1. These themes were previously treated in a collection of papers published in The Journal of Indo-European Studies 23-24.3–4 (Fall–Winter 1995), 281–44Google Scholar.

2. Gunder Frank, A., The Centrality of Central Asia (Comparative Asian Studies 8; Amsterdam: VU University Press, 1992)Google Scholar.

3. The region is sometimes referred to as the “Silk Road,” a term Mair eschews. Ever since the term Seidenstrasse was invented, in the second half of the nineteenth century, it has not ceased to evoke “Orientalist” images of interminable caravans of camels laden with precious and rare goods, richly dressed Asian aristocrats with their retinue of veiled dancers, and intricate networks of shrewd merchants and ruthless rulers. The cliches generated by the use of the term “Silk Road” tend to reiterate an “Orientalist” view of Central Asia that does not conform to modern sensitivities, and in my view the term should be avoided. It is regrettable that in China the term has gained popular favor while, at the same time, those Western explorers, treasure- hunters, and scientists who were the primary users and propagators of the term, are chastised for having removed so much of the cultural heritage of the region. Sinologists who oppose terms such as Far East and êxtreme orient should be particularly aware of this issue.

4. Note that the last two articles in vol. 2, by Dolkun Kambery and Dru Gladney, are missing from the Index.

5. Pulleyblank, Edwin G. “The Consonantal System of Old Chinese,” Asia Major 9 (1962), 58–144 and 206–65Google Scholar.

6. On Aryan terminology relative to horsemanship, see Aalto, Pentti, “The Horse in Central Asian Nomadic Cultures”, Studia Orientalia 46 (1975), 4–7 Google Scholar.

7. Pirazzoli-t'Serstevens, Michele, “Les cultures du Sichuan occidental à la fin de l'Âge du Bronze et leurs rapports avec les steppes”, in L'Asie Centrale et ses rapports avec les civilisations orientales des origines à l'Âge du Fer (Paris: Diffusion de Boccard, 1988), 183–96.Google Scholar Note that Tzehuey's reference to this work (p. 302) is wrong.

8. Yun, Lin, “A Reexamination of the Relationship between Bronzes of the Shang Culture and of the Northern Zone,” in Studies of Shang Archaeology, ed. Chang, K.C. (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1986), 237–73.Google Scholar

9. Binghua, Wang, “A Preliminary Analysis of the Archeological Cultures of the Bronze Age in the Region of Xinjiang”, Anthropology and Archeology of Eurasia 34.4 (Spring 1996), 67–86 CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

10. Linduff, Katheryn, “Zhukaigou, Steppe Culture and the Rise of Chinese Civilization”, Antiquity 69.262 (March 1995), 133–45CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

11. Debaine-Francfort, Corinne, Du Néolitique à l'Âge du Bronze en Chine du Nord-Ouest: La culture de Qijia et ses connexions (Paris: Éditions Recherche sur les Civilisations, 1995)Google Scholar; Fitzgerald-Huber, Louisa, “Qijia and Erlitou: The Question of Contacts with Distant Cultures”, Early China 20 (1995), 17–67 CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Shelach, Gideon, “Social Complexity in North China during the Early Bronze Age: A Comparative Study of the Erlitou and Lower Xiajiadian Cultures”, Asian Perspectives 33.2 (Fall 1994), 261–91Google Scholar.

12. Extensive treatment of various aspects of the relations between Central Asia and ancient China can be found in several chapters of the Cambridge History of Ancient China, ed. Loewe, Michael and Shaughnessy, Edward L. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999)CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

13. Chang, K.C., The Archaeology of Ancient China, 4th ed. (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1986), 242–45Google Scholar.