What did steppe nomads such as the Huns actually do with all the gold they pillaged/received in tribute? Sources speak of thousands of pounds of gold coins every year. Did they just make a big dragon pile to sit on?

by PurpleKnytt

This is something I kept thinking about listening to the History of Rome and History of Byzantium podcasts. First the Huns, then the Avars and then the Bulgars... They all seem to receive literally tonnes of gold in tribute (or "truce deals"), but I can't really imagine them doing anything with all that gold besides hoarding it.

Yeah, I suppose trade is a possibility, but who can steppe hoards trade with besides the settled nations they just sacked? Did they melt the gold down and make stuff from it? Or did they use it for something else, like paying for construction projects or mercenaries?

intangible-tangerine

The idea that the steppe peoples were not sophisticated enough to trade with their settled neighbours is outdated and has been dispelled by archaeological evidence.

We now know that they were skilled craftsmen, including in gold work, with whom neighbouring civilisations traded as early as the first millennium BC. There was also trade of these objects between nomadic groups.

The Sycthian goldwork, for example, is as attractive and intricate as anything you'd find in an anglo-saxon horde.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/13/science/from-their-graves-ancient-nomads-speak.html