Chinese archaeologists in search of ancient Yuezhi people in Kazakhstan
Chinese and Kazakh archaeologists have launched a joint research into sites across Kazakhstan that may be linked to the Yuezhi, an ancient people first described in Chinese histories, Qazinform News Agency reports.
This was announced by Wang Jianxin, a lead professor at the Silk Road Archaeological Cooperation Research Center at Xi'an's Northwest University, on the sidelines of an international archaeological symposium in Astana.
According to the Chinese scientist, the Yuezhi were an ancient people who lived in the 2nd century BC and are described in detail in Chinese written sources. After wars with the Xiongnu, part of the Yuezhi left China and moved into Central Asia — through Zhetisu toward the Amu Darya basin.
"There is very little information about this people in Western sources. That is why I began studying this 26 years ago. First I looked for their traces in China, and then continued the search in Kazakhstan and other regions of Central Asia," Wang Jianxin said.
According to him, researchers have already found traces of ancient populations in China linked to the Yuezhi. The scholars now plan to compare these finds with archaeological sites in Kazakhstan.
Wang Jianxin suggests that sites linked to the Yuezhi may have existed on the territory of present-day Kazakhstan during the early Iron Age.
Today, the Chinese and Kazakh researchers are collaborating on two fronts — in the Altai Mountains area in the East Kazakhstan region and in Kazakhstan's portion of Zhetisu.
The first stage will be an archaeological survey. The scholars intend to look for similarities between sites in Kazakhstan and already-studied objects linked to the Yuezhi in China.
"First we verify, then we may carry out excavations on a small scale," the professor explained.
According to him, it is possible that some Yuezhi sites in Kazakhstan have already been found and even examined by archaeologists, though their link to the Yuezhi has yet to be confirmed.
"These sites may have already been excavated — no one recognized them or acknowledged what they were," Wang Jianxin noted.
The scientist plans to publish annual reports on the results of the joint research and eventually prepare a monograph.
Earlier, Qazinform reported that archaeologists on the Île de la Cité in Paris had uncovered the remains of a fortification that may have been part of the Gallic settlement of Lutetia described by Julius Caesar.
