Nomads Bearing Gold

description:

Tales of nomadic warriors bearing gold entered into the annals of history—in Greek.

Era:

Age of Settlement

Theme:

Identity & Perception

Traces & Narratives

Tradition & Modernization

Year:

700

BCE/CE:

BCE

Date Period:

BCE

Asset Type:

Trend

Caption:

Out of the dust of the bronze age collapse emerged Gold!

More Information:

Barefact. "SamaraKurganR2." Digital image. Wikipedia Commons. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:SamaraKurganR2.jpg.  "Bead." Digital image. The British Museum. Accessed August 11, 2010. http://www.britishmuseum.org/research/search_the_collection_database/search_object_details.aspx?objectId=367604&partId=1. © The Trustees of the British Museum "Belt." Digital image. The British Museum. Accessed August 11, 2010. http://www.britishmuseum.org/research/search_the_collection_database/search_object_details.aspx?objectId=367637&partId=1. © The Trustees of the British Museum Carole a. "Steppe of Western Kazakhstan in the Early Spring." Digital image. Wikipedia Commons. Accessed August 11, 2010. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Steppe_of_western_Kazakhstan_in_the_early_spring.jpg. GNU Free Documentation License: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GNU_Free_Documentation_License "Costume-fitting." Digital image. The British Museum. Accessed August 11, 2010. http://www.britishmuseum.org/research/search_the_collection_database/search_object_details.aspx?objectId=434391&partId=1. © The Trustees of the British Museum "Plaque with Scythian Warriors." Digital image. The State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg. Accessed August 11, 2010. http://www.hermitagemuseum.org. © The State Hermitage Museum Qeran, Baba, performer. Naghne Danbora. Lorraine Sakata, 1967. © Radio-Television Afghanistan Archives. "Scythian Belt Plaque." Digital image. The State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg. Accessed August 11, 2010. www.hermitagemuseum.org. © The State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg "Scythian Plaque." Digital image. The State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg. Accessed August 11, 2010. http://www.hermitagemuseum.org. © The State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg "Scythian Throne Arm." Digital image. The State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg. Accessed August 11, 2010. http://www.hermitagemuseum.org. © The State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg "Vessel with Handle in Shape of Elk." Digital image. The State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg. Accessed August 11, 2010. http://www.hermitagemuseum.org. © The State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg Wyoming_Jackrabbit. "Herodotus, Historiae." Digital image. Wyoming_Jackrabbit's Flickr Photostream. Accessed August 11, 2010. http://www.flickr.com/photos/wy_jackrabbit/4339298688/. Creative Commons: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/deed.en <hr /> Producer: Alexis Menten

Video Transcript:

Out of the dark age caused by the collapse of the Bronze Age civilizations, including the Oxus Civilization, groups of nomadic warriors from the north conquered Persia and the lands of Afghanistan.   The Scythians were a pastoral nomadic group that originated in Eastern Central Asia, and were the first of a wave of migrations, that spread all the way from Eastern Central Asia to Europe. The Huns, for example, were part of that migration. The Scythian were pastoral nomads who moved depending on grass and water for their animals. The greatest Greek historian Herodotus wrote about the Scythians, and in some ways, were quite impressed by their culture. He is one of the few sources available on the Scythians, and was much captivated by the spectacular gold objects that they produced or served as patrons for. The art of the Scythians provides a window into their culture—the things they saw every day, and the things they valued.  The Scythians produced spectacular gold objects, which were often in the animal-style art of the pastoral nomadic people. They buried these objects often with important leaders in in so-called quorgons, or underground tombs. Many of these have now been discovered in Russian, and the Ukraine, so we have an idea of the high level of craftsmanship that developed among these people, and know something about their culture because of the depiction they made.  Another important nomadic group during this time were the Medes, also noted by Herodotus. Due to their skill in battle, by 600 BCE the Medes had conquered the lands stretching from the Black Sea to Afghanistan.  The Medes are an offshoot of the Scythian peoples who migrated across Asia during the period of about 700-350 BCE. The Medes were like the Scythian: nomadic pastorialists, who came in and overwhelmed the settlements that already existed in Afghanistan, some of which derived from the Indo-Iranian invasions of the second millennium BCE. Like the Scythian, they wandered around. They migrated from place to place, but also very appreciative of beauty in specific objects, and contributed to artisanship in Afghanistan.

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