Genesis of the Silk Road and Its Northern Directions

This article argues that the conclusions in the prevailing modern scientific literature on the formation of the Great Silk Road 3rd‐2nd millennium BC or from the 4th‐3rd centuries BC cannot be considered reasonable in light of available scientific and archival evidence. Until the 3rd‐2nd centuries BC at the western and northern borders of Xinjiang Region the predominantly Caucasoid population of Xinjiang contacted the related cultures of Kazakhstan and Sayano-Altai, but did not have any noticeable or documented trade (exchange) connections with the eastern Mongols of the Gansu Corridor, nor with farmers of ancient China and nomads of Northern China. Significant migrations of the population from Xinjiang to China and in the opposite direction between the third and the first half of the 1st millennium BC according to the available archaeological records has not been observed. The Silk Road from China through Xinjiang to the west with the direct involvement of the Chinese, only begins to function in the 1st century BC, and then only when the Han Empire at great cost finally succeeded in pushing the Hunnu out of Xinjiang, and established control over this territory. This event was preceded by active trade relations between the northern kingdoms of China and the nomads of Southern Siberia in the 4th and 3rd centuries BC and the delivery of the gifts to the Huns from the Han Dynasty in the 2nd century BC. This enabled silk and varnish products to penetrate Southern Siberia, Central Asia and then back into Xinjiang

Ancient history · Archaeology · Central asia · China · Empire · Geography · Human settlement · Population · China's Ethnic Minorities and Relations · Chinese history and philosophy · Demography · Eurasian Exchange Networks · History

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