Ancient Princesses Helped To Build The Great Wall Of China
With the help of elite women, the Xiongnu, one of the first nomadic empires in the eastern Eurasian Steppe, was able to control a vast region of Central Asia from about the second century B.C. to the first century A.D.
The Xiongnu may have been among the ancestors of the Mongols. Their empire spanned from present-day Kazakhstan to Mongolia.
Not much is known about them aside from some Chinese historical records and genetic studies of ancient DNA.
“This was an empire with extreme genetic diversity,” said Bryan Miller, an archaeologist from the University of Michigan. “To call oneself Xiongnu at that time was to call oneself a participant in this massive empire.”
Miller was one of the lead authors of a study from 2023 that analyzed human remains from Xiongnu graves located in the foothills of the southern Altai Mountains.
The researchers tested DNA at two Xiongnu cemeteries and found that the people buried in the largest tombs were women who had close familial connections with people from the heart of the Xiongnu Empire, which was roughly in the middle of modern Mongolia.
The women were laid to rest in fancy coffins featuring the golden sun and moon, which were symbols of Xiongnu imperial power.
The females were also interred with rich grave goods, suggesting that they were ancient princesses or at least of a high status.
The burial items included ornamental gold disks, horse gear, and pieces of bronze chariots. It appeared that livestock were sacrificed in their honor.
ABCDstock – stock.adobe.com – illustrative purposes only
The elite families in control of the Xiongnu Empire may have sent these women to establish political partnerships, in the form of strategic marriages, with local elites, as evidenced by the fact that only women were given the special burials.
“They are representatives of the imperial clan that ruled the empire,” Miller said. “You’ve got these marriage alliances spanning the whole empire, even in these local communities.”
The elaborate burials also indicated that the elite women actively helped set political plans into motion and were not just pawns used by their male relatives.
They were responsible for shaping the political landscape of the empire and contributing to the empire’s expansion across Central Asia.
Most information about the Xiongnu is from Chinese records since they had no writing system. The Chinese saw the Xiongnu as foreign enemies who were a threat to China’s northern and western borders.
As a result, some of the earliest fortifications that the Chinese built to try to ward off Xiongnu raids later became the famous Great Wall of China.
It was clear that the Xiongnu Empire was highly complex and organized, a place where women held great power and were leaders in their own right.
Eventually, civil wars divided the Xiongnu. Several groups became tributaries of Chinese states, while others were conquered by steppe peoples.
You can read the study here.
Sign up for Chip Chick’s newsletter and get stories like this delivered to your inbox.
More About:News
Read This Next
