The Eurasian Nomads are simply not included into this linear process, as if they never existed, nor they ever created any significant states. At the same time, there are plenty of history books on nomadic empires from Scythian and Hun to Turkic and so-called Mongol. I write more about the history of the nomadic states and empires in Appendixes.
At best, nomads are equaled to the primitive nomadic societies of early hunter-gatherers who precede the agrarian societies. Such is the sad state of things in the modern human knowledge. The nomads are gravely underappreciated, their impact is minimized and their know-hows are unfairly forgotten. Only a handful of nomadologists know the truth, but their voices are never heard by general public.
At the same time, according to the growing number of scholars who study the ENC, the picture of the human societys evolution looks different from what I described above.
This is what weve learned so far about the Eurasian Nomads. After the nomadic hunter-gatherers evolved into agrarians, the later formed first states along the river banks all over Eurasia, where the climate allowed for agricultures to flourish. But the fertility of the arable lands was limited, and the existing technology only allowed for a certain amount of product per area. As the numbers of population grew and also possibly due to the climate changes that diminished the productivity of these lands, some of the agrarians were forced to live in worsening conditions, with hunger threat being imminent.
Fortunately, these changes happened slowly enough for people to adapt. As a result, some people learned to rely on cattle-breeding at first as a subsidiary, and later as a substitute alternative to agriculture. Thus the first semi-nomadic economic models appeared, where parts of extended agrarian families were part-time or mainly cattle-breeders. Later on this specialty lead to a development of seasonal pastoralism, where some families would drive their herds to summer pastures and only return home for winter.
The herds grew in numbers, providing the herdsmen with meat, fats, dairy, wool, and leather. These goods were then exchanged for products of agrarian economy in settlements, thus giving the nomads what they couldnt produce on their own. This early exchange of goods signified the future relationships between the nomadic civilization and settled civilizations in Eurasia that remained valid until the 20th century, and even still exist today in Mongolia and Northern China.
Soon enough the herdsmen invented ways of full-time, year-round pastoralism. After a few generations, the families of herdsmen gradually became fully independent, and started developing their own type of society, with independent chiefs, military, courts, and other societal institutes. Some even went as far as to completely severe their ties with the agrarian relatives, others tried to live close to them and trade. This allowed for greater freedom in choice of pastures and grasslands, and led to full-blown nomadic pastoralism, which I call the Nomadic Revolution.
The Nomadic Civilization: modern perception (left) vs true science (right)
The ENC was born in the Bronze Age, it stemmed from the agrarian society, and it existed in parallel to SC for three millennia. And it was successful! There are numerous historical facts that clearly spell the advantages of the ENC over the SC. When the nomads were on the rise, they built their empires in a blink of an eye, and no SC nation could resist them. And theyve done it time and again, century after century, for thousands of years. Many European, Middle-Eastern, Slavic, Russian, Chinese, Indian, and Iranian dynasties were EN in origin. Please read Appendixes for more detail.
Only in the Modern Era the advancement of technologies and following growth of economic powers allowed the SC nations to finally stall the advancement of the EN, and then gradually turn the tide and start pushing them back into the Great Steppe. Particularly helpful was the invention of gunpowder weaponry, which lead to a mass supply of cheap SC soldiers, who were able to overwhelm the elite EN cavalry.
This process was helped greatly from inside the ENC by endless civil tribal wars that weakened the EN. But even then this process took a few centuries. The EN society was so strong and resilient that it was able to resist the growing powers of the SC nations, which surrounded the Great Steppe from all directions by an ever-tightening rim. Russia was pushing from the north, China from the east, Central Asian Islamic states from the south, and Iran and Europeans from the west. I call it the SC Rim.
Finally, it seemed that the ENC was finished, and finally met its evolutionary dead-end. The SC, finally ridding of the millennia-old threat, proclaimed an ultimate victory, and the ENC was forgotten and written off from the history of humanity. Such was the great fear that even today, after the ENC seized to exist, only a handful of scholars know the truth that remains hidden from the majority.
But is the Nomadic Civilization really dead, forever? I dare to beg to differ and am going to argue this point further in this book. Not only I believe that the history of the NC is far from being over, I even think that this is the only possible way for the humanity to evolve in the future, and remain relevant and prosper.
Economy
Cattle-breeding economy
In order to understand the nomadic civilization better, we need to first understand its economics. Its fairly simple in the core: the cattle, mostly sheep, horses, and camels, and sometimes goats and cows, eat on wild grasses of the seasonal pastures. As the pastures run out of grass due to overgrazing and drying from seasonal temperature rises, the cattle is moved to next pastures that are still full of the fresh grass. This keeps cattle alive and multiplied in numbers by breeding.
The nomads basically simply follow their cattle herds, and make sure it happens in an organized manner. This closely mimics the great animal migrations in Africa, where millions of zebras, antelopes, and other animals move in the same manner chasing the seasonal pastures. But in the Great Steppe, this took a more structured, man-made form. The herdsmen watch after their cattle, defend them from wolves, cattle-thieves, and other dangers. They also ensure to pick the best routes with watering places, and ward off any possible threats, allowing the herds to roam in a relative comfort.
In exchange the cattle provides the herdsmen families with meat, fats, dairy, wool, leathers, bone, sinew, horns, hooves, and other valuable materials that sustain human lives and production, and feed the economy. The nomads were always careful in using their live wealth, and made sure that not a single fiber of wool goes to waste. The nomadic consumption of cattle was 100% waste-free. Even the cattle dung was dried, stockpiled, and used as fuel to make fire.
Some of the EN always led semi-nomadic lifestyle in areas of the Great Steppe where such economics were possible. One of them being the region where I live the Almaty Oblast, or Jetysu Region (the Seven Waters in Kazakh language). This region has high mountains and flat steppe right next to each other, creating a unique landscape. The mountain footings in the south of Almaty City allowed for agrarian economy, while the plains in the north were ideal for nomadic pastoralism; all within a few miles distance. Also there were pockets of fully-agrarian societies that lived among the Eurasian Nomads too.
The cattle was, of course, the main source of food. Meat was consumed regularly and by all nomads regardless of their social status; unlike that of the SC nations where meat was a privilege of the rich and powerful. The cattle also supplied the nomads with dairy products: most prominently the delicious fermented horse milk called qymyz and gourmet camel milk called shubat, along with many others. In Mongolia, where the local nomads traditionally have more cows, they make many types of dairy products from cow milk, such as airan, and a few types of milk alcoholic beverages.
This is the basic nomadic economy in a nutshell. It was not complicated in principle, but of course it required tons of expertise on a practical level. The nomads knew everything there is to know about their cattle, given the pre-Industrial technologies. They knew when to move to new pastures, best routes, watering holes, mating and breeding times, sicknesses and cures, as well as the best ways to shear, slaughter, and cut meat. The nomadic cuisine in a pure form contained mostly meat and dairy products, of which the nomads invented many delicious dishes. These dishes were enriched with either natural foods, such as plants, roots, fish, and etc., or with what the nomads could trade off with the SC nations: grains, vegetables, and etc. I write more about the nomadic traditional cuisine in Appendixes.
Nomadic production
The Eurasian Nomads developed their own way of production and industries. Some were advanced and happened for the first time in the Great Eurasian Steppe. For example, the metallurgy. The EN were the first to discover large deposits of metal ore in Altai, Central and Northern Kazakhstan. Most of them are still being extracted today on an industrial level.
The EN were equipped with bronze weapons and tools, when in some pockets of the world people still used Stone Age technologies. When the Altai nomads invented steel production from iron ore and started making steel tools and weapons, it gave them advantage over the Bronze Age adversaries. It helped them to forge mighty empires in the Early Iron Age, and also led to a spread of iron technology all over the Afro-EuroAsia, contributing to a transition to the Iron Age.
These mining and steel productions were stationary, tied to locations where the natural ore were found. Apart from that, the EN learned to provide themselves with all necessities on the move. The ever-roaming lifestyle prevented them from building large manufactures and craftsmen guilds, as it was common in the SC nations. Instead the nomads adjusted their needs and production mode to whatever technologies were possible within the nomadic economy.
The women and youth in nomadic families were skillful craftspersons, capable of producing high-quality felt and animal skins; they weaved wool goods, sew clothes, made yurts soft elements, bedding items, and etc. Men were always busy tanning the animal leathers and making leather goods: saddles, leather armor, belts, pouches, boots, horse and camel harnesses, and etc.; woodworking: building the yurt parts, furniture, wooden dishes, making bows and arrows; ironworks: making tools, weapons, equipment parts; and pottery. All of these works were produced either right in the yurts or simply outdoors, without city walls, factories, and shops.
The nomadic families were able to produce goods to cover 100% of their everyday needs. Of course, they never skipped the opportunity to buy or exchange goods with their neighboring SC nations. In fact, many nomadic tribes were heavily involved in trade, either directly or by providing security for passing trade caravans, especially during the Silk Road era. But overall they could get along on their own with complete self-sufficiency.
Therefore, we know that the nomadic production was highly versatile, adaptable, mobile, resourceful, ecological, minimalist, and waste-free. This is an important quality, as I will show how this approach can become crucial in the future of humanity.
Nomadic Dwelling
Mobile dwellings
The Eurasian Nomads also developed an entire new approach to living accommodations and comfort. Most of the EN mobile dwellings represent variations of a tent. There are a few types of these, incorrectly referred to as yurts. I describe this more in detail below in the Appendixes. Here it is sufficient to say that the Kazakhs call a yurt ui and the Mongols call it ger, while the term yurt («jurt» in Kazakh language) refers to a place where our EN ancestors used to put the uis and gers. But for the sake of convenience, I will continue calling it «yurt».
There are a few theories on how the modern-day Turkic (Kazakh, Kyrgyz, Turkmen, Bashkir, and Karakalpak) and Mongol yurts originated. One theory is that they represent a further evolution of a more primitive tepee-like conical tents that still exist in Siberia (chum, yaranga). The simple and narrow conical tents gradually became spacious dome-shaped tents with separate walls and roof. Through a series of improvements they arrived to their modern design. Other theory suggests that they repeat the design of Bronze Ages stationary wigwam-style houses of the Eurasian agrarian societies. In this theory the early nomads were trying to adjust the old design to new conditions.
Whatever the origin of the yurt is, we know that by the Modern Era the yurts have evolved insomuch that even today we are still discovering their secrets and admire their design and engineering. Today there are modern-day yurts made with traditional materials and technologies, as well as high-tech yurts made with contemporary materials and technologies.
The yurt is mobile, collapsible, portable yet durable, comfortable and universal dwelling. Over the millennia the EN learned to make them climate-proof, wind-proof, and weather-proof; as well as pleasant to spent time in. They allow for a cozy, convenient lifestyle all year round, while living on the move. These are not your typical tourist tents, or even the military tents that are designed to provide for temporary shelter. The yurts are actual permanent houses, richly decorated and well-furnished, warm in winter and cool in summer; the only difference is that they are made to be fully portable.
The yurts were well-equipped with all necessary furniture and household items for a comfortable life, but without unnecessary extra stuff that clutters the houses of the SC peoples. The ground and walls were covered with woven and felt rugs, providing insulation and weatherproofing. The yurt dwellers had small portable tables, compact cabinets, kitchenware and dishware, many bedding items, and sufficient amount of clothes for all four seasons. The nomads rarely used chairs, because they were just an extra weight during the seasonal movements; instead they preferred to seat cross-legged on the rugged floor. The usually slept on soft matrasses that they put right on the floor, only using portable collapsible beds to sleep their kids or elders.
Overall, the yurt is an ingenious invention of the EN, ideally suited for nomadic lifestyle, and perfectly balancing comfort with practicality.
Nomadic Transportation
Chariots and wagons
The Eurasian Nomads also made a revolution in transportation. Not many people today realize that the wheel was an EN invention. As we know from archaeological evidence, such as the Botai Culture in Central Kazakhstan and others, the early cattle-breeders didnt ride horses. Horses were herded mostly for food or ritual purposes, because they were much smaller than modern-day horses and werent able to carry a rider. Therefore, to use them as transportation, the nomads had to invent pulled carts on wheels, which later led to a development of chariots and wagons. Chariots, in turn, evolved into feared war chariots, a trademark tech in most of the Ancient world.