A SELYEMÚT EREDETE ÉS ÉSZAKI KAPCSOLATAI

This article argues that the conclusions in the prevailing modern literature on the formation of the Great Silk Road III-II thousand BC or the VI^th-III^rd Millennium BC cannot be considered reasonable in light of the available scientific and archival evidence. Until the 3^rd-2^nd c. BC at the western and northern borders of Xinjiang Region, the predominantly Caucasoid population of Xinjiang, contacted the related cultures of Kazakhstan and Sayano-Altai. However, it did not have any noticeable or documented trade (exchange) connections with the eastern Mongols of the Gansu Corridor, nor with farmers of ancient China and nomads of Northern China. According to the available archaeological records, significant migrations of the population from Xinjiang to China and in the opposite direction between the 3^rd c. BC and the first half of the I^st Millennium BC have not been observed. The Silk Road from China through Xinjiang to the west by direct involvement of the Chinese only begins to function in the 1^st c. BC, and then only when the Han Empire at great cost finally succeeded in pushing the Hunnu out of Xinjiang and established control over this territory. This event was preceded by active trade relations between the northern kingdoms of China and the nomads of southern Siberia in the 4^th and 3^rd c. BC and the delivery of the gifts to the Huns (Xiongnu) from the Han Dynasty in the 2^nd c. BC. This enabled silk and varnish products to penetrate Southern Siberia, Central Asia, and then back into Xinjiang.