Some Central Asian history from 1500-1000BC

Elamite artwork in the Louvre

This post will look at the years 1500-1000BC for the region of Central Asia. Central Asia is a little tricky to describe and for the purposes of this post it will include the Pontic Steppes (referred to in previous European posts), the boreal lands north of Siberia and all the steppe lands from the black soil of the Ukraine, the highlands of the Tibetan Plateau, to the northern steppes on the borders of China. I will also include the history of the Iranian Plateau here. It is not Central Asian, but it does link the northern steppes with the regions of Mesopotamia and the Indus Valley.

The same caveats that I have mentioned before must be mentioned again. I am not a professional historian, merely someone who finds history interesting. So, all of my data should be questioned heavily.

This period predates much writing, certainly for the areas outside of the Iranian Plateau, so much of what we learn will come from archaeology, with some additional input from linguistics, genetics, biology and geology. Dendrochronology is of less use here than in Europe but we have the great fortune to be close enough to written history to be able to use folklore and legend here in a way that we have not been able to do in the posts about prehistoric Europe. There will however be some writings, mainly from nearby Mesopotamia, which shed some light on the kingdoms of what is now Iran.

Stela of Untash-Napirisha

Around the century of the 1500’s BC, the Epartid Dynasty in Elam ended and was replaced by the Kidinuid Dynasty. The end of the Epartid Dynasty marks the end of what has been termed the Old Elamite Period and the beginning of the Middle Elamite Period. The Kidinuid Dynasty is not particularly well known either however, unfortunately.

Near the Caspian Sea, south of where the BMAC culture had flourished, the Yaz culture began to become evident. This was in some ways the first distinctively Iranian culture. Plenty of ancient cultures had existed in the Iranian Plateau but they spoke non-Iranian languages. The Yaz culture almost certainly spoke an Iranian language that had begun to split from the Indic languages. The Yaz culture was settled but with remnants of nomadism. Their towns were mixtures of Sintashta and BMAC structures. They clearly had horses and chariots but they do not seem to have buried their dead. The aversion to burial of the dead seems to reflect the earliest beginnings of the Iranian religious tradition that would eventually become Zoroastrianism.

The Indo-Iranian language family seems to have split around this time, with the Indic languages arising around this time period. This century probably saw the composition of the earliest parts of the Rig Veda, as the speakers of Sanskrit moved from central Asia into the subcontinent.  Just to be clear, I do not believe that the speakers of Sanskrit invaded India. I believe that they probably had been involved in the subcontinent for many centuries. As they were trading and intermingling with the BMAC culture, they would have been aware of the area now known as India. When the climate shifted and the rivers dried up for the Harappan civilisation, the speakers of Sanskrit moved into the vacuum. With their new culture and status symbols like horses and chariots, they would have been people to emulate. There were not even necessarily that many of them who moved, at least not at once. But I believe that some form of migration from central Asia had to have happened. But here is not the place for a full discussion. Below is a video giving an idea of how the Vedic chanting sounds today.

Mitanni cylinder seal

Another migration of sorts, which might be similar in certain respects to the migration into India, was the emergence of the mysterious Mitanni kingdom. This kingdom was a Hurrian kingdom in the north of Mesopotamia, near the Khabur Triangle. The people spoke Hurrian, a language of the Hurro-Urartian family. It was not related to the other languages around it, or to any that are spoken today. But while the people and the kingdom spoke Hurrian, were culturally Hurrian and had Hurrian gods, the rulers did not. The rulers of the land had Indo-Iranian names and seem to have worshipped at least a few of the Indo-Iranian gods. They were also skilled charioteers, used an Indo-Iranian word for warrior, “maurya” and were experts on horsemanship. The occurrences of the names of Mitanni kings and their gods on treaty documents are the earliest instances of Indo-Iranian languages preserved to us.

It’s not clear exactly who they were or how they got there but my own theory is that they were a group of mercenaries who had been hired by the Hurrians and who took control of the land. Sadly we know almost nothing of the Mitanni and everything we do know is from the writings of their enemies. Perhaps one day we shall find out more of these mysterious charioteer kings.

Around the century of the 1400’s BC one of the earliest texts on the training of horses was written. It was written in or around the city of Hattusa (or Khattusha) in the Hittite lands. It was written by Kikkuli, a master horse trainer from the Mitanni lands. By now the Hittites, Egyptians and Mesopotamians had thoroughly imbibed the horse knowledge of the steppe peoples and Kikkuli, and other trainers like him, were doubtless in high demand.

Elamite Hedgehog

In Elam, the Kidinuid Dynasty ended and the Igehalkid Dynasty is said to have begun. The evidence for this is rather fragmentary. We have some inscriptions from a king called Igi-Halki. Igi-Halki mentions no ancestors and so may have been the founder of a new dynasty. This circumstance is probably to be connected with one of the Kassite kings of Babylon, called Kurigalzu I. Kurigalzu claims to have conquered Susa. If he had done so, he may have installed a new client ruler, who may well have been Igi-Halki.

Regardless of which poorly documented dynasty was ruling Elam, one of my favourite artworks from the ancient world was created around this time. Around this time someone in Elam decided to make a small stone figurine of a hedgehog on little wheeled cart. It is said to have been a ritual object, but quite often scholars say that something is “ritual” when they have nothing else to say. All we know is that someone decided to make it and I am glad that they did.

Slab grave shown at a museum, original location in Buryatia

Around the century of the 1300’s BC the Slab Grave culture arose in what is now the land of Mongolia and the surrounding regions. This appeared to be an expansion of the Bronze Age steppe culture from the steppes of central Asia to the regions further east. There were crucial differences however, particularly in how the peoples of this region buried their dead. Rather than exposing their dead, as was being done in the Yaz culture, cremation, burial in timber graves or in kurgan mounds, the Slab Grave culture buried their dead in graves made of stone slabs, on high ground, facing the sun and sky. There is not much more that can be said about this culture, save for the fact that their grave goods show that horses and bronze had now spread all across the northern region of Eurasia. The bronze-working may have come from the south, rather than the west, as the Chinese regions had had knowledge of bronze for a considerable time at this point.

Axehead bearing the name of Shutruk-Nakhunte

Around this time, the Elamites intermarried with the Kassite Dynasty of Babylon, with the daughter of the Babylonian king Burna-Buriash II being married to an Elamite king. This daughter may have been Napir-asu, whose statue is currently on display in the Louvre.

Around the century of the 1200’s the Bronze Age in the Near East began to collapse. This did not greatly affect Elam or the regions that are now known as Iran. In fact, it may have strengthened them, as the famines and supply shortages that the states bordering the Mediterranean region were not experienced so far east.

Around this time the city of Tepe Sialk was resettled. It had been abandoned, possibly because the lands around it were beginning to dry up and the great inland lake that had been near it was beginning to dry up. The resettlement may have been of settlers from Elam, as the Elamite kingdom was strong at this time.

Ziggurat of Chogha Zanbil

Around this time the Nairi tribes become unified into the rising state of Urartu. This state was centred on the Armenian highlands and had its heartland between Lake Van and Lake Urmia. They fought the Assyrian state in the north of Mesopotamia.

In Elam the Igehalkid Dynasty had completely outgrown any Babylonian influence that may have been over it when it was founded. Untash-Napirisha, the king of Elam, built a spectacular new city called Dur-Untash. This means, the Fortress of Untash, but today it is better known as Chogha Zanbil. The city itself was a large one but it is best known today for the ruins of the ziggurat, which is the best preserved ziggurat in the world.

At the very end of the century the Igehalkid Dynasty came to an end and the Shutrukid Dynasty was founded. The first king of the Shutrukid Dynasty was Hallutush-Inshushinak. His son Shutruk-Nakhunte, was married to a Kassite princess; daughter of a king of Babylon.

Author posing with Stele of Naram-Sin in the Louvre.
Shutruk-Nakhunte's inscription is visible on the top
right of the stela

In the century of the 1100’s BC Shutruk-Nakhunte I came to the throne of Elam. He had been married to a Babylonian princess, and felt that he had a right to the throne of Babylon. When the throne of Babylon was not forthcoming, Shutruk-Nakhunte took matters into his own hands and marched upon Babylon. He captured Enlil-nadin-ahi and took him as a prisoner to Susa. He also conquered much of southern Mesopotamia. As a historical trophy he took the stele of Naram-Sin (who had conquered Elam a millennium earlier) and brought it back to Susa. While the stele of the earlier conqueror was treated with respect, Shutruk-Nakhunte nevertheless had his own inscription carved upon the stele. More importantly, Shutruk-Nakhunte carried away the cult statue of Marduk from the city of Babylon.

Later in the century, Nabu-kudurri-usur, better known as Nebuchadnezzar I, turned the tables on Elam. He defeated the Elamites near Susa and returned the statue of Marduk to its place in Babylon. The Babylonian scribes recorded their defeats at the hands of Shutruk-Nakhunte and their victories at the hands of Nebuchadnezzar. Elam was a powerful kingdom, one of the most powerful in the region, but even at their strongest they were unable to exercise hegemony over Mesopotamia for more than a few decades.

Reconstruction of Srubnaya Culture hut

Between the Black and Caspian Seas the Srubnaya Culture came to an end around this time. It was replaced in a gradual evolution by the peoples who we generally refer to as Cimmerians and Scythians. These were horse tribes who specialised in cavalry rather than chariots and who may have been the first horse archers, as opposed to chariot archers. Being able to rely on horses alone, rather than horses and chariots, gave them once again a competitive military edge over other groups, as horses are much more manoeuvrable than chariots and can go across much more difficult terrain.

In the century of the 1000’s BC, towards the end of the millennium, the Dasht-e-Kavir had dried up. This had been a great lake that had survived since the end of the last Ice Age. However, it had become seasonal and relied upon the monsoons. When the monsoons had ceased to come to the region some centuries earlier, the Dasht-e-Kavir, which literally means The Great Salt Desert, dried out completely to become an arid wilderness of dunes. Occasional runoff of winter storms from nearby mountain ranges would occasionally make the desert bloom but the region would no longer support great cities easily.

Elamite artwork

I mentioned earlier about the Yaz culture, on the eastern side of the Caspian Sea, being a potential precursor to Zoroastrian religion. It is possible that Zoroaster may have been active around this time. However I am unable to say much with certainty here. Zoroaster may never even have existed. The linguistic analysis of the Gathas are not of much help. Zoroaster’s dates could be as late as 550BC or as early as 1500BC. The truth may never be known unless more is discovered, which we may hope will be the case.

Thus the period draws to a close. The period has seen the gradual development of the familiar steppe cultures, Iranian and Indic cultures, the height of Elamite power under Untash-Napirisha and Shutruk-Nakhunte, as well as the inevitable Mesopotamian counterattacks against this power.

Related Blog Posts:
Some Central Asian history from 4000-3000BC
Some Central Asian history from 3000-2000BC
Some Central Asian history from 2000-1500BC
Some Central Asian history from 1500-1000BC
Some Central Asian history from 1000-750BC
Some Central Asian history from 750-500BC