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The Steppe Connection

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 March 2015

Emma C. Bunker
Emma C. Bunker*
Affiliation:
2074 Vallejo, San Francisco, CA 94123
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Abstract

The old accepted theories concerning the direction of cultural influence between China and the Eurasian steppes during the Eastern Zhou period need to be reassessed in the light of recent archaeological discoveries. The pictorial scenes on the “Hunting Hu,” the trend toward naturalism, the long sword and scabbard slide, all credited at one time or another to northern barbarian influence, can now be shown to reflect Chinese innovations instead. A Shang priority can be recognized for the coiled feline, which was to become a leitmotif of the steppe “Animal Style” world. In the future, extreme caution is suggested when attempting to identify the ultimate cultural source for any unusual steppe or Chinese feature that seems exotic.

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Type
ARTICLES
Information
Early China , Volume 9 , Issue 1 , 1985 , pp. 70 - 76
Copyright
Copyright © Society for the Study of Early China 1983 

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References

Notes

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