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Wusun (烏孫) --- information about this historic people can be found in Chinese historical annals.

Geography

Originally, the Wusun people lived near the Yuezhi people, probably in the region of Gansu Mts. Later they moved to the Ili valley and the Issyk Kol basin.

Anthropology and archeology

According to Chinese archeologists: excavated skeletal remains of presumed Wusun people are short-headed Europoid of the Central Asian, Transoxanian type.

The Wusun were described as having "green eyes and red beards with a macaque physical shape" (referred to a Chinese expression commentary added by Yan Shigu during the 7th-century on, Hanshu, 96), i.e., of Caucasoid appearance.

History

At the beginning of what is known about the history of the Wusun, they lived near the Yuezhi people. The Yue-zhi were defeated by the rising Xiongnu empire and fled westward. En route they overran the Wusun. The future Wusun king, Kunmo (< MC mak = Kun Beg?), lost his father and was left in the wild, then miraculously was saved from hunger by sucking from a she-wolf. The Xiongnu Shan-yu (ruler) was impressed and adopted the child. When the child grew up the Shan-yu gave him command of his tribe (reconstituted?) and ordered the Wusun to attack the Yuezhi, who had taken refuge in the Ili Valley, said to be originally peopled by the Se (< MC s@k = Saka) people. The Yuezhi was crushed completely and fled further to Ferghana, and finally settled in Bactria, and became known as the Tocharoi. The Wusun took over the Ili Valley and then expanded to occupy a large area. They were said to number 630,000 and became a respected force in Central Asia.

When the Han empire began the counter-offensive against the Xiongnu, the Wusun was won over to her side through political marriages, and the Wusun became a bitter enemy of the Xiongnu. After Han retreat from Central Asia, not much was recorded about the Wusun. They were said to be pressed by the Jou-Juan (Avar) and migrated to the Congling Mts. (Pamir Mountains). After this event the Wusun disappeared from history, and later we found the western Turks in the former habitat of the Wusun. It is thought that they re-emmerged later as the Pechenegs.

Language

There were Sai (Saka) and Yuezhi (Tocharian?) peoples among the Wusun, so maybe they spoke Iranian or Tocharian? The Wusun shared a similar ancestor myth with the ruling Ashin (Asena) clan of the Kok Turks, so they may well be a Turkic people. There was a Wusun king called Fu-li, and Chinese scholar Han Rulin suggested a likeness to Turkic "bori = wolf". The theory that they may have originated as a stranded unit of Romans also exists.

References

• Hill, John E. 2003. "Annotated Translation of the Chapter on the Western Regions according to the Hou Hanshu." 2nd Draft Edition.

• Hill, John E. 2004. The Peoples of the West from the Weilue 魏略 by Yu Huan 魚豢: A Third Century Chinese Account Composed between 239 and 265 CE. Draft annotated English translation.

• Mallory, J.P. and Mair, Victor H. 2000. The Tarim Mummies: Ancient China and the Mystery of the Earliest Peoples from the West. Thames & Hudson. London.

• Stein, Aurel M. 1921. Serindia: Detailed report of explorations in Central Asia and westernmost China, 5 vols. London & Oxford. Clarendon Press. Reprint: Delhi. Motilal Banarsidass. 1980.

• Watson, Burton. Trans. 1961. Records of the Grand Historian of China: Translated from the Shih chi of Ssu-ma Ch'ien. Chap. 123. The Account of Ta-yüan. Columbia University Press.

• History of China
• Ancient peoples of China
• Eurasian nomads