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{{Infobox mountain pass
| name = Dzungarian Gate
| other_name = Alataw Pass
| photo = Dzungarian Gate.png
| photo_caption = Satellite photograph of the Dzungarian Gate, the pale, [[fault-line]]d valley running between [[Lake Alakol]] and [[Lake Ebinur]] through the [[Dzungarian Alatau]] mountain range.
| elevation = 
| traversed = 
| location = [[China–Kazakhstan border]]
| range = [[Dzungarian Alatau]]
| coordinates = {{coord|45|30|N|82|20|E|display=title,inline}}

| map = Kazakhstan
| map_caption = The Dzungarian Gate in Kazakhstan on the border of China.
}}
{{Chinese
|s=阿拉山口
|t=阿拉山口
|l=Alataw Pass
|p=Ālā Shānkǒu
|lang1=kk
|lang1_content={{lang|kk|Жетісу қақпасы}}<br>(''Jetisw qaqpası'')<br>{{lang|kk|Жоңғар қақпасы}}<br>(''Joñğar qaqpası'')
}}
[[File:Altai,Tienschan-Orte.png|thumb|400px|Right|[[Lake Ebinur]] (unlabeled) lies in the west of the [[Dzungaria#Dzungarian Basin|Dzungarian basin]], to the left of the letter "D" in "Dsungarei", within which it would fit. The larger [[Lake Alakol]] (also unlabeled) lies to its northwest, over the border in [[Kazakhstan]]. The valley of the Dzungarian Gate (yellow, given its elevation) runs from northwest to southeast through the mountain range that lies between the two lakes.]]
The '''Dzungarian Gate''' is a geographically and historically significant [[mountain pass]] between [[China]] and [[Central Asia]].<ref>''Cambridge History of China: The People's Republic, Part 2 : Revolutions Within the Chinese Revolution, 1966–1982'', Roderick MacFarquhar, John K. Fairbank, Denis Twitchett, Cambridge University Press, 1991, [https://books.google.com/books?id=WpS3nInK6aAC&pg=PA266&dq=dzungarian+gate+invasion&hl=en&ei=pIAyTOO2H4Wdlged6Z2-Cw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=3&ved=0CC4Q6AEwAg#v=onepage&q=dzungarian%20gate%20invasion&f=false p266]</ref> It has been described as the "one and only gateway in the mountain-wall which stretches from [[Manchuria]] to [[Afghanistan]], over a distance of three thousand miles."<ref>Three thousand miles equal 4828.032 kilometers.  The exact distance from where to where to which Carruthers is referring is unclear. Douglas Carruthers, ''Unknown Mongolia: A Record of Travel and Exploration in North-West Mongolia'' [https://books.google.com/books?pg=PA413&dq=unknown+mongolia&id=DHsTAAAAYAAJ#v=snippet&q=Manchuria%20to%20Afghanistan&f=false p415]</ref>  Given its association with details in a story related by [[Herodotus]], it has been linked to the location of legendary [[Hyperborea]].<ref>J. P. Mallory and Victor H. Mair, ''The Tarim Mummies: Ancient China and the Mystery of the Earliest Peoples from the West'',  Thames & Hudson, 2000, p. 44</ref>

The Dzungarian Gate ({{zh|c={{linktext|阿|拉|山|口}}|p={{linktext|Ā|lā |Shān|kǒu}}}}; {{lang-kk|''Жетісу қақпасы'' or ''Жоңғар қақпасы''}}) is a straight valley which penetrates the [[Dzungarian Alatau]] mountain range along the border between [[Kazakhstan]] and the [[Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region]].<ref>Image Science and Analysis Laboratory, NASA-Johnson Space Center. "The Gateway to Astronaut Photography of Earth." http://eol.jsc.nasa.gov/debrief/STS085/topFiles/STS085-503-61.htm</ref>  It currently serves as a [[Alashankou Railway Station|railway corridor]] between China and the west.  Historically, it has been noted as a convenient pass suitable for riders on horseback between the western [[Eurasian steppe]] and lands further east, and for its fierce and almost constant winds.<ref>Douglas Carruthers, ''Unknown Mongolia: A Record of Travel and Exploration in North-West Mongolia'' p415</ref>

In his ''[[Histories (Herodotus)|Histories]]'', Herodotus relates travelers' reports of a land in the northeast where [[griffin]]s guard [[gold]] and where the [[North Wind]] issues from a mountain cave.  Given the parallels between Herodotus' story and modern reports,<ref>Adrienne Mayor, Peter Dodson, ''The first fossil hunters: paleontology in Greek and Roman times'', Princeton University Press, 2001, [https://books.google.com/books?id=MXCQKJwLGS4C&pg=PA37&dq=lop+nur+and+the+dzungarian+gate&hl=en&ei=ksU3TJKOL8WblgeG2MzSBw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=2&ved=0CDAQ6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q=lop%20nur%20and%20the%20dzungarian%20gate&f=false p. 27] (See also map, [https://books.google.com/books?id=MXCQKJwLGS4C&pg=PA28&dq=%22griffin+of+scythian+lore%22&hl=en&ei=98Q3TNaxDsWblgeN2MzSBw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CCgQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=%22griffin%20of%20scythian%20lore%22&f=false p. 28])</ref><ref>"Considering that Pliny, referring to Aristeas, says that the Arimaspeans lived very near 'the Earth's gate' and the 'cave of the North Wind', we must seek them somewhere near the Dzungarian Gate, and not in the Urals or Tibet." Ildikó Lehtinen, ''Traces of the Central Asian culture in the North: Finnish-Soviet Joint Scientific Symposium held in Hanasaari, Espoo, 14–21 January 1985'' Suomalais-ugrilainen Seura, 1986 [https://books.google.com/books?ei=-qc3TM_QFYXGlQedsoDTBw&ct=result&id=9RPXAAAAMAAJ&dq=dzungarian+gate+north+wind&q=%22Pliny%2C+referring+to+Aristeas%22#search_anchor p180]</ref> scholars such as [[Carl Ruck]],<ref name="Wasson 1986 227–230">{{Citation
  | last = Wasson
  | first = R.G.
  | author-link = R. Gordon Wasson
  | last2 = Kramrisch
  | first2 = Stella
  | last3 = Ott
  | first3 = Jonathan
  | title = Persephone's Quest - Entheogens and the origins of Religion
  | publisher = Yale University Press
  | year = 1986
  | pages = 227–230
  | isbn = 0-300-05266-9|display-authors=etal}}</ref>  J.D.P. Bolton<ref>Bolton, J.D.P. (1962). ''Aristeas of Proconnesus''</ref> and Ildikó Lehtinen<ref>"Considering that Pliny, referring to Aristeas, says that the Arimaspeans lived very near 'the Earth's gate' and the 'cave of the North Wind', we must seek them somewhere near the Dzungarian Gate, and not in the Urals or Tibet." Ildikó Lehtinen, ''Traces of the Central Asian culture in the North: Finnish-Soviet Joint Scientific Symposium held in Hanasaari, Espoo, pp. 14–21 January 1985'' Suomalais-ugrilainen Seura, 1986 [https://books.google.com/books?ei=-qc3TM_QFYXGlQedsoDTBw&ct=result&id=9RPXAAAAMAAJ&dq=dzungarian+gate+north+wind&q=%22Pliny%2C+referring+to+Aristeas%22#search_anchor p180]</ref> have speculated on a connection between the Dzungarian Gate and the home of [[Anemoi#Boreas|Boreas]], the [[North Wind]] of [[Greek mythology]].  With legend describing the people who live on the other side of this home of the [[North Wind]] as a peaceful civilized people who eat grain and live by the sea, the [[Hyperboreans]] have been identified by some as [[the Chinese]].<ref name="Wasson 1986 227–230"/><ref>"If, as some scholars suggest, the Issedones were the Wusun of the western Gobi, the Arimaspi the Huiung-nu of Mongolia, and the Hyperboreans the Chinese, then the sea to which they extended was the Pacific, and Aristeas was 'the first civilized European to pass the Dzungarian Gate and learn of the existence of China'." Klaus Mehnert, ''Ein Deutscher auf Hawaii, 1936-1941'' s.n., 1983, [https://books.google.com/books?id=RVCHAAAAIAAJ&q=%22Pacific,+and+Aristeas%22&dq=%22Pacific,+and+Aristeas%22&hl=en&ei=QLE3TJjNOYX7lwf1lbHTBw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CCUQ6AEwAA p. 240]</ref>

== Geography ==
The windswept valley of the Dzungarian Gate, {{convert|6|mi|km|0|abbr=on}} wide at its narrowest, is located between [[Lake Alakol]] to the northwest in Kazakhstan and [[Ebinur Lake]] ({{zh|c={{linktext|艾|比|湖}}|p={{linktext|Ài|bǐ |Hú}}}}) to the southeast in China.<ref>Paul E. Lydolph, ''Climates of the Soviet Union'', Elsevier Scientific Pub. Co., 1977, p. 174</ref>  At its lowest, the floor of the valley lies at about 1,500 feet (450m) elevation,  while the surrounding peaks of the [[Dzungarian Alatau]] range reach about 10,000 feet (3,000m) to the northeast and 15,000 feet (4,500m) to the southwest.<ref>Image Science and Analysis Laboratory, NASA-Johnson Space Center. "The Gateway to Astronaut Photography of Earth." http://eol.jsc.nasa.gov/scripts/sseop/photo.pl?mission=STS085&roll=755&frame=38</ref>

[[Douglas Carruthers]], who explored the area in the first decade of the 20th century,  writes:<blockquote>The Dzungarian Gate is a defile about six miles wide at its narrowest point, and forty-six miles long, connecting Southern Siberia with Dzungaria. It forms a natural pathway from the plateau of Mongolia to the great plain of North-western Asia, and is the one and only gateway in the mountain-wall which stretches from Manchuria to Afghanistan, over a distance of three thousand miles. On the west, the Ala-tau drops suddenly from peaks above snow-line to the level of the floor of the depression, 700 feet above the level of the ocean,—the lowest altitude in the inland basins of Central Asia, with the exception of the [[Turpan Depression|Turfan depression]], which is actually below sea-level.<ref>Douglas Carruthers, ''Unknown Mongolia: A Record of Travel and Exploration in North-West Mongolia'' [https://books.google.com/books?id=DHsTAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA415&dq=forty-six+miles+long,+connecting+Southern+Siberia+with+Dzungaria&hl=en&ei=zbY3TP_KD4T7lwer3dXSBw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CCUQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=forty-six%20miles%20long%2C%20connecting%20Southern%20Siberia%20with%20Dzungaria&f=false p415]</ref></blockquote>

Geologically, the valley of Dzungarian Gate was created by the [[Active fault|active]]  [[Fault (geology)#Strike-slip faults|strike-slip]] Dzungar fault system.<ref name="Buckman">{{cite book|last1=Buckman|first1=S.|last2=Aitchison|first2=C.|editor=Malpas J. |editor2=Fletcher C.J.N. |editor3=Ali J.R. |editor4=Aitchison|title=Aspects of the Tectonic Evolution of China|url=http://sp.lyellcollection.org/cgi/content/abstract/226/1/101|accessdate=16 July 2010|series=Special Publications |volume=226 |year=2004|publisher=Geological Society|location=London|pages=101-129|chapter=Tectonic evolution of Palaeozoic terranes in West Junggar, Xinjiang, NW China|isbn=978-1-86239-156-7}}</ref>  In strike-slip faults the blocks slide past each other laterally, and in this case they do so in a counter-clockwise direction or dextrally,<ref>Mark B. Allen and Stephen J. Vincent, "Fault reactivation in the Junggar region, northwest China: the role of basement structures during Mesozoic-Cenozoic compression", ''Journal of the Geological Society''; February 1997; v. 154; no. 1; pp. 151–155</ref> similar to the famous [[San Andreas Fault]].

Remarking on it as a geological and physical phenomenon, Carruthers continues:<blockquote>[T]he Dzungarian Gate is as unusual as that of the [[Jordan Rift Valley|Jordan depression]]. They are both examples of a [[Rift valley|rift-valley]] caused by the movement of the earth's crust, not by the action of water. This valley once formed the connecting link between the drainage of Dzungaria and that of Southern Siberia. The chain of lakes at either end of the valley ([[Lake Balkhash|Balkash]], Ala Kul, Ebi Nor, etc.), are the remains of the great [[West Siberian Glacial Lake|Asiatic Mediterranean Sea]]; if their waters were to rise a few hundred feet they would break through the Gate, flooding the plains to the north and south.<ref>Douglas Carruthers, ''Unknown Mongolia: A Record of Travel and Exploration in North-West Mongolia'' [https://books.google.com/books?id=DHsTAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA416&dq=drainage+of+Dzungaria&hl=en&ei=Qrc3TKbQA4L6lwe83eDUBw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CC8Q6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=drainage%20of%20Dzungaria&f=false p. 416-417]</ref></blockquote>

Noting that, "In prehistoric days the Dzungarian Gate must have presented a still more wonderful sight" when it "formed a narrow strait joining the Dzungarian inlet with the [[West Siberian Glacial Lake|vast seas of Western Siberia]],"<ref>Douglas Carruthers, ''Unknown Mongolia: A Record of Travel and Exploration in North-West Mongolia'' p417</ref> Carruthers quotes the British journalist and [[Member of parliament|MP]], [[Morgan Philips Price]], with whom he travelled:<ref>Douglas Carruthers, ''Unknown Mongolia: A Record of Travel and Exploration in North-West Mongolia'' [https://books.google.com/books?id=DHsTAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA417&dq=%22north+side+of+the+Barlik+Mountains%22&hl=en&ei=ibc3TNCCGsL6lweH8cHVBw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=3&ved=0CDUQ6AEwAg#v=onepage&q=%22north%20side%20of%20the%20Barlik%20Mountains%22&f=false pp. 417-418] "This was probably in the recent [[Quaternary]] and also in the [[Tertiary]] times. Deep deposits of fine mud, now carved out by streams into rolling downs, are to be seen on the north side of the Barlik Mountains. There deposits containing marine shells, which will probably prove to be Quaternary, rise to the altitude of {{convert|3100|ft|m|0}}. Near the Barlik Range there is abundant evidence of marine [[glaciation]],—the debris of icebergs from a frozen sea. Nearer to the gorge the muddeposits begin ; they contain seams of pebbles,—falsebedded, showing that the currents and tides must have been strong. . . . "</ref><blockquote>One can picture the Dzungarian Gate in the [[Ice Age]]: a narrow strait through which the Arctic-AraloCaspian Sea ebbed and flowed into the seas of [[Central Asia]], scoured by icebergs descending from ancient glaciers on the Ala-tau and Barlik Mountains and forested perhaps down to the water's edge,—not unlike the [[Strait of Belle Isle|Straits of Belle Isle]] at the present day. Now a change has been wrought; earth-movement has drained the sea. But away to the north there still remain the lakes of Ala Kul, Sasik Kul, and [[Balkash]], and on the south Ebi Nor,—pools left in the desert—all that remains of the great icy sea. The [[alluvial plain]]s, once its bed, are now covered by desert [[grasses]], while the forest clings only to the shaded slopes and gullies on the northern slopes of the mountains.<ref>Price's brief summary of his observations, as published in the ''Geographical Journal'' for February 1911</ref></blockquote>

== History ==

===Origins and the Silk Road===
{{main|Silk Road}}

[[File:ZhangQianTravels.jpg|thumb|350px|Zhang Qian taking leave from emperor [[Han Wudi]], for his expedition to [[Central Asia]] from 138 to 126 BCE, [[Mogao Caves]] mural, 618–712.]]

One of the earliest mentions of the Dzungaria region dates to when [[Emperor Wu of Han]] (reigning 156–87 BCE), dispatched the [[Han Dynasty|Han]] Chinese diplomat [[Zhang Qian]] to investigate lands to the west.  The northernmost [[Silk Road]] [[trackway]], about {{convert|2600|km}} in length, connected the ancient Chinese capital of [[Xi'an]] to the west over the [[Wushao Ling Pass]] to [[Wuwei, Gansu|Wuwei]] and emerged in [[Kashgar]] before linking to ancient [[Parthian Empire|Parthia]].<ref>[http://www.megalithic.co.uk/article.php?sid=18006 ''Silk Road, North China'', C.Michael Hogan, the Megalithic Portal, ed. A. Burnham]</ref>

Dzungaria is named after a [[Mongols|Mongolian]] kingdom which existed in [[Central Asia]] during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. It derived its name from the [[Dzungars]], who were so called because they formed the left wing (''züün'', left; ''gar'', hand) of the Mongolian army, the self-named [[Oirats]]. It was raised to its greatest prominence by [[Kaldan]] (also known as Galdan Boshigtu Khan) in the latter half of the 17th century, who made repeated incursions on the territory of the Kazakh state, but was completely destroyed by the [[Qing Dynasty|Qing]] government in about 1757–1759. It played an important part in the history of [[Mongolia]] and the great westward Mongolian migrations. After 1761 its territory fell mostly to the [[Qing dynasty]] ([[Xinjiang]] and north-western Mongolia) and partly to [[Russian Turkestan]] (earlier the Kazakh state provinces of [[Semirechye]]- Jetysu and Irtysh river).

A traveler going west from China must go either north of the [[Tian Shan]] through Dzungaria or south of the Tian Shan through the [[Tarim Basin]]. Trade usually took the southern route and migrations the northern. This is most likely because the Tarim leads to the [[Ferghana Valley]] and Iran, while Dzungaria leads only to the open steppe. The difficulty with the southern route was the high mountains between the Tarim and Ferghana. There is also another reason. The [[Taklamakan Desert]] of the Tarim is too dry to support much grass, and therefore lacked nomads likely to rob caravans. Its inhabitants lived mostly in oases formed where rivers ran out of the mountains into the desert. These were inhabited by peasants who were unwarlike and merchants who had an interest in keeping trade running smoothly. On the other hand, Dzungaria had a fair amount of grass, few towns to base soldiers in and no significant mountain barriers to the west. Therefore, trade went south and migrations north.<ref>''The Empire of the Steppes: A History of Central Asia'' 
René Grousset
Rutgers University Press,
1970
p. xxii,</ref>

=== Modern development ===
[[File:Alashankou railway station 806.jpg|thumb|left|200px|A view of [[Alashankou railway station|Alashankou station]]]]

The Chinese city of [[Alashankou]] lies on the eastern end of the valley in the [[Börtala Mongol Autonomous Prefecture]] of Xinjiang.  To the west, in the [[Almaty Province]] of Kazakhstan, lies its smaller counterpart, [[Dostyk]], or [[Dostyk|Druzhba]] in Russian.

Modern development of the pass for its economic potential was delayed by political considerations.  An agreement between the [[Soviet Union]] and the [[People's Republic of China]] to connect Kazakhstan with Western China by rail had been reached in 1954.  On the Soviet side, the railway reached the border town of Druzhba (Dostyk) (whose names, both Russian and Kazakh, mean 'friendship') in 1959.  On the Chinese side, however, the westward construction of the [[Lanxin railway|Lanzhou-Xinjiang railway]] was stopped once it reached [[Urumqi]] in 1962.  Due to the [[Sino-Soviet Split]], the border town remained a sleepy backwater for some 30 years, until the [[Alashankou railway station]] was finally completed on September 12, 1990.

== Hyperborean connection ==
[[File:Herodotus world map-en.svg|thumb|right|350px|World map according to Herodotus. Top right are the countries of the Issedones, Arimaspi, and, in the extreme northeast, the Hyperboreans. Click the map for a larger view.]]
{{Location map | China
| lat = 45.5
| long = 82.33
| label = Dzungarian Gate
| position = right
| background = #FFFFDD
| width = 350
| float = right
| caption = The Dzungarian Gate on the Chinese-Kazakhstan border.
| alt = Location of the Dzungarian Gate on the Chinese border.
}}
The Dzungarian Gate has been noted in modern history as the most convenient pass for horseback riders between the western [[Eurasian steppe]] and lands further east, and for its fierce and almost constant winds.<ref>Douglas Carruthers, ''Unknown Mongolia: A Record of Travel and Exploration in North-West Mongolia'' p. 415</ref>  The area has also become known for its gold deposits and for producing prodigious numbers of dinosaur fossils, especially ''[[Protoceratops]]''.  Given that Herodotus relates a story of a traveller to the East who visited a land where griffins guard gold and east of which live the Hyperboreans, modern scholars have theorized that the Dzungarian Gate may be the real-world location of the home of Boreas, the North Wind of Greek Legend.<ref name="Wasson 1986 227–230"/><ref>Given certain historical clues and parallels in legends, scholars like [[Carl Ruck]] have speculated on a connection between the Dzungarian Gate and the home of [[Anemoi#Boreas|Boreas]], the [[North Wind]] of [[Greek mythology]].  Difficulties and conflations, such as the claim that they sleep six months out of the year, remain.  Yet the [[Hyperboreans]], who live beyond the home of the North Wind have been identified by some as the Chinese. J. P. Mallory and Victor H. Mair, ''The Tarim Mummies: Ancient China and the Mystery of the Earliest Peoples from the West'',  Thames & Hudson, 2000, p. 44</ref>

The Greek writer [[Herodotus]] writes in his [[Histories (Herodotus)|Histories]] (4.13) that the explorer [[Aristeas]], a native of [[Proconnesus]] in [[Asia Minor]] active circa 7th century BC, had written a now lost  [[hexameter]] poem about a journey to the [[Issedones]] of the far north. Aristeas reported that beyond them lived the one-eyed [[Arimaspi]]ans, further on were the gold-guarding [[griffin]]s, and beyond these the Hyperboreans. <blockquote>This Aristeas, possessed by [[Apollo|Phoibos]], visited the [[Issedones]]; beyond these  live the one-eyed Arimaspoi, beyond whom are the [[Griffin|Grypes]] that guard gold, and beyond these again the [[Hyperboreans|Hyperboreoi]], whose territory reaches to the sea. Except for the Hyperboreoi,  all these nations are always at war with their neighbors...<ref>Herodotus 4.13.1</ref></blockquote>

Based on  [[Ancient Greece|Greek]] and [[Scythians|Scythian]] sources, Herodotus describes the Issedones as living east of Scythia and north of the [[Massagetae]], while the geographer [[Ptolemy]] (VI.16.7) appears to place the trading stations of ''Issedon Scythica'' and ''Issedon Serica'' in the [[Tarim Basin]].<ref>Ptolemy's information appears to come at several removes from a [[Han Dynasty|Han]] guide of the first century CE, according to Phillips (Phillips 1955:170); it would have been translated from Persian to Greek by the traveller [[Maes Titianus]] for his itinerary, used by Marinus of Tyre as well as Ptolemy.</ref> They may have been identical with the people described in Chinese sources as the ''[[Wusun]]''.<ref>Golden (1992), p. 51</ref> According to E. D. Phillips, the Issedones are "placed by some in Western Siberia and by others in Chinese Turkestan."<ref>Phillips, "The Legend of Aristeas: Fact and Fancy in Early Greek Notions of East Russia, Siberia, and Inner Asia" ''Artibus Asiae'' '''18'''.2 (1955, pp. 161–177) p. 166.</ref>  J.D.P. Bolton places them on the south-western slopes of the [[Altay mountains]].<ref>{{cite book
  | last = Bolton
  | first = J.D.P.
  | title = Aristeas of Proconnesus
  | year = 1962
  | pages = 104–118}}</ref>

Since Herodotus places the Hyperboreans beyond the [[Massagetae]] and [[Issedones]], both [[Central Asian]] peoples, it appears that his Hyperboreans may have lived in [[Siberia]]. [[Heracles]] sought the [[Ceryneian Hind|golden-antlered hind]] of [[Artemis]] in Hyperborea.  As the [[reindeer]] is the only deer species of which females bear antlers, this would suggest an [[arctic]] or [[subarctic]] region. Following J.D.P. Bolton's location of the [[Issedones]] on the south-western slopes of the [[Altay mountains]], [[Carl Ruck|Carl P.Ruck]] places Hyperborea beyond the [[Dzungarian Alatau|Dzungarian Gate]] into northern [[Xinjiang]], noting that the Hyperboreans were probably Chinese.<ref name="Wasson 1986 227–230"/>

===Griffin ===
[[File:Satyr griffin Arimaspus Louvre CA491.jpg|thumb|right|200px|Scythian vs griffin on a Greek vase]]
[[File:Protoceratops-skeleton.jpg|thumb|right|200px|Proteceratops skeletons are often found disarticulated. Unconnected to the skull, the plates of the head shield could be misinterpreted as wings.]]
The [[griffin]] ([[Greek language|Greek]]: γρύφων, ''grýphōn''), a [[legendary creature]] with the body of a [[lion]] and the head and wings of an [[eagle]],<ref>There are [[:File:Knossos fresco in throne palace.JPG|depictions]] of wingless and even crested griffins.</ref> is a common heraldic theme of Central Asia.<ref name="friar">{{cite book
|last=Friar
|first=Stephen
|title=A New Dictionary of Heraldry
|year=1987
|publisher=Alphabooks/[[A & C Black]]
|location=London
|isbn=0-906670-44-6
|page= 173}}</ref>
According to modern theory, the griffin was an ancient misconception derived from fossilized remains of the ''[[Protoceratops]]'' found in conjunction with gold mining in the mountains of [[Scythia]], present day eastern Kazakhstan.<ref>Adrienne Mayor, Archeology Magazine, Nov-Dec 1994, pp. 53-59.</ref><ref>Dougal Dixon, ''The Pocket Book of Dinosaurs: An Illustrated Guide to the Dinosaur Kingdom'', Salamander Company, 2004, [https://books.google.com/books?ei=b8Y3TJfqGMGqlAfjnNzSBw&ct=result&id=tv8QLLgPXgYC&dq=gryphon+protoceratops&q=%22gryphon%22#search_anchor p 133]</ref><ref>Peter Gwynn-Jones, ''The art of heraldry: origins, symbols and designs'', Barnes and Noble, 1998, p 61</ref>

According to Mayor and Dodson the association of the Dzungarian Gate with gold and griffin (''[[Protoceratops]]'') skeletons spanned a thousand years of classical history:<ref>(See also map, [https://books.google.com/books?id=MXCQKJwLGS4C&pg=PA28&dq=%22griffin+of+scythian+lore%22&hl=en&ei=98Q3TNaxDsWblgeN2MzSBw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CCgQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=%22griffin%20of%20scythian%20lore%22&f=false p. 28]) Adrienne Mayor, Peter Dodson, ''The first fossil hunters: paleontology in Greek and Roman times'', Princeton University Press, 2001, pp. 27–28</ref><blockquote>The second-century A.D. Alexandrian geographer Ptolemy and ancient Chinese sources agree in locating the issedonians along the old trade routes from China to the West, from the western Gobi desert to the Dzungarian (or Junggarian) Gate, the mountain pass between modern Kazakhstan and north-western China.  Recent linguistic and archaeological studies confirm that Greek and Roman trade with Saka-Scythian nomads flourished in that region from Aristeas's day to about A.D. 300—exactly the period during which griffins were most prominently featured in Greco-Roman art and literature.<ref>(See also map, [https://books.google.com/books?id=MXCQKJwLGS4C&pg=PA28&dq=%22griffin+of+scythian+lore%22&hl=en&ei=98Q3TNaxDsWblgeN2MzSBw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CCgQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=%22griffin%20of%20scythian%20lore%22&f=false p 28]) Adrienne Mayor, Peter Dodson, ''The first fossil hunters: paleontology in Greek and Roman times'', Princeton University Press, 2001, [https://books.google.com/books?id=MXCQKJwLGS4C&pg=PA37&dq=lop+nur+and+the+dzungarian+gate&hl=en&ei=ksU3TJKOL8WblgeG2MzSBw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=2&ved=0CDAQ6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q=lop%20nur%20and%20the%20dzungarian%20gate&f=false p. 27]</ref></blockquote>

===North Wind ===
[[File:Boreas Oreithyia Louvre K35.jpg|thumb|left|200px|Rape of [[Oreithyia]] by Boreas. Detail from an [[Apulia]]n [[Red-figure pottery|red-figure]] [[oinochoe]], 360 BC]]

The story of [[Anemoi#Boreas|Boreas]], the personified cold north winter wind of Greek legend who lived in a cave north of Greece, parallels that of the ''[[buran (wind)|buran]]'', a strong winter wind said to blow into the Kazakh steppe out of a hole in a mountainside in the Dzungarian Gate.<ref>"We had frequently heard of the terrors, dangers, and winds of the Dzungarian Gate." . . .  "The natives relate the usual traditions as to the origin of the winds in this locality. In the myths of Central Asia a "hole in the mountain," or "an iron gate in a lake" is the usual explanation of the origin of winds. In the case of which I am writing the island called Ala-tyube—a small extinct volcano in Ala Kul—is made responsible for the furious winds which sweep through the depression; the wind is called "ebe," or "yube" by the Kirghiz, and in special cases, when it reaches its maximum velocity, the term "buran" is applied. From autumn to spring the prevailing wind is from the south-east. [https://books.google.com/books?id=DHsTAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA413&dq=unknown+mongolia&output=text Carruthers, pp411-414]</ref><ref>Boreas was said to dwell near tne Hyperboreans, in a cave of the Thracian Hcemus, to which he carried Orithyia, the daughter of the Athenian King Erechtheus, who bore him Zetes and Calais —employed as the symbols of swiftness—and Cleopatra, the wife of Fhineus. According to Homeric fable, he begat, with the mares of Erichthonius, 12 horses of extraordinary fleetness. ["Boreas" ''New international Encyclopedia'', Volume 3, Dodd, Mead, 1914]</ref>

====Buran====
Ildikó Lehtinen writes that "the story of the cave of the stormwinds somewhere near the Dzungarian Gate"  has been known for 2500 years, by travelers from Aristeas in the classic era, to [[Giovanni da Pian del Carpine|Giovanni di Piano Carpini]] in the Middle Ages (before [[Marco Polo]]), and to [[Gustaf John Ramstedt]] in the 20th Century.<ref>Ildikó Lehtinen, ''Traces of the Central Asian culture in the North: Finnish-Soviet Joint Scientific Symposium held in Hanasaari, Espoo, 14–21 January 1985'', Suomalais-ugrilainen Seura, 1986, [https://books.google.com/books?id=9RPXAAAAMAAJ&hl=en&dq=Traces%20of%20the%20Central%20Asian%20culture%20in%20the%20North&ei=1Es1TLvDHoWBlAfPue3SBw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CCwQ6AEwAA p 180]</ref>

Carruthers reports the story of the ''buran'', a ferocious winter wind said to sally from a hole in the side of a mountain:<blockquote>We had frequently heard of the terrors, dangers, and winds of the Dzungarian Gate. . . . The natives relate the usual traditions as to the origin of the winds in this locality. In the myths of Central Asia a "hole in the mountain," or "an iron gate in a lake" is the usual explanation of the origin of winds. In the case of which I am writing the island called Ala-tyube—a small extinct volcano in Ala Kul—is made responsible for the furious winds which sweep through the depression; the wind is called "ebe," or "yube" by the Kirghiz, and in special cases, when it reaches its maximum velocity, the term "buran" is applied.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=DHsTAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA413&dq=unknown+mongolia&output=text Carruthers, pp. 411-414]</ref></blockquote>

====Boreas====
''Boreas'' ({{lang-el|Βορέας, ''Boréas''}}) was the Greek god of the cold [[north wind]] and the bringer of winter. (Mallory and Adams speculate that the name may derive from a [[Proto-Indo-European language|Proto-Indo-European]] root *gworh- meaning mountain.<ref>''The Oxford introduction to Proto-Indo-European and the Proto-Indo-European World,'' J. P. Mallory, Douglas Q. Adams
Oxford University Press, 2006 [https://books.google.com/books?id=pH7emh7sv50C&pg=PA121&dq=boreas+inauthor:mallory+inauthor:adams&hl=en&ei=cGtOTN76MoOglAe1iJTGBA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CCUQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=boreas%20inauthor%3Amallory%20inauthor%3Aadams&f=false p121]</ref>)  Boreas is depicted as being very strong, with a violent temper to match. He was frequently shown as a winged old man with shaggy hair and beard, holding a [[conch]] shell and wearing a billowing cloak.{{ref|boreas}} [[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]] wrote that Boreas had [[snake]]s instead of feet, though in art he was usually depicted with winged human feet.  Closely associated with horses (native to the Eurasian steppe; see [[Equus ferus#Przewalski.27s horse|Przewalski's Horse]], also known as the [[Dzungarian Horse]]), Boreas was said to have fathered twelve colts after taking the form of a stallion, to the mares of [[Erichthonius of Dardania|Erichthonius]], king of [[Troy]].  [[Pliny the Elder|Pliny]] (''Natural History'' iv.35 and viii.67) thought that mares might stand with their hindquarters to the North Wind, and bear foals without a stallion.  Przwalski's mares are noted for turning their hindquarters to strong winds.<ref>"In high wind, takhi "turn tail" and tuck their tails tightly between the back legs" Model Horse Reference: The Takhi (Przewalski's Horse, Asiatic Wild Horse) ''Equus ferus przewalkskii'' by Melissa Gaulding http://www.mhref.com/breeds/takhi/</ref> The Greeks believed that Boreas's home was in Thrace, and [[Herodotus]] and Pliny both describe a northern land known as [[Hyperborea]] ("Beyond the North Wind"), where people lived in complete happiness and had extraordinarily long lifespans.

== See also ==
* [[Jordan Rift Valley]]
* [[Tarim basin]]
* [[Tarim mummies]]
* [[Pole of inaccessibility]]

==References==
[[File:Scythia-Parthia 100 BC.png|thumb|225px|A map of ancient Scythia, beyond which were said to lie griffins, gold, and the land of the Hyperboreans]]
[[File:Przewalski horse.jpg|thumb|225px|Przewalski's Horse, native to the Dzungarian Basin]]
[[File:Knossos fresco in throne palace.JPG|thumb|right|225px|A wingless, crested griffin from [[Knossos]]]]

{{Reflist}}

==Bibliography==

* Bolton, James David Pennington (1962) ''Aristeas of Proconnesus'' Clarendon Press, Oxford, {{OCLC|1907787}}
* [[Douglas Carruthers]], ''Unknown Mongolia : a record of travel and exploration in north-west Mongolia and Dzungaria'', with three chapters on sport by J. H. Miller, and a foreword by [[Earl Curzon]] of [[Kedleston]] - London: Hutchinson, 1914. [https://books.google.com/books?id=w3oTAAAAYAAJ&source=gbs_navlinks_s Volume I] [https://books.google.com/books?id=DHsTAAAAYAAJ&dq=intitle:unknown+intitle:mongolia&source=gbs_navlinks_s Volume II]

==External links==
* Images of the Dzungarian Gate from space at the [http://eol.jsc.nasa.gov/scripts/SSEOP/sseop.pl?outputoption=RECORDS&feature=DZUNGARIAN%20GATE&featuretype=LITERAL&missionoption=X&sort=pdate%20DESC,mission,roll,frame%20ASC&showpdatecb=on&showgeoncb=on&showfeatcb=on&showlatcb=on&showloncb=on&collection= Image Science and Analysis Laboratory, NASA-Johnson Space Center]

{{Mountain passes of China}}

[[Category:China–Kazakhstan border crossings]]
[[Category:Eurasian Steppe]]
[[Category:Mountain passes of Xinjiang]]
[[Category:Landforms of Kazakhstan]]
[[Category:Rail mountain passes]]
[[Category:Mountain passes of Kazakhstan]]
[[Category:Rifts and grabens]]
[[Category:Transport in Kazakhstan]]
[[Category:Transport in Xinjiang]]
[[Category:Mountain passes of Asia]]