Silkeveien i Antikken: Utveksling, impulser og utvikling i det østlige Sentral-Asia i tiden til Han-dynastiet

Abstract

Denne masteroppgaven utforsker forholdet mellom samfunnsutvikling og utveksling i det østlige Sentral-Asia fra bronsealderen til de to første hundreårene etter vår tidsregning. Hovedfokuset ligger på utviklingen av egalitære samfunn i Xinjiang-regionen i nordvest Kina i bronsealderen, til stratifiserte høvdingdømmer i tidlig jernalder i samme region, deretter til bystater og kongeriker fra år 100 før vår tidsregning. Et sentralt spørsmål er om samfunnsutvikling i Xinjiang-regionen oppstod i takt med endrede utvekslingsforhold i regionen, og om utviklingen potensielt var relatert til fremveksten av Silkeveien. Oppgaven kombinerer litterære og arkeologiske kilder til å analysere den interne utviklingen av samfunn i det østlige Sentral-Asia, samt påvirkningen og innflytelsen området opplevde fra de omkringliggende jordbruksimperiene, Kushanriket og Han-riket.

The Silk Road has traditionally been seen and treated as a system of exchange networks, linking together major empires of Eurasia and originating in the classical era. The emergance of the Silk Road has mainly been viewed in correlation with the large empires situated on each side of Eurasia, the Roman Empire in the West and the Han Empire in the East, and their economic incentives to establish, maintain and promote the flow of commodoties and luxuries between East and West. This thesis focuses on a lesser known part of the Eurasian landmass, situated between the great empires of East and West, the Tarim Basin polities located in Eastern Central-Asia. The thesis’ main concern will be with the emergence of complex societies within the Tarim Basin, and wether or not the development of complex societies is connected to exchange networks in the region, and if the emergence of these complex societies is connected with the emergence of the Silk Road. The surrounding empires, the Han Empire and the Kushan Empire, and their economic and cultural influence on the Tarim Basin will be analyzed to determine their significance for the development of the polities within the Tarim Basin, and their influence on exchange conditions in the region. The thesis’ timeframe will expand beyond the classical era and include the region’s bronze and iron-age, as it will be suggested that the Silk Road is probably a lot older than what is usually recognized, and that the networks origin actually is related to the internal warfare of chinese states within the «Warring States Period» which expanded the need for importation of goods located and produced on the Steppe, and the emergance of horse-riding steppenomads in the first milennium B.C.E. Scholars have mainly focused their studies on the large agrarian empires along the Silk Road, and little research has been done on the cultures, city-states and nomads within and surrounding Eastern Central-Asia compared to these empires. The lack of research is intriguing, as well as the fact that the Tarim Basin is located in the centre of the Silk Road, which almost guarantees that the region have been an important factor for assuring and maintaining the exchange networks in Central-Asia, and perhaps, the Silk Road as a whole.