Episode 2 The Origins of Eurasian Steppe Nomads

The Mongol Empire

Dr Craig Benjamin (2020)

Film Review

For 95% of the 250,000 years the human species has been on Earth, we were hunter gatherers. The agricultural revolution, involving the domestication of wild plants and animals, occurred 11,000 years ago. The transition to nomadic pastoralism (in which herders regularly move their flocks depending on seasonal and climatic conditions) occurred even later, around 7,000 years ago. According to Benjamin, this “lifeway” only became possible with the “secondary products revolution,” as herders learned to exploit their herds for needs other than food (eg transportation and clothing). Prior to the advent of nomadic pastoralism, the Eurasian steppes were uninhabitable, owing to the inability to find or grow food.

According to Benjamin, the five great nomadic empires that preceded the Mongols originated around the Orkhon River Valley on the Mongolian Steppes. Consisting of 10% forest and 89% non-arable grassland, life here was too difficult to support the gender specialization found in settled agricultural communications in settled agricultural communities. The first nomadic pastoralists raised sheep, goats or horses and lived in small family groups to avoid overgrazing, According to archeological evidence, they were never totally self-sufficient and relied on trading or raiding settled communities for textiles, grains and metal weapons and tools.

The steppes earliest nomadic cultures:

• Yamnaya – appearing late in the 4th millennium BC in the Caucasus region north of the Black Sea, they left behind include wheeled vehicles and weapons.
• Afanasievo – appearing in southern Siberia around 3500-2500 BC.
• Andronovo – appearing in western Siberia around 2,000-900 BC, building a few sedentary communities with up to 100 subterranean homes. Developed and used the first chariots.
• Scythians – appearing around 9th century BC in Central Asia and migrating westward to area around southern Russia and Ukraine.
• Xiongnu – appearing on eastern steppes north of China in 3rd century BC

According to the Greek historian Herodotus, the first military use of mounted nomadic archers occurred early in the first millennium. Large numbers of wild horses appeared on the steppes around the 5th millennium BC. which were gradually domesticated. According to archeological evidence (arrowheads dating 2100-1700 BC), steppe nomads developed the composite bow in the third millennium BC. Storing more potential energy than wooden bows, due to layers of pliant sinew and animal horn, was just as essential as skilled horsemanship to the military prowess of the pastoral nomads.

Nomadic warriors also used swords, axes, daggers and maces for close combat.

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https://www.kanopy.com/en/pukeariki/watch/video/12373094/12373098