Steppe Culture
As it has been observed so far, this stage of the Turkish history took place mostly in the steppe lands of "Eurasia" Considering the influence of the geography over the lifestyle in the ancient eras when the human being was not dominant on the natural powers, it is natural that the steppe climate had had some effects over the ancient Turkish lifestyle, way of thought, beliefs, conceptions of the world, traditions and customs, in brief, the Turkish "culture" in various aspects. However, the element of mankind had also played an important role in the formation of this culture apart from the geographical conditions.
The recent researches have shown that the individuals are the principal factors in the creation and development of some cultural elements. However, it should not be forgotten that the communities that bear a specific spiritual character have a power of supervision of the cultural values created.
In other words, the society does not adopt all sorts of cultural symbols and elements that are created within the community and it only adopts those elements that are suitable and fit for its way of thinking and lifestyle in accordance with its general rules. Therefore, it can be stated that there are three fundamental basis of each culture: Geographical environment, mankind and society. The groups of people with some certain characteristics that live in the same geographical regions will create different cultures peculiar to their societies that they compose. Therefore, it should be considered natural that the Turkish society that lived within the geographical conditions of the steppe lands for a period of 3500 years possessed a type of culture peculiar to itself. We call this culture with the name of "Steppe culture" in reference with the stages of emergence and development of the culture.
It has been understood that some foreign communities that had lived in the sides of the steppe lands had been included within this steppe culture in the course of the history. For example; some of the branches of Indo-Europeans (Iranians, Scythian people that were composed of various groups from this origin, etc.) and Mongolians, etc. However, the factor of mankind that is one of the three main foundations of the culture differentiates the fundamental elements of the Steppe culture displayed by the ancient Turks from the cultural contributions that were determined by these foreign elements of mankind and social characteristics different from Turks. Therefore, it will not be wrong to consider that the Steppe culture is a Turkish culture with its purest form.
This culture that survived in the geography of the steppe lands for thousands of years had imposed influence and pressure over the settled cultural members such as China, India, Mediterranean Regions and Europe, etc. within these thousands of years.This culture has been known by the scientists in some degree from of old. Some of the experts did not abstain from naming this culture as "Trooper nomadic culture" with the lack of meaning.
However, although the Steppe culture is based on "horses", its principles were not only composed of "horses". Apart from horses, there is the element of iron and this culture is equipped with a different conception of justice. Since it has been a separate cultural line, it must have composed a union with the integration and the completion in respect of religion, thoughts and ethics. Actually, economy does not constitute the whole unit in any culture. Instead, it only constitutes a wing of that culture. Therefore, it is wrong to consider only the shepherd's lifestyle and to attribute the nomadic lifestyle to the Steppe culture that developed in the high plateaus with high humidity levels rather than the deserts. The qualities of the nomadic life have not been yet expressed on scientific basis. Similarly, the Western scientists have not dealt with this issue thoroughly in details since the nomadic life was not within the scope of their own cultural conceptions. Therefore, we do not know the characteristics of nomadic life in respect of opinions, conceptions of homeland, religious attitudes, and ethical behaviours. For the time being, I can state that the element of horse that constitutes the base in the Steppe culture has not been given priority in the lifestyles of nomads. Horse has been a medium of economy that entered into the culture of nomadic tribes in the further periods.
(Actually, Mongolians were not familiar with horses. Horses could be observed in Arabia and the Northern Africa only after 1200 BC. The first findings related with horses in the Northern Caucasus and Iran pertain to the years of 900-500 BC).