The Cultures of Ancient Xinjiang, Western China: Crossroads of the Silk Roads

Editors:
Alison V.G. Betts, Marika Vicziany, Peter Jia and Angelo Andrea Di Castro

Publisher:
Archaeopress Archaeology

Publication date:
April 2020

Abstract:
The Cultures of Ancient Xinjiang, Western China: Crossroads of the Silk Roads unveils the ancient secrets of Xinjiang, western China, one of the least known but culturally rich and complex regions located at the heart of Asia. Historically, Xinjiang has been the geographic hub of the Silk Roads, serving international links between cultures to the west, east, north and south. Trade, artefacts, foods, technologies, ideas, beliefs, animals and people have traversed the glacier covered mountain and desert boundaries. Perhaps best known for the Taklamakan desert, whose name translates in the Uyghur language as ‘You can go in, you will never come out’, here the region is portrayed as the centre of an ancient Bronze Age culture, revealed in the form of the famous Tarim Mummies and their grave goods. Three authoritative chapters by Chinese archaeologists appear here for the first time in English, giving international audiences direct access to the latest research ranging from the central-eastern Xiaohe region to the western valleys of the Bortala and Yili Rivers. Other contributions by European, Australian and Chinese archaeologists address the many complexities of the cultural exchanges that ranged from Mongolia, through to Kashgar, South Asia, Central Asia and finally Europe in pre-modern times.

Table of Contents:
Chapter 1
Ancient Xinjiang at the International Crossroads
Marika Vicziany

Chapter 2
Xinjiang in Prehistory
Alison Betts

Chapter 3
The Xiaohe (Small River) Cemetery and the Xiaohe Culture
Yidilisi Abuduresule, Wenying Li, Xingjun Hu

Chapter 4
Tianshan as a Bridge: New Studies of Bronze Age Archaeology in the Western Tianshan,
Xinjiang, China
Dexin Cong

Chapter 5
A Report on Archaeological Findings in the Upper Yili Valley
Xuetang Liu

Chapter 6
Painted Pottery of the Late Bronze Age – Early Iron Age in Central Asia: New Data from Southern
Uzbekistan
Nikolaus G.O. Boroffka and Leonid M. Sverchkov

Chapter 7
Shifting Exchange Patterns During the Bronze and Iron Ages Between China and the West in Eurasia
Henri-Paul Francfort

Chapter 8
The Kashgar Oasis: Reassessing the Historical Record
Marika Vicziany and Angelo Andrea Di Castro

Chapter 9
The Kashgar Oasis in Buddhist and Pre Buddhist Times: the Archaeological and Environmental Record
Angelo Andrea Di Castro, Marika Vicziany and Xuan Zhu

Chapter 10
Unravelling Farming and Metallurgy in Ancient China with Nuclear Science
John Dodson, Pia Atahan and Xiaoqiang Li

Chapter 11
Early Wheat Cultivation and Plant Use in Xinjiang Prehistory: New Evidence Based on Starch Analysis
Peter Jia and Florence Chau