Tower architecture of the North Caucasus and Tibet: the alans as transmitters of the building traditions of the Qiang people

ABSTRACT Across the vast expanses of Eurasia, separated by thousands of kilometres, there exist stone towers that are strikingly similar to one another down to the smallest structural details. The towers of the North Caucasus and those of the Tibetan Qiang people in China’s Sichuan province demonstrate not merely typological resemblance, but nearly identical principles of masonry, proportions, interior layout, and functional logic. This similarity cannot be coincidental, yet its nature remains unexplained, while the established hypothesis concerning the origin of the key term associated with this architecture proposes a direction of cultural influence that does not withstand critical examination. The present study draws upon data from comparative architecture, historical linguistics, ancient Chinese chronicles, and palaeogenetics to propose an alternative model of cultural transfer. The work introduces into scholarly circulation for the first time the expert assessments of leading Chinese specialists, as well as recently published palaeogenetic data indicating the presence of East Asian genetic markers in Alan burials of the North Caucasus. Particular attention is devoted to the historical role of the Alans – Iranian-speaking nomads who controlled the northern branch of the Great Silk Road – and their potential function as intermediaries between Eastern and Western building traditions. These findings compel a reconsideration of established views on the direction of cultural influences and raise the question: were the Alans not recipients, but transmitters of a technology that originated in the mountains of Tibet and reached the Caucasus through a network of trans-Eurasian contacts? Keywords: North Caucasian tower architecture, Caucasian towers, Qiang people, Tibet, Alans, galwan, galawæn, galaon, Great Silk Road, linguistic etymology, cultural transfer, haplogroup D1a2a1.