Changes in Eurasian Steppes and their Peripheries

CHANGES IN THE EURASIAN STEPPES AND THEIR PERIPHERIES Austrian Project Parts The Austrian Project will contribute two important aspects to the common project: first, a general and methodological study about ethnicity in the steppe; and second, a longue-durée case study of nomad pastoralism linking Anatolia with the Eurasian steppes in general. Ethnicity in the steppe: comparative approaches Univ. Prof. Dr. Walter Pohl For a long time, research on steppe peoples took the role of ethnicity for granted; beneath a fast- changing surface of shifting appearances, it usually assumed continuity of broad ethnic groupings such as the Turks, Mongols or Hungarians. This understanding also lent itself to national uses of the past, in part up to the present day. More recently, new approaches to ethnicity have gradually spread in the field, often creating new debates. The present project proposes to look at the period between c. 300 and 1000 C.E. from a comparative perspective, on the basis of extensive previous studies both on medieval ethnicity and on the (mostly European) steppe peoples. Taking Huns, Avars, Bulgarians and Hungarians as a point of departure, the enquiry will extend to the steppe peoples of the period farther East in order learn more about the role and limitations of ethnic distinctions in the world of the steppe, and for outside observers. The analysis departs from the presupposition that groups are not per se ethnic, but that ethnicity is a principle of ordering the social world that becomes relevant through communication and acts of identification, and that may be of varied relevance to different actors (the in-group and the out-group in the steppe, observers outside the steppe zone, modern scholars etc.). This work should result in several research articles, and feed into a revision of the 1988 monograph of the Avars in its English translation (to be published by Cornell University Press). The intended collaboration is of great value for these studies. Hungary has long been one of the leading European centres for the study of steppe cultures, being particularly strong in comparative archaeology, linguistics and ethnology of the Eurasian steppe. Many aspects of the Hungarian project are relevant for the general argument proposed here: Historical semantics, the analysis of oral myths and traditions, the problem of the relevance of archeological evidence for the study of identity and the question of modern identity politics that attach themselves to ethnic histories. The Hungarian project team unites some of the leading senior scholars in the field. On the other hand, the Austrian side can contribute a strong tradition of historical studies on ethnicity and on the relationship of barbarians with the Roman and post-Roman world. It has also long experience with the critique of national and ideological appropriations of history. The impact of nomadic pastoralists in Eurasia: a case-study from Anatolia Dr. Celine Wawruschka There is a precipitate tendency to associate the nomadic cultures of Eurasia with the so called horse people of the steppe. Certainly they exerted the greatest impression on their contemporaries, a fact that is reflected in the written sources. The material culture of the horse people is also easily identified in the archaeological evidence. But the horse people were not the only nomadic inhabitants in the steppes of Eurasia, from where they set out to Central Europe and beyond throughout centuries. As we may not account a homogenous culture among the horse people of Eurasia, we also know another culture that lacks homogeneity in its cultural appearance: the nomadic pastoralists. In my contribution I want to provide a survey of nomadic pastoralists from their beginnings in the Neolithic to present times. Two central themes dominate this survey: common elements of the manifold material culture of nomadic pastoralists, emphasizing those elements that suggest mutual influence with sedentary cultures, and the origin of horse people with reference to nomadic pastoralists. Sedentary societies and nomadic pastoralists have always been in contact with each other as their subsistence practices and economic strategies completed one another. This contact, however, was also affected by conflicts, particularly since the emergence of states. Accordingly, the following questions are of common interest: Which kind of conflicts can be stated between nomadic pastoralists and sedentary cultures? Which groups of horse people can be related to former nomadic pastoralists? How was the relationship between nomadic pastoralists and horse people accordingly? What were the conditions that led to a martial orientation of Eurasian nomads? Is it possible to identify common elements of these conditions? And what were the elements that led to states foundations by Eurasian nomads? Following the general survey I concentrate on a case-study from Anatolia in order to analyze my research questions in detail. The Anatolian peninsula is situated at the western edge of Eurasia, thus being a zone of cultural interaction and influence that offers ideal attributes for such a study. On the other hand the rich history of Anatolia is characterized by a dynamic interplay between sedentary and nomadic cultures, including both nomadic pastoralists and horse people. Since the Neolithic the diversified landscape of Anatolia was home of nomadic pastoralists. With the emergence of states in Bronze Age Anatolia Eurasian horse people became allies and intruders, mercenaries and conquerors for centuries. Finally, a group of Eurasian nomads laid the foundation of the Ottoman Empire. All these groups of Eurasian nomads, however, coexisted with the heterogeneous cultures of nomadic pastoralists for centuries. Therefore, an Anatolian case-study offers a wide range of socio-economic and geopolitical settings for the project at hand. Comments on the Required Funding The project part on ethnicity in the steppe will be conducted by the applicant as a part of his research and will not require funding. It will, however, profit from an intense exchange with the project team, and contribute methodological aspects to its research. The project part on nomadic pastoralism will require funding for a 50% post-doc position, which is designated for Dr. Celine Wawruschka. She has a doctorate in archaeology from the University of Vienna, has taught for several years at Koç University in Istanbul (and is therefore familiar with Turkish research and with the language), has a keen methodological interest and can build on previous research in the field. She will be employed at the Institut für Mittelalterforschung of the Austrian Academy, where all infrastructural needs can be met. Travel funds will be used for project meetings/workshops in Budapest and for one field trip to Anatolia (where Dr. Wawruschka can rely on a network of colleagues which will keep costs low).

The research project Change in the Eurasian Steppes and their Peripheries was a joint project with the Hungarian Academy of Sciences in Budapest, one of the leading European centres of steppe research. It provided the opportunity to work with a multidisciplinary team that, among others, represented archaeological, linguistic and ethnological approaches and provided many inspirations for the Viennese project part. The Austrian project team was composed of the PL, Prof. Dr. Walter Pohl, and a postdoc researcher, Dr. Celine Wawruschka, and approached early medieval European steppe peoples in a broader Central Eurasian context. The research topic of the project leader was the wide-ranging comparison of the various power formations in the medieval Eastern European and Central Asian steppes. In this macro-region, the recurrent expansion of new powers, migrations and shifts of identity can be observed very well and, to a certain extent, followed similar patterns. However, research in the project could show considerable differences between the successive steppe empires that emerged in the Carpathian Basin, Huns, Avars and Hungarians. Avar rule was mainly grounded in the political model of the rule of a khagan, brought from Central Asia; the Avar empire in Europe successfully monopolized Avar identity. Huns, on the other hand, adopted indigenous titles and political forms in many parts of Eurasia, and were distinguished everywhere by this ethnonym. The case study on nomadic pastoralists in Anatolia focused on the idea of continuity. Following a general trend, Turkish historiography emphasizes the research on steppe warriors on horseback as opposed to the phenomenon of nomadic pastoralists. In correlation with the political situation in Turkey in the 20th and 21th centuries, a common Central Asian Urheimat of all Turkic peoples and therefore of the contemporary Turks is still assumed and promoted in school books, TV series and election posters as much as in scientific research. Most recently, geneticists tried to attempt this alleged continuity on biological grounds. So far, such attempts failed due to technical reasons. From a methodological point of view, it became evident that only transdisciplinary research may prevent doubtful assumptions and socio-political abuse of scientific hypotheses and results.