West of the Ural mountains is considered Europe, and east of the Altai mountains is considered East Asia, in between the two thousand miles of Central Asia now known as Kazakhstan, where is the Tobol river named for Tubal a son of Japheth, that land known also of the Scythians, named for Ashkenaz a son of Gomer (Cimmerians) and grandson of Japheth. Just south of the Altai mountains and north of the Dzungarian range is a corridor called the Dzungarian Gates at only fifteen hundred foot elevation which became the northern route of the Silk Road mostly used for migrations of people, the southern route from Kashgar (Kush city) to Bukhara more for transport of goods such as jade and gold from the Tarim Basin to the west. Perhaps the northern route at much lower elevation was open during the Ice Age, probably not the southern route (at elevations over seven thousand feet), but both passageways certainly open when the Ice Age had ended fully by circa 1300 b. c.
