In 3 volumes, Vol. I. Moscow: International Center of the Roerichs, 2004. 470 p., ill.

Problems of studying the nomadic world of the Eurasian steppe belt have long attracted the attention of domestic and foreign scientists. Thanks to the efforts of archaeologists, historians, orientalists, ethnographers, folklorists, and linguists, written sources about ancient and medieval nomads have been studied, translated into European languages, and put into scientific use, monuments of nomadic archaeological cultures have been studied, and characteristic features of traditional cultures of peoples whose ancestors were nomadic pastoralists have been analyzed. Scientists have considered many topical issues of nomadic studies, including the peculiarities of the formation and development of the cultural and economic type of nomadic pastoralists in the steppe zone of Eurasia, the conditions for the formation of nomadic civilization, the formation of nomadic social structure and statehood, the evolution of the military sphere of nomadic society, the nature of relations between nomadic and sedentary ethnic groups, and other scientific issues.

Among the whole galaxy of outstanding Russian scientists who have made an invaluable contribution to the study of the history and culture of the nomadic peoples of Eurasia, and especially the nomads of the Central Asian region, a worthy place is rightfully occupied by the Russian scientist and traveler, general orientalist, philologist and historian, archaeologist and religious scholar Yuri Roerich. His name and scientific works enjoy well-deserved attention among specialists and arouse wide interest among followers of his teachings. In recent decades, scientific conferences dedicated to the memory of Yu. N.Roerich have been held in various cities of Russia within the framework of the Roerich Readings, where his scientific heritage and contribution to the development of orientalism have been analyzed, and his scientific works have been published and reprinted [Roerich, 1982]. Unfortunately, all this time the fundamental, fundamental work of the scientist on the history of nomadic peoples of Eurasia "History of Central Asia"remained unpublished.

As far as is known, the need to publish this work was realized by Yu. N. Roerich's colleagues at the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences in the early 1960s, after the untimely death of the scientist, when it was planned to publish his main scientific works. Unfortunately, this idea was not realized at that time. One of the reasons that prevented the publication of this book was the incompleteness of the last sections of the manuscript, which described events in Central Asia during the late Middle Ages. The author's extensive use of names, ethnic names, and geographical terms in various Eastern languages in the text of the manuscript, using various writing systems that the scientist was fluent in, significantly hindered editorial work.

One of the versions of the manuscript of Yu. N. Roerich's book "The History of Central Asia" is located in the Museum-apartment of Yu. N.Roerich in Moscow. Thanks to the kind assistance of I. M. Bogdanova and V. Y. Vasilchikov, I was able to familiarize myself with the contents of this work in the early 1980s and in subsequent years repeatedly tried to attract the attention of the scientific community to it and introduce Y. N. Roerich's judgments and assessments on certain aspects of the history of the Central Asian nomads, which are of undoubted interest military history of nomadic peoples [Khudyakov, 1985, p. 293]. At the Roerich Readings held in the 1980s and 1990s, the issue of the need to publish the History of Central Asia was regularly raised. I have analyzed the research of Yu. N. Roerich in the field of studying the military affairs of ancient and medieval nomads of Central Asia (Khudyakov, 2000). In 2002, in the year of the 100th anniversary of Yuri Roerich, the initiative to publish this book was supported by the Director of the Institute of Archeology of the Russian Academy of Sciences. -

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Logii i etnografii SB RAS, akad. A. P. Derevyanko and Doctor of Historical Sciences V. E. Larichev. Relevant proposals were sent to the curators of the scientist's scientific heritage. Unfortunately, for reasons independent of the initiators of the publication of his book, it was also not possible to implement these plans at that time.

Finally, the first volume of this book has been published. It is based on the original manuscript that was given to the International Center of the Roerichs along with the rest of the Roerichs ' heritage in 1990 by Yu. N. Roerich's younger brother, the famous artist and thinker S. N. Roerich. The book is beautifully published, with a foreword written by V. M. Ploskikh and E. V. Troyanova, a large number of illustrations, graphic drawings of archaeological finds, black-and-white and color photo illustrations of the terrain where the routes of the Roerichs ' Central Asian expedition took place, as well as objects of decorative, applied and monumental art related to the cultures of ancient nomadic and settled peoples. peoples who originate mainly from the territory of Iran, Central Asia and the steppe belt of Eurasia.

Yu. N. Roerich named his book "The History of Central Asia" in the classical sense of the term "Middle" in the sense of "Middle" or "Inner" Asia for Russian Oriental studies. Questions of scientific and historiographical substantiation of this term, with reference to F. The introduction to the first volume of the book (pp. 25-26) deals with the Richthofen area, as well as geographical zoning and descriptions of natural conditions in different regions of Inner Asia. The author pays special attention to the problem of climate change in ancient times and the possible influence of climate fluctuations on historical processes and the development of the culture of nomadic and settled peoples. After analyzing the evidence of authors of ancient historical and geographical works and modern researchers, the scientist came to the conclusion that "neither progressive desiccation nor climate change affected the course of historical events in Central Asia" (p.31).

Yu. N. Roerich's scientific work attracts attention and impresses first of all with the grandiosity of its design and the abundance of archaeological, linguistic and historical material used to analyze the vast expanse of the Eurasian steppes and adjacent territories of the Fore, Middle and Far East, studied by the 1940s. The presentation of archaeological material in the book is given in chronological order. The first chapter includes data known by the time the author wrote his work on Stone and Bronze Age monuments on the territory of the Eurasian steppe belt and adjacent regions. Yu. N. Roerich attributed them to the "oldest period" in the history of the region under study. In the following chapters, the main events, archaeological and other materials related to the time of the "predominance of Iranian tribes" and the "Early Turkic period" are considered, with which the author connects the existence of the Xiongnu state and the era of the Great Migration of peoples.

Naturally, in the more than 60 years that have passed since Yu. N. Roerich collected material on these problems, the amount of knowledge about the Paleolithic, Neolithic, Bronze Age, Scythian and Hunnic monuments studied in Central, Central and Eastern Asia has increased many times as a result of excavations and scientific understanding of their results by archaeologists from different countries. countries that conducted their research particularly intensively in the second half of the 20th century. The method of searching for monuments and analyzing sources was significantly improved, especially with the use of natural science methods, which made it possible to discover and study a much larger number of monuments, incommensurable with what was known in Inner Asia by the early 1940s, to identify previously unknown cultures, to clarify the chronology and cultural affiliation of many archaeological complexes, in a new way approach the solution of a number of debatable issues of ethno-cultural genesis of nomadic peoples.

Despite all the above, familiarity with the content of the work of Yu. N.Roerich suggests that for modern specialists and a wide range of readers, it is not only of historiographical interest. The book reflects a certain stage in the study of ethno-cultural processes in the region under consideration, using the archaeological works of many domestic and foreign scientists of that time from different countries, published in several European languages, not all of which are accessible to modern researchers, and some have now been forgotten. An overview of the problems facing archaeological science in the first half of the 20th century is of great importance for the modern generation of researchers. To cover such a wide range of problems and analyze such diverse sources was possible only for such an outstanding scholar-encyclopedist in the field of history and culture of the Eastern countries as Yu. N.Roerich. Required under-

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It should be emphasized that in its interpretive part on a number of problems of the ethno-cultural, military and political history of the nomads of Eurasia, Yu. N. Roerich's views have not lost their significance and remain relevant to this day. His work, written in vivid, imaginative language, is read with great interest, favorably differing from many modern monographs on archeology, the presentation of material in which is unnecessarily formalized. I believe that the book will interest the general reader and will contribute to the popularization of scientific knowledge on the history and culture of nomadic peoples of the Eurasian steppe belt.

In the first chapter devoted to the study of monuments of the non-written, "prehistoric" time, Yu. N. Roerich highlighted the most significant events in the history of the discovery and study of early and Late Paleolithic monuments in China, Tibet, Mongolia, and Eastern Siberia during the first decades of the XX century and outlined the distribution zone of such monuments, as well as possible ways of settling native speakers ancient stone industries in Central and Eastern Asia. In this section, he examined the Neolithic complexes of Eurasia over vast areas from Eastern Europe and Central Asia to China, Mongolia, and Eastern Siberia. The researcher touched upon the problem of the ethnic content of some cultures in connection with the search for the alleged "ancestral home" of Indo-European speakers, which was relevant for the scientific community of that time. He himself argued that the primary area of Indo-European settlement could be a vast region of steppes from the Tien Shan to the Carpathians, which is in line with the opinion of many other scientists. In support of his point of view, he cited linguistic data drawn from Indo-European and Finno-Ugric languages (p.95). He also covers in more detail the problems of studying archaeological sites and changing cultures of the Bronze Age in the Eurasian steppes in connection with the migrations of Aryan tribes in Asia Minor, Mesopotamia, Iran, Afghanistan and India. At the same time, the scientist did not consider it possible to judge the ethnicity of monuments based on individual finds that could be distributed in the process of exchange and cultural ties (pp. 103-104).

The epoch of political, military and cultural "predominance" of Iranian nomadic tribes in the Eurasian steppes is considered in the book based on the analysis of ancient Eastern, ancient written historical and multicultural archaeological sources studied by that time in the countries of the Near East, Eastern Europe, Central, Central and Eastern Asia. Special attention to Yu. Nicholas Roerich paid special attention to the formation of the Achaemenid empire and the consequences of Alexander the Great's conquests in the East. He noted, in particular, that the weapons of the Scythian tribes were typically Iranian, and their military power corresponded to the "horse-iron culture" (p. 163-164). According to the researcher, the Parthians who conquered the Seleucid possessions wrote a brilliant page in the military history of Iran.

When describing the history of the rise of the Xiongnu and their formation of the first nomadic empire in the history of the "eastern part of Central Asia", Yu. N.Roerich relied on the information contained in the "Historical Notes" of Sima Qian and in later Chinese dynastic histories, widely drawing on the archaeological materials known at that time. He considered the Xiongnu, as well as the Donghu and Xianbi, to be early Turks, and the Yuezhi to be Tochars (pp. 265-266). In his other work (Roerich, 1963), he also addressed the substantiation of his point of view on the Yuezhi ethnicity. After suffering defeats at the hands of the Xiongnu, the Great Yuezhi horde was forced to migrate west to Central Asia, where it encountered the Wusun and Sakas. The researcher associated the Usuns with the Aces, or Alans (p. 270). In his opinion, the migration of the Tochars coincided with the increased expansion of the Sarmatian tribes in the "western part of Central Asia", which was characterized by a new cavalry tactic-a ram attack of armored cavalry (p. 277). When analyzing the materials of the Xiongnu culture, Yu. N. Roerich used the results of excavations of monuments of the Xiongnu nobility in the Noin Ula Mountains in Mongolia, which made it possible to highlight the features of nomad life in sufficient detail.

In the book, the researcher paid considerable attention to the development of the Great Silk Road, the relationship of the Xiongnu and other nomadic peoples with the Han Chinese Empire, and the spread of Buddhism in Central Asia during the Kushan Empire. The main events in the history of the Xianbian nomads and their formation of a military power are based on reports from Chinese sources. In accordance with the opinion widespread in science at that time, Yu. N. Roerich considered the Xianbians to be Turks (pp. 344-345). Now most researchers consider the ancient Donghu and Xianbi tribes to be the ancestors of the Mongol peoples [Materials on History..., 1984, pp. 39-62]. The great migration of peoples that swept the countries of "western Central Asia" and Europe in the 1st millennium AD, according to the scientist, was provoked by pressure

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"Xianbi Turks" on the northern Xiongnu, who were forced to migrate to the west and set in motion the Alans and other tribes. All this contributed to the creation of the power of the Western Huns and the collapse of the Western Roman Empire. Among the state formations that emerged after the collapse of the nomadic power of the Xiongnu, he attributed the kingdom of the Hephthalites in Central Asia, and identified the Ruanzhuans with the Avars, which fully corresponded to the scientific research of that time.

Noting the undoubted advantages of the peer-reviewed publication, it is impossible not to make some comments and suggestions, which, as we can hope, will be taken into account when preparing for publication the next volumes of "History of Central Asia".

In the foreword by V. M. Ploskikh and E. V. Troyanova, it is stated that the chronological range of the study covers the period "from the Paleolithic to the XIV century" (p. 11). However, the version of the manuscript that we were able to get acquainted with in the Museum-Apartment of Yu. N. Roerich contains materials related to the subsequent period of the history of the nomadic peoples of Central Asia. It is desirable that the manuscript with the necessary editorial changes be published in full, including those sections that were not completed by the author. For the history of science, not only the finished texts are important, but also the materials collected by the researcher.

The nature of editing is not specified in the preface and notes. Only from the individual inserts in square brackets can you guess that the editors tried to bring some of the researcher's estimates in line with modern ideas. In my opinion, if proofreading is made in the original text, it should be mentioned, otherwise the author is credited with judgments that he did not share. If the author's views on a particular historical issue were outdated, then this could be indicated in the notes. Nothing is said about the fact that the selection of illustrations was carried out by editors, so it is difficult to understand how the materials obtained during the excavations that were carried out after the author's death turned out to be among them. There are insufficiently informative and schematic drawings, although the materials of the Afanasiev, Andronovo, Karasuk and other cultures were repeatedly published in a better illustrative design (p. 78, 90, 92). There are inaccuracies and errors in the captions to some drawings. For example, the finds of figurines from the monuments of Malta and Buret, discovered during excavations in the Angara region, made from mammoth tusks, are attributed to ivory products found in Southern Siberia; gold belt plates with images of people and horses near a tree of the Scythian period from the Siberian collection are attributed to Transbaikalia or Mongolia, although it is established that these objects were collected by bugrovschiki in the Irtysh region, in the south of Western Siberia, in the steppe Altai (pp. 73-74, 210-211).

However, the inaccuracies noted are quite insignificant and do not reduce the overall very positive impression of this publication. It is hoped that the publication of subsequent volumes of the History of Central Asia will eliminate such shortcomings.

list of literature

Materials on the history of ancient nomadic peoples of the Donghu group / Introduction, transl. and commentary by V. S. Taskin, Moscow, 1984.

Roerich Yu. N. Tochar problem // Peoples of Asia and Africa. 1963. N 6.

Roerich Yu. N. Po tropam Sredinnoy Azii [On the paths of Central Asia]. Khabarovsk, 1982.

Khudyakov Yu. S. Yu. N. Roerich o voennom iskusstve i predvestaniyakh mongolov [Roerich on the military art and conquests of the Mongols]. To the 110th anniversary of N. K. Roerich and the 80th anniversary of S. N. Roerich. Conference materials. Novosibirsk, 1985.

Khudyakov Yu. S. Yu. N. Roerich on the military affairs of the ancient nomads of East Turkestan // Roerich readings. Proceedings of the Conference November 3-6, 1997 Novosibirsk, 2000.

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