Prehistoric Cultures in Xinjiang: Retrospect and Prospect

Archaeological researches in Xinjiang in the last century have revealed that the region was a crossroad of cultures as early as prehistory, but it is only in the last thirty years that its crucial importance has come to be recognized. From the 1980s an increasing number of studies have put forward cultural categories and spatial- temporal frameworks to organize Bronze Age and Iron Age remains in Xinjiang but due to several problems, such as scarce publications and scant reliable dating, there is still a lack of clear standards for establishing the cultural and temporal attributions of the sites. Nevertheless, the contribution given by debates among scholars on the subject is remarkable and needs to be evaluated in greater detail, in order to gain a clearer understanding of early Xinjiang. This paper aims to be a qualitative study on the current research on Bronze Age and Iron Age cultures in Xinjiang. It provides a retrospective review of the studies on the subject with special reference to selected works since the 1980s, in the hope of enhancing the understanding of Xinjiang and Eurasian prehistory.