The Museum exhibition Secrets of the Silk Road has left the Bowers Museum in California and at this moment is being set up at the HMNH here in Houston, Texas.
I was lent a copy of the catalog and my review of that publication follows;
The complete title is Secrets of the Silk Road; An exhibition of Discoveries from Xinjaing Uyghur Autonomous Region, China; edited by Victor Mair, PhD. 2010, The Bowers Museum. ISBN 978-1-616558-759-8. $39.99 USD. As it turns out there are some minor archery items in the exhibit. For instance on the front cover is a well dressed, well preserved mummy wearing an armguard.
On page 95 is a nice enclosed type quiver which could have been made just for burial. It is carved from two pieces of wood, assembled and painted. Published elsewhere, two painted horse archers hunt game, one shooting the ?Parthian shot?. A second quiver item, possibly half of another quiver contain thick arrow shafts with white painted nocks and black crestings. This does not appear to be functional either. Both labeled 7th-9th C., Turfan.
P. 179, 12 ?Feathered Arrows?, actually double fletched arrows, fletched in the manner of a feather duster at the trailing end and just back of center. These arrows, also published elsewhere, are very unlikely to be arrows because most have inferior kinky shafts of varying diameters and no nocks. A possible guess would be arrows for conjuring in the Persian style. On the opposite page are some darts with a similar fletching technique and just as mysterious of purpose.
The 100 items in the display also includes robes, shoes, mittens, hats, foodstuffs, masks, mummies, fabrics, figurines and carvings, jewelry and goldworks, silk paintings and other items. The photography is excellent but the photograph have been cut by hand, in a somewhat distractive manner. The text to the artifacts was supposedly written in China. Besides being somewhat clumsy in places, the text does not always accurately reflect what is seen in the photographs.
In the same vein the essays are certainly not up to the quality of Whitfield or Fitzhugh, previously critiqued here on ATARN. The bright exception is the essay by Spencer Wells, PhD, on the comparative DNA studies of Xinjiang and Eurasia.
Therefore Secrets of the Silk Road is a good title as insufficient light has been shed on the artifacts and their meaning to the history of Xinjiang. But there are the 100 good pictures of grave items.
Bede
Jack,
What do you mean by this comment?
A possible guess would be arrows for conjuring in the Persian style.
Are you talking about some sort of religious ceremony or a magic charm?
jack farrell
Persians and many other groups used arrows as oracles to predict the future, the weather, success in business ventures, to predetermine the outcome of battles, inheritance, settle lawsuits and, determine the truth of testimony and etc.
Small wooden dolls from this exhibit are quite similar to others from Siberia which were suspended from a string and used for the same purpose.
Bede
Jack,
I am just curious where you read that. There have been a few people writing about such things based on some old metalwork, but the objects depicted were actually barsom twigs, not arrows. They had a special significance in Zoroastrian ritual.
jack farrell
Bede; First came the veneration of trees, then of sticks (and staffs) and then of arrows. This all preceded Zoroastrianism considerably.
I have a bibliography on the topic of belomancy.
Bede
Jack,
I just did a search and the sources seem a bit confused with rhabdomancy, which in a way is more interesting. What I mean is the Chinese consulted the I Ching by throwing yarrow stalks. If a similar thing was practised in pre-Zoroastrian Persia using barsom rods it might be very significant for the transfer of ideas.
Of course, it depends on when you think Zoroaster lived. Scholars are still debating of a range from 6000 BCE to 600 BCE. Even the word βέλος can mean arrow or rod so nothing seems secure.
jack farrell
Bede; What seems like an obscure topic actually forms the basis of an elaborate and ancient philosophy which is still practiced today.
I believe that there is also some linguistic association between arrow and man.
Herodotus associates both sticks and arrows with conjuring, ch4.
jack farrell
The Secrets of the Silk Road exhibit has opened at the HMNS and I would like to now critique the display;
The catalog contains 100 items but the exhibit includes more than 150 items. Though the display would be of greatest interest to the student of textiles, there are some references to archery which, under any other circumstances, would have perished ling ago.
The arm guard worn by the Yingpan giant (6'6") mummy is probably a likeness of an actual one as it is made of thin material. But it is nicely made of embroidered materials and would serve an an excellent prototype.
Several excellent wood composite carvings of horse and rider from Astana, 7-9 c. AD show accurate dress and tack as well as ideal horse types, red and brown skinned with white faces. No rider has surviving weapons. pp 1&2.
In discussing the painted arrows and quivers, one of the major flaws of the catalog is presented; none of the objects includes a scale of size. This indeed turns out to be two separate quivers of arrows, the longer is but 8" and the shorter is 7". The longer is a one piece model of the enclosed type with important painted images of two horse archers. One shoots from a grey and white horse at a rabbit or hare and the other on a red with black and white spotted rump, neck and forelegs makes a Parthian shot at a rampant tiger. The arrows which are only paint protrude from the quiver point up and appear to carry various broad heads with arrow whistles.
The second miniature quiver, or rather half of it contains several miniature arrows. These are carved of wood, barreled, with longish white painted nocks. The area under the fletch area (no fletches existing) is painted black and the place where the point lashing would occur is painted white with black ring terminals and covered with a black spiral. Holes are present to accept point tangs but none are present.
The half quiver under the arrows appears to be the other half of the quiver from the catalog. Astana 7-9 c. AD. No attempt is made whatever to tell why carved miniatures are included in Astana graves or to associate the graves with a known culture.
Labeling is clumsy without proper English nomenclature for clothing. For instance the words "trumpet shaped" are used many times in place of "flared" to describe coats. "Western Regions" is used to describe all known places west of Dunhuang. There is a marked Sinocentricity which ignores a focus on the ethnic identity of the subject peoples. Ever so rarely are the words Scythian, Hun, and etc used; replaced by terms such as "northern nomads". A Sogdian is described as a "foreigner",when, in fact, it was his land.
One favorite item is a yellow wool jacket 99% complete. Most stitching can be made out and I am sure most horse archers would be proud to own just such an item. p. 147. Boots, hats and sun goggles!!! are also choice items. All in all a unique collection.
I am recommending Tarim Mummies by Mallory as supplemental reading.
