A Móra Ferenc Múzeum Évkönyve: Studia Archaeologica 8. (Szeged, 2002)
NAGY Imre: Fabulous Creatures From the Desert Sands: Central Asian Woolen Textiles from the Second Century BC to the Second Century AD.
2. kép: Agancsos farkast ábrázoló bronz övcsat, az agancsvégeken ragadozómadár-fejekkel (a szerző rajza BUNKER 1997, 273, 241. ábra alapján) Figure 2: Antiered wolf with predatory bird heads on the antler tines. Bronze belt buckle (Author's drawing after BUNKER 1997, 273. Fig. 241) lény egész valója furcsa átváltozáson megy át, s testének rajzolatai is további átváltozásokat sugallnak. Amennyire rekonstrukciónk láttatni engedi, végtagjaiban is sajátos „elnövényesedés" játszódik le. Második megjegyzésünk konklúziójaképpen tehát megerősíthetjük, hogy a shanpulai szövött textilszalagok ikonográfiája erősebben és több szálon kötődik az eurázsiai steppeövezet művészetéhez és hitvilágához, mint azt a katalógus szerzői számunkra sugallják. „Mesés teremtmények a sivatag homokjából" — mondja a kötet angol címe. Valóban így van. Mesés-mitikus lények egy régen volt világból, akiket minden, a népvándorlás korai és kései szakaszával foglalkozó kutatónak ismernie kell. Fabulous Creatures From the Desert Sands: Central Asian Woolen Textiles from the Second Century BC to the Second Century AD. Edited by Dominik Keller and Regula Schorta with contributions by Emma C. Bunker, et al. Riggisberg: Abbeg-Stiflung, Riggisberg 2001. 156p.: ill. 31 cm. Riggisberger Berichte 10 During the past 10-15 years, Central Asia became the land of important archaeological finds, especially in the Xinjiang Province of China. These were primarily group of objects, sporadic finds, and human remains which might influence and change our views on the steppe migrations from 3 rd-2 nd century BC to 4 th-6 th century AD, and should force us to reassess our opinions on the historical, ethnical, cultural, and artistic characteristics of the time period mentioned. There is much less rainfall in the territory in question than, for example, in Central Europe, and for that reason large part of its territories are deserts. Under these conditions not only metal and bone objects are able to survive the centuries but leather, textiles, or felts also might be surfaced. Among the finds of the settlements on the edge of the Taklimakan Desert, a great number of human remains were also found, the majority of them being tall statured, blond, and white-skinned individuals. These finds led to the reassessment of Indo-European prehistory, and resulted in the new chronology and revised relationship of the centum and satem languages (MALLORY-MAIR 2000). The textile finds of tartan style which accompanied some of these finds modified the overall picture of possible migrations of some Indo-European groups (BARBER 1999). It is not necessary to have extraordinary intellectual power to understand the disguised political intentions behind the force of proving the priority of Caucasians against the Mongoloids in a territory whose strategic and economic importance is on the rise. These obviously Europid human remains have extreme importance for the non-Chinese (primarily Uyghur) minorities of northwestern China because they consider these finds as milestones on the road to the development of their historic selfidentity. Place-names, like Wupu, Subeshi, Zaqhunluq, or Shanpula became well-known location of finds in Xinjiang. Some of the textiles unearthed at Shanpula date
