5.000 de culture du cheval : une présentation récente sur la Mongolie par Eric Mayer 5,000 years of horse nomadic culture: a recent presentation on Mongolia by Eric Mayer

1. MONGOLIA
A NOMADIC CULTURE IN THE AGE OF INTERNET
January2019
© 2018 Eric Mayer

2. WHY MONGOLIA ?
◦ An ANCIENT LAND
◦ An Old and RICH HISTORY
◦ A unique and preserved HORSE CULTURE
◦ A succession of GREAT EMPIRES
◦ GENGHIS KHAN, the largest empire in the
history of mankind
© 2016 Eric Mayer

3. AN ANCIENT
LAND
Priceless paleontological, prehistorical and bronze age
discoveries:
◦ Home to many Paleogene mammals
(23 to 66 million years ago)
◦ Dinosaur eggs
(during a 1923 expedition of the
American Museum of Natural History)
◦ Stone tools found in the southern Gobi desert
(dating back 800,000 years)
◦ Deer stones of the Bronze age
(3000 BC)
◦ Mummy of a Scythian warrior, a 30-to-40-year-
old man with blond hair
(about 2,500 years old, found in the Altai
Mountains, Mongolia)
© 2018 Eric Mayer

4. The works of
ancient nomads of
the steppe:
DEER STONES
INVESTIGATED ONLY SINCE 2006, UNDER THE
AUSPICES OF UNESCO
T H E O N L Y M E G A L I T H S W I T H E N G R A V I N G S I N T H E I R B O D I E S
M A I N L Y A B S T R A C T I M A G E S O F D E E R , T H E A N I M A L O F T H E B R O N Z E A G E

5. A LONG AND RICH
HISTORY
40,000 BC Modern humans reached Mongolia
Upper Paleothilitic
21,000 BC « Khoit Tsenkher » cave
The Mongolian « Lascaux », listed as a
UNESCO’s World Heritage site
5,500 BC Neolithic agricultural settlements
Which predated horse-riding
nomadism
3,000 BC Horse-riding nomadism
Became and remains today the
dominant culture
Since 209 BC a succession of Great Empires
From the Xiongnu Empire (great wall
of China) to the descendants of
Genghis Khan reigning over China

6. « Khoit Tsenhker » cave rock art
21,000 BC
Mongolia’s Lascaux
UNESCO WORLD HERITAGE SITE
1996

7. 2,000 years of
GREAT
EMPIRES
impregnated
with horse
culture
209 BC – 93 AD : Xiongnu Empire
A threat to the Qing Dynasty, the first imperial
dynasty of China, which created the Great Wall
(300,000 workers and then 300,000 guards)
93 – 234 : Xianbei Empire
330 – 555 : Rouran Khaganate
« Khanganate » meaning « Empire » in ancient
Mongolic languages
And « Khagan » meaning « Emperor » (later
became « Khan »)
555 – 745 : Göktürks Empire
745 – 840 : Uyghur Khaganate
907 – 1125 : Khitans of the Liao Dynasty
1125 – 1206 : Khamag Mongol
13-14th century: Mongol Empire
14-17th century: Genghis Khan’s descendants

8. 209 BC – 93 AD
XIONGNU Empire
[Modu chanyu]
GREAT WALL
Built further to their raids
QIN DYNASTY was defeated
War with HAN DYNASTY
Marriage treaty system
200 BC BATTLE OF BAIDENG
300,000 elite Xiongnu cavalry ambushed emperor Gaozu of
Han
89 AD BATTLE OF IKH BAYAN
Han defeated the Xiongnu which fled west : possible origins
of the Huns and Attila
GENETICS: 11% of Europeans
11% of gene sequencing belong to European haplogroups,
Nomadic peoples with different ethno-linguistic groups
Bronze plaque of a man
with Caucasoid features
held by a Xiongnu
(3-1st century BC)

9. 93 – 234
XIANBEI Empire
93 AD DOWNFALL OF THE XIONGNU AND RISE OF THE
XIANBEI
Mongoloid nomadic people, descendants of the Dongzhu defeated by the
Xiongnu in 208 BC
234 AD DEFEATED BY THE HAN
ART
Used a zodiac calendar, favored song and music
Created art for their horses and made art to depict horses
They mastered metal and gold used in art creations
BURIAL & BELIEFS
They buried the dead with their horses, and dogs were sacrificed to
preserve the soul
The future husband has to work two years in the ger of the father of his
future wife
Xianbei belt buckles
Found in a a tomb below a horse skull
3-4th century AD

10. e
330 - 555
ROURAN KHAGANATE
A POWERFUL EMPIRE SINCE 402
A confederation of Xianbei, Tuoba, Rouran poeple
BROKEN BY THE GÖKTURKS
555: 3,000 Rouran beheaded at a marriage ceremony /
Fled West and became the Avars, i,e, Eurasian nomads
« KHAGAN » originated from the Rouran
Shelun, first Khagan in 402
A coin from the
Rouran Khaganate

11. 555 – 745
TURKIC KHAGANATE
Göktürk petroglyphs from
Mongolia (6th to 8th century)
TENGRI, SKY GOD
Adherents of tengrism, like the Xiongnu and the Xianbei -
Main religion of Hungary until end of 10th century]
After the fall of the Khaganate, many refugees settled in
Central Asia, the Middle East and Europe and became Islamic
WESTERN EXPANSION INTO EUROPE
In 576 the Gökturks reached Crimea
FIRST RECORDS OF TURKIC LANGUAGE

12. 745 – 840
Uyghur Khaganate
PERSIAN INFLUENCES, MANICHEISM
To show independence from the Boudhist Tan
ORDU-BALIQ
A nomadic people that built a fixed city as a capital
CONTROLLED THE SILK ROAD
Through trade with the Sogdians
840 SACKING OF ORDU-BALIQ
Razed to the ground by 80,000 horsemen
ROLE LATER IN MONGOL EMPIRE
- Defeated Uyghurs (kingdom of Qocho) later declared
allegiance to Genghis Khan
- Uyghur language became the official script
UNESCO
WORLD
HERITAGE
SITE

13. 907 – 1125
KHITANS OF THE LIAO DYNASTY
(LIAO EMPIRE)
Khitan now known as “Cathay”
Liao Dynasty in the north / Song dynasty in the south
STATUS OF WOMEN
Khitans took an egalitarian approach view towards gender, in
sharp contrast with Chinese cultural practices.
Khitan women were taught to hunt, manage family property,
and held military posts. Most marriages were not arranged,
women were not required to be virgins at their first marriage,
and women had the right to divorce and remarry.
The sexual freedoms of Liao stood in stark contrast to those of
the Han Chinese, many Liao women were sexually promiscuous
before marriage.
Pagoda of Tianning temple built by the liao

14. 1125 – 1206
KHAMAG
MONGOL
A MONGOL TRIBAL CONFEDERATION
characterized by rivalry between many tribes
• KERAITES [5 tribes]
• TARTAR CONFEDERATION [8 tribes]
• MERKIT CONFEDERATION [3 tribes]
• NAIMANS
• ONGUD (WHITE TARTARS)
• DUGHLAT
• OTHERS [2 tribes]
IN 1206 ALL TRIBES AND CONFEDERATIONS HAD
COME UNDER THE LEADERSHIP OF TEMUJIN

15. GENGHIS KHAN
THE MONGOL
EMPIRE
The largest contiguous land empire, from
Guangdong to Budapest,Nearly all of Asia,
European Russia, central Europe, and
Southeast Asia.
He broke down the traditional clan and
arranged his army in ARBANS, i.e. inter-
ethnic groups of ten) and the members of
an ARBAN would be loyal to one another
regardless of ethnic origin. Ten ARBANS
made a ZUUN, ten ZUUNS made a
MYANGAN (a battalion), and ten
MYANGANS formed a TUMEN (an army of
10,000).
This decimal system organization proved
effective in conquering the many tribes of
the central Asia steppe and strengthen
Mongol society as a whole.
1279
1207

16. YASSAa codeof law adopted in 1206
PRINCIPLE OF EQUALITY
Each man works as much as another, there is no difference
No attention is paid to a man’s wealth or importance
Everyone must be given the same opportunities, regardless of
birth, race, or social position
All children are legitimate
Women could no longer be sold into marriage
COMPLETE RELIGIOUS FREEDOM
All religions were to be respected and no preference is to be
shown to any of them
DEMANDS OF HIGH ENDEAVOURS PLACED ON EVERYONE
Laziness was punishable,
Appointments to positions (including chiefs and generals) were
made on merit and ability alone.
OTHER RULES
Stealing of and cruelty to animals is a capital offense
Urinating in water of ashes, and intentional lies carried the death
penalty
HIGH STANDARDS
Under YASSA, it is essential to love one another, not to
commit adultery, not to steal, not to give false witness,
not to be a traitor, and to respect old people and
beggars.
Whoever violated these commands is put to death
“If the great, the military leaders and the leaders of the
many descendants of the ruler who will be born in the
future, should not adhere strictly to the Yassa, then the
power of the state will be shattered and come to an
end, no matter how they then seek Chingis Khan, they
shall not find him” (GENGHIS KHAN)

17. PAX MONGOLICA (13-14th centuries)
The Eastern world and the Westers world were connected, and the silk
road came under the influence of the sole rule of the Mongol Empire.
Mongols encouraged trade
Mongols encouraged cultural exchange
 Marco Polo reached China
 Ibn Battuta, the great Islamic traveller from Morroco reached China
 Rabban Sauma, a Nestorian Christian from around Beijing, reached
Europe and had audiences wit the kings of England, France, and
the Pope
THE BLACK DEATH
The outbreak of plague played a devastating role in the decline of the
Pax Mongolica, because the Mongol Empire made it easy for the Black
Death to spread rapidly.
Historian McNeil (“Plagues and People” 1976) noted that the plague
was transferred from rodents in southern China to Mongol soldiers in
1252. It was carried west along the trade routes during the Pax
Mongolica. Black death is estimated to have killed one-third of China’s
population and 25 to 50% of Europes’s population
Atlas depicting Marco Polo travelling
to the East during the Pax Mongolica

18. THANK YOU
Maxim of GENGHIS KHAN (YASSA)
« If unable to abstain from drinking, a man may
get drunk three times a month; if he does it
more than three times he is culpable; if he gets
drunk twice a month it is better; if once a
month, this is still more laudable; and if one
does not drink at all what can be better? But
where can such a man be found? If such a man
were found he would be worthy of the highest
esteem »

19. ANU MONGOLIA CHARITY
School of Burentogtoh, 1st September 2016
© 2016 Eric Mayer
Charitable trust of a public character
Exempted under Section 88 of the Inland Revenue Ordinance Reference: 91 / 12479