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Representation of an elite Mongolian woman. Source: B@rmaley / Adobe Stock.

Xiongnu Princesses Shaped Mongolian Traditions, New Study Shows

Princesses have played crucial roles in the organization and structure of empires throughout history, yet their contributions have often been overlooked. From the Greeks to the Mughals to the Mongols...
Mongolian yurts in the summer meadows in Nalati, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, China.          Source: 孝通 葛 / Adobe Stock

From Nomads to Glampers: The History of the Yurt

The yurt is an early form of tent that has been in use in parts of Asia for over a millennium. Today, they are primarily associated with nomadic Mongol herders and hunters, but their use dates back...
Painting 'Young Gypsies.' Family is key in the Romani people’s culture.

The Real History of the Romani People and the Misnomer of Gypsies

Colloquially, and rather insultingly, known as 'gypsies', the history and culture of the Romani people is surrounded by stereotypes and misnomers, none more damningly pervasive than Esméralda from...
Study Unravels the Mysterious Origins of Nomadic Mongolian Empires

Study Unravels the Mysterious Origins of Nomadic Mongolian Empires

The Xiongnu, the first nomadic empire in Asia, left no known written records to explain their origins, making this an intriguing ancient genetic mystery. But a new study has cast light on how the...
The Sarmatians and Scythians were skillful at horseback warfare and fierce adversaries of the Romans and Greeks alike

The Fierce Warriors of the Steppes: Who Were the Sarmatians?

The world of classical antiquity was filled with various tribes, cultures, and diverse peoples that dictated the unfolding events that shaped the world as we know it today. New and emerging cultures...
This Bronze Age site in Xinjiang, China may help researchers discover more about the Silk Road’s origins. Source: CCTV

Bronze Age Settlement Uncovered in China Reveals Silk Road Origins

Archaeologists working in the north-west of China have made a very important discovery in relation to the Silk Road’s origins and development. They have found the remains of a Bronze Age settlement...
1,500-year-old Perfect Wooden Saddle of Rouran Warrior Found

1,500-year-old Perfect Wooden Saddle of Rouran Warrior Found

Archaeologists have found a very rare wooden saddle in Mongolia, from over 1,500 years ago. It was found in a cave burial with other artifacts and the remains of a horse. This saddle came from a...
Farmers in Inner Mongolia discovered this ancient fresco depicting Khitans playing music. Source: Xinhua

Tomb Murals Show Life of the Khitans, A War-Torn Lost Culture

The Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region of northern China includes the rolling green steppes, an arid desert through which the Great Wall of China courses, the Hulunbuir grasslands which are a vast...
Burial Number 12 at Bogomolny, warrior with evidence of brain surgery by trepanning in skull. Inset, close up of trepanned skull

Remains Show Brain Surgery Not Battle Killed This Sarmatian Warrior 1,800 Years Ago

Archaeologists in Russia have found the grave of a warrior who did not die directly of his battle wounds but as a result of a failed surgical procedure performed on his skull. Near him was found a...
The 3000 year old Scythian gold ritual vessel is on action. Source: Timeline / Fair Use.

Golden Vessel Used In Scythian Drug-Fueled Rituals Is Expected to Sell for $57K At Auction

A remarkable tiny golden vessel is going on auction in London. The item comes from the nomadic Scythian culture, who once dominated the Eurasian Steppe in classical times. It is valued at 45,000 GBP...
 Skeleton found at the Nikolyskoye nomad burial site

Farmer Unearths Elite Nomad Burials and ‘Laughing Man’ Elongated Skull

In Southern Russia, an elite nomad burial site has been unearthed. While working on his lands, a farmer stumbled across burials that appear to have belonged to a nomadic culture. Archaeologists have...
Wooden funerary figurines of Khitan people returning from a hunt. Liao dynasty (907–1125). Held at the Capital Museum, Beijing. (BabelStone/CC BY SA 3.0) Background: Stone tablet with fake epitaph inscription in the Khitan Large Script. Held at the Nationalities Museum of the Inner Mongolia University, but not on official display. It is an almost complete copy of the Epitaph for the Princess of Yongning Commandery (永寧郡公主墓誌銘) of 1092.

The Khitan People: Nomadic Tribe, Chinese Dynasty, Lost to the Mongols

The Khitan people were a nomadic tribe that lived in Manchuria, in the northeastern part of China. Towards the end of the 9th century AD, the Khitan people emerged as a powerful force in the northern...
The Secret Strategic Plans of Darius the Great

The Secret Strategic Plans of Darius the Great

To the north of the Persian Empire, around both sides of Caucasus Mountain, various Scythian (Palaeo-Slavian / Staroslavianskje) tribes lived. They were nomadic, i.e. not yet permanently settled in...
Detail of a figure of a Xianbei warrior. (Editor at Large/CC BY SA 2.5) Background: Filial sons and virtuous women in Chinese history, a lacquer painting over a four-panel wooden folding screen; from the tomb of Sima Jinlong in Datong, Shanxi province, dated to the Northern Wei Dynasty (386–534 AD)

The Xianbei: A Chinese Dynasty Emerges from Nomadic Warriors of the Steppe

The Xianbei people … invade our frontiers so frequently that hardly a year goes by in peace, and it is only when the trading season arrives that they come forward in submission. But in so doing they...
Expulsion from Paradise, painting by James Jacques Joseph Tissot

Cursed Cain, the Master Architect. Paradise Lost Gives Rise to the Birth of City-States – Part I

Mankind has always endeavored to revive the paradise lost to Adam and Eve and in so doing managed to originate the concept of city-states. What is considered a State? According to the Concise Oxford...
Georgia, Savannah River, near Savannah, circa 1862. (Public Domain) with couple (Public Domain);Deriv.

Prehistoric Romeo and Juliet Lived Apart: But Why? The People of the Shoals and The People of the Hills

Just north of Augusta, Georgia, USA, near what is called the Fall Line of the Savannah River, lies Stallings Island. It has given its name to the culture that sparked the second great American...
A gold plaque depicting a Scythian rider with a spear in his right hand. One of the artifacts currently on display.

A Warrior’s Face Frozen in Time, Gold, Hemp, Tents and Cheese Tell the Scythian Tale

The Scythians were a mysterious and fascinating people. They were nomads and left no known writing, yet their elaborate burials and tattoos have given up some of their story. A new exhibition at the...
Archaeologists hope to learn more about pre-contact Aboriginal Australians from this skeleton and from architectural features in the landscape where it was found

Remote Australian Archaeological Site Provides More Evidence to Refute Traditional Theory of Entirely Nomadic Aborigines

Were the Australian Aborigines of years ago really hunter-gatherers, or did some have settled lives in villages with agriculture and architectural features? Some archaeologists are exploring this new...
A well-preserved skeleton in one of the 18 tombs that had several types of grave goods in the Ruins of Yin, an area called the Chinese cradle of civilization.

Archaeologists Discover Undisturbed Tombs of Ancient Nomads in the Cradle of Chinese Civilization

Archaeologists in China’s Henan Province have excavated about 90 tombs, 18 of which contained golden earrings and turquoise artifacts, bronze and iron pots, and short swords. The 18 graves, of the...
Example of a modified skull

Tiller the Hun? Farmers in Roman Empire Converted to Hun Lifestyle

Marauding hordes of barbarian Huns, under their ferocious leader Attila, are often credited with triggering the fall of one of history's greatest empires: Rome . Historians believe Hunnic incursions...
Did Nomads and their Herds Carve Out the Silk Road?

Did Nomads and their Herds Carve Out the Silk Road?

Nearly 5,000 years ago, long before Marco Polo traversed the vast east-west trade routes of the Great Silk Road, nomads were carving the foundations for these trans-Asian interaction networks. “Our...
Stone palette depicting Yuezhi king and attendants

Fighting Their Way Westward: The Nomadic Yuezhi People

The Yuezhi were an ancient nomadic group of people from Central Asia who spoke an Indo-European language. It is likely that most people today are unfamiliar with the Yuezhi Civilization. As they were...
Deriv; Woman with veil and scarf and Khor Ash Sham, Musandam Peninsula, Oman.

Are the Reclusive Shihuh People of Musandam the Original Arabians?

Two hours’ drive from Dubai in the mountains of Musandam lives a reclusive tribe of people who appear culturally unrelated to any others in the Arabian Peninsula, yet who may well be its original...
Ancient Geoglyphs of Kazakhstan

Ancient Geoglyphs of Kazakhstan: The Mysterious Markings in Danger of Destruction

Rings, crosses, circles, squares, and a swastika are some of the many intricate designs of the enigmatic and ancient geoglyphs spread across the vast northern steppe of Kazakhstan. 50 huge geoglyphs...

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