Yuhuangmiao Culture and East Eurasian History

Bridging Worlds:
New Perspectives on the Yuhuangmiao Culture
and East Eurasian History

Limin Huan, LEIZA (Leibniz-Zentrum für Archäologie)

Ruiliang Liu, The British Museum

Cover picture: a reconstructed view of Yuhuangmiao (created by Limin Huan)

Beijing, renowned as the capital of the People’s Republic of China, is not only a modern metropolis of over 20 million people—making it one of the largest cities in the world—but also a site of profound historical significance in East Asia. In 1261, Kublai Khan, grandson of Genghis Khan, chose Beijing as the capital of his cosmopolitan empire, shifting the political focus away from Karakorum, the traditional Mongolian tribal centre. This decision cemented Beijing’s position as a political and cultural hub—a legacy that persists into modern times.

Beijing’s prominence is deeply tied to its unique geographical location. Nestled between the expansive grasslands of the Eurasian steppes and the fertile farmlands of eastern China, the city became a natural melting pot where two distinct lifestyles converged: the agricultural societies of the south and the nomadic pastoralist communities of the north. This meeting of worlds created a dynamic cultural exchange that predates even the Mongol era.

Figure 1: Map with Yuhuangmiao, Beijing, and their surrounding geography (created by Limin Huan)

Artifacts unearthed in northern China during the 20th century offer intriguing insights into these ancient interactions. Among the discoveries were exquisitely crafted daggers, animal-shaped ornaments, and horse-related items like bits and cheekpieces. These objects, collectively referred to as “Ordos bronzes,” were named after their discovery in the Ordos Loop. Notably, similar artifacts have been found across the Eurasian steppes, often associated with the Scythians—a legendary group of steppe nomads active in the first millennium BCE (Bunker 1997; Bunker and Brosseder 2022; Rawson and Bunker 1990; So and Bunker 1995; Yang et al. 2020).

Figure 2: Covers of some published books and catalogues on steppe bronzes from northern China

Figure 3: Horsepower team examining steppe bronze objects in the British Museum (photo by Limin Huan)

Figure 4: Cover of Life and Afterlife in Ancient China

by Jessica Rawson

The area around Beijing, particularly the Yan Mountains to the north, has long been recognised as a major source of these steppe-like objects. However, many artifacts lack clear excavation context, leaving questions about their original owners and their way of life. Beginning in 1985, Chinese archaeologists undertook a systematic excavation of cemeteries linked to these steppe-style artifacts, culminating in 1991. For the first time, these discoveries provided an archaeological lens to reimagine the lives of people who straddled the worlds of the northern steppes and southern floodplains.

The findings also shed new light on the eastern Eurasian world of the first millennium BCE. Artefacts from the excavated sites, now attributed to the Yuhuangmiao culture, display stylistic connections to regions as distant as Tuva and the Sayan-Altai Mountains. These links suggest that horseback riders traversed vast distances, shaping local histories along the way—a point emphasized by Jessica Rawson (University of Oxford) in her book Life and Afterlife in Ancient China (2003).

Recent studies by the Horsepower research team have further explored the Yuhuangmiao culture through three lenses: its regional interactions, social structures, and the production of its remarkable bronze objects. Limin Huan (LEIZA) and Ursula Brosseder (Principal Investigator, LEIZA), for instance, highlighted the cultural hybridity of the Yuhuangmiao people. While their burial practices mirrored those of their northern neighbours on the Mongolian steppe—such as the Slab Burial culture’s tradition of placing animal heads in graves—the objects themselves were inspired by regions as far away as the Altai.

Figure 5: Regions in east Eurasia with materials cultures related to Yuhuangmiao (Huan and Brosseder 2024)

The team’s work also used a statistical method known as “Correspondence Analysis” to trace changes in burial practices over time. Initially, large, elaborate tombs filled with diverse artifacts reflected the community’s connections to both the steppe and southern China. Over time, however, such displays faded. The researchers suggest this shift may indicate changing social dynamics, as the community found new ways to balance power and relationships with neighbouring groups.

Figure 6: Grave 18, one of the large tombs with rich grave goods from the early stage of the cemetery (created by Limin Huan)

Building on the broad framework established by Limin Huan and Ursula Brosseder, the research team behind Horsepower, Metalpower, led by Ruiliang Liu (Principal Investigator, British Museum) in collaboration with colleagues from various Chinese institutes and universities, conducted a comprehensive analysis of the chemical and lead isotopic composition of copper-alloy artifacts from the Yuhuangmiao culture. The newly acquired data offers a more nuanced perspective on the region’s metallurgy and metal supply networks, shedding light on the Yuhuangmiao culture’s role as a dynamic crossroads of cultural interaction.

The findings reveal that the high tin and lead content in these artifacts not only demonstrates advanced local alloying techniques but also suggests a well-established and sustainable metal supply network. In particular, the deliberate addition of tin to pure copper significantly enhanced the hardness of weapons while imparting a silver-like sheen to ornaments. Given the rarity of naturally occurring tin deposits, the ability to consistently alloy copper with over 20% tin is an extraordinary feat, marking the Yuhuangmiao culture as a highly sophisticated player in Bronze Age Eurasia.

One prevailing hypothesis posits that the region’s pastoralist communities obtained and recycled copper-alloy objects from their settled agricultural neighbours—specifically, the powerful Zhou dynasty states of the Central Plains. However, lead isotopic analysis suggests a more complex reality. A significant proportion of Yuhuangmiao artifacts exhibit lower isotopic values than those associated with major Zhou states such as Yan, Jin, and Qin. This discrepancy indicates the existence of independent sources of copper and lead, likely controlled directly by the Yuhuangmiao people themselves. The combination of a stable metal supply and advanced alloying techniques not only provided superior weaponry—evidenced by the presence of bronze daggers in every male burial—but also conferred economic advantages, facilitating trade with agricultural societies to the south and pastoralist groups further north into the Eurasian steppe.

Huan, L. and Brosseder, U. 2024. Yuhuangmiao: the socio-cultural dynamics of a community between the steppes and the Chinese plains. Asian Archaeology 8(2): 229–249. https://doi.org/10.1007/s41826-024-00098-4.

Ren, W., Liu, R., Li, Y., Tang, X., Han, R., Jin, F., Huan, L., and Pollard, M. 2025. High tin or high lead: distinctive alloying practices of the pastoral Yuhuangmiao culture in Northeast China during the first millennium BCE. Archaeometry, 1–17. https://doi.org/10.1111/arcm.13068.

Interactions between China, Mongolia and the steppe 2000-0 BCE

Bridging Worlds: New Perspectives on the Yuhuangmiao Culture and East Eurasian History

Bridging Worlds:
New Perspectives on the Yuhuangmiao Culture
and East Eurasian History