and the Chinese to the east.
The jaw luli treasure which dates from the 7th and 6th century BCE shows the influence Western neighbors like Persia had on nomadic art. Later objects show the growing influence of the Chinese. The exhibition aims to revise outdated characterizations of nomadic people.
Get more The Economist
Follow us: https://twitter.com/TheEconomist
Like us: https://www.facebook.com/TheEconomist
View photos: https://instagram.com/theeconomist/
The Economist videos give authoritative insight and opinion on international news, politics, business, finance, science, technology and the connections between them.