Pages: 123-132 | DOI: https://doi.org/10.55086/sp223123132
Bronze mirrors are a significant source of knowledge about ancient Eurasia population contacts and sacred ideas. Of particular interest is the question of mirrors appearance and distribution in China which had been supplying these products to neighbouring regions for a long time. There is no definite answer to it, but most researchers believe that mirrors were brought to the Central Plain in the second half of the 2nd millennium BC from the west or north. At the same time, recently preference has been given to the western direction where the mirrors were found in the Qijia and Kaiyue cultures on the sites of 3rd—2nd millennium BC. The discovery of mirrors in the Hami region (northeast of Xinjiang) at the Tianshanbeilu burial ground (II millennium BC) significantly supported this point of view, despite the delayed publication. In this regard, the materials of the completely excavated and recently published Mohuchahan burial ground of the 9th—8th centuries BC in the central part of Xinjiang are of particular importance. Eleven bronze disc-shaped mirrors with loops on the back — the largest and most representative collection of mirrors from Scythian sites of the 9th—8th centuries BC in Central Asia were found in the undisturbed female burials. The inventory features and radiocarbon dates (10th—9th centuries BC) suggest the lifetime of this burial ground could span from the Bronze Age to the Early Iron Age.
Keywords: Xinjiang, North China, Mohuchahan burial ground, Tianshanbeilu burial ground, transition period, early bronze mirrors
Information about author:
Daniil Shulga (Novosibirsk, Russian Federation). Candidate of Historical Sciences. Siberian Institute of Management, Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration (RANEPA). Nizhegorodskaya St., 6, Novosibirsk, 630102, Russian Federation
E-mail: [email protected]
ORCID: 0000-0001-5820-1743