Analysis of information sources in references of the Wikipedia article "獫允" in Chinese language version.
The Europoid faces of the two figures atop the present ornament are the only other clues to its non-Chinese origins. It is therefore almost inevitable that such scabbard ornaments should appear in far western and northern contexts, where cultural exchange was easiest and most active. (with photographs)
The faces on no. 41, a scabbard ornament made some eight hundred years earlier, suggesting that peoples of similar ethnic—probably West Asian—origins may have arrived at China's northwestern borders as early as the beginning of the first millennium B.C.
According to Li Feng's study, based primarily on written sources, the “Xianyun”were a large-scale society with highly concentrated power that lived in an area that stretched from the Hetao (bend of the Yellow River) to the upper Yellow River Valley.The Xianyun were organized around coherent social units with a shared cultural tradition and background,laying the foundation for them to reconcile with each other to fight the Zhou together. “Xianyun” was probably a self-claimed title, and bronze inscriptions suggest that the Zhou called the Xianyun the “Rong,” indicating that it was a warlike group (Li Feng 2006:142–45).
There is research on the ethnic image of the northern nomadic people of the Altaic language family. It may be that this is the image of the Xianyun tribe that once posed a serious military threat to the northern border of the Zhou Dynasty. They were called "Ghost people" (Guifang) because they looked different from the Chinese. 有考证系阿尔泰语系的北方游牧民族人种形象。可能是曾经对周朝北方边境构成严重军事威胁的猃狁部族，因相貌异于华夏，被称作“鬼方”。
There is research on the ethnic image of the northern nomadic people of the Altaic language family. It may be that this is the image of the Xianyun tribe that once posed a serious military threat to the northern border of the Zhou Dynasty. They were called "Ghost people" (Guifang) because they looked different from the Chinese. 有考证系阿尔泰语系的北方游牧民族人种形象。可能是曾经对周朝北方边境构成严重军事威胁的猃狁部族，因相貌异于华夏，被称作“鬼方”。
