Beyond the White Dragon Mounds: The polities of the Tarim Basin in the first three centuries CE, their rise and importance for trade on the Silk Road Tomas

This master dissertation explores the ancient polities of the Tarim Basin, from the early Bronze Age to the first three centuries CE. It also deals with the relation between the rise of the Silk Road trade and the Tarim polities around the start of our era. In order to look at this the dissertation uses ancient Chinese sources as well as archaeological material from the region. First the climate and conditions of the Tarim Basin is discussed. Then the dissertation explores the two types of polities within the Tarim Basin, sedentary and nomadic polities in the first three centuries CE. It finds that the sedentary polities can be classified as city-states as they are centered on fortified urban communities, with a highly developed mode of government and a complex economy. The nomadic polities on the other hand, were far less organized and relied upon interaction with the settled communities, through war and trade alike, for sustenance. This dynamic between sedentary and nomadic communities is shown to have been the key to triggering not only the rise of the city-states but also the Silk Road trade, though in this the Chinese Han Empire also played a role. Towards the end of this dissertation a new question arises, What structures prevented the collapse of trade in the period of intense warfare covering the first two centuries CE?" Three suggestions are given for possible answers to this new problem, but before it can be definitively answered new research is needed on early Buddhist and Kushan history