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Scythian SteedsAuthor(s): Zainullah Samashev and Henri-Paul FrancfortSource: Archaeology, Vol. 55, No. 3 (May/June 2002), pp. 32-35Published by: Archaeological Institute of America

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Scythian

Steeds

Blocks offrozen earthyield the remains of horses

bearing extravagant regalia.

byZainullah Samashev and Henri-Paul Francfort

photographsyHenri-Paul Francfort/MAFAC

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importantnimal, nabling hese Eurasian teppenomadsto traversevast distances. t was also an essential ompanion nthe afterlifendthe elite could expect to be buried in largemounds, or kurgans,alongwith several sacrificedhorses. In 1998, we excavated one of

thesegreatkurgansntheAltaiMountains f easternKazakhstan.

Within the mound were the extraordinaryemainsof 13 sacrificedhorses "Equus on Ice," January/February000). Because theyhad beenentombed n frozen r near-frozenarth forover2,300 years, conven- jtional xcavationwouldexposethem otemperatureshat ould accelerate >thedecompositionf theorganic emains.We solved heproblem ytakingstill-frozenlocks f earth rom he site andbringinghemback toa labora-

torynAlmaty, azakhstan'sargest ity. hanks to meticulous excavation"in the ab,we now know nwhich eason the horsesdied and their ge atdeath. DNA research s ongoing, ut the size of the horsessuggests heymight e related o breeds hat ive n theAltaiMountains o thisday.

We'vealso been able to reconstruct heextravagantegaliawornbythehorses when theywere sacrificed, ometimebetween 330 and 270 b.c.One of themwore argewooden bexhorns, uggestingheScythiansmay |

have believed he dead ourneyed o theafterlifen the back of a wildani-

mal. Decorativewoodenbands on the otherhorsesdepicted tylized eadsof animalsor mythicalmonsters, ncluding moose, sheep, griffin,ndhorned ion. The horseswere also decoratedwithpendants,garlands, ndotherwoodenornamentsn gold leaf all once shining rilliantlygainstred felt saddle blankets.The eclectic styleof the decorative elementsshows that he solatedAltaiScythians ad been influenced ycivilizationsthat ayfar rom heir ativemountains.

Between 800 and 300 b.c. the Scythiansdominated a vast swath ofland stretchingrom iberia to the Black Sea. Those who roamedwhat s

todayKazakhstan nd southern iberia wereknown s the"Saka,"a word

32 Archaeology May/June002

This content downloaded from 190.162.192.202 on Sun, 15 Sep 2013 11:42:33 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions






used by the ancient Persians, who encountered the

Scythiansna series of battlesduring hereign f Darius(r.521-486 b.c.). The frozen ombsofthe Saka first ap-tured the public imaginationwhen a Soviet expeditiondiscoveredroyalburials at the site of Pazyrykn 1927.The level ofpreservation as astonishing. lothing, rna-ments,sacrificedhorses, and even tattooed mummieshad survived.

Hopingtofind imilar urials,we were drawn o Kaza-khstan'sBukhtarma alley, igh n theAltaiMountains,where n 1996 we selected a kurgannear the villageof

Berel'for xcavation. he tomb,75 feet n diameter nd

eightfeethigh, s one ofeight n a Scythian emeteryntheBukhtarma iver.

Bythetime xcavation egan nAugust1998,ourteamincluded researchers romKazakhstan, rance, taly, el-

gium, nd Russiaworkingnfields s varied s geomorphol-ogy, aleobotany,nd dendrochronology.fter wo monthsof excavating, t was clear that temperatureshoveringaroundfreezingome 1 feetbelow the surfacehad main-tained excellentpreservationf the remains n the burial

pit. twas also clear that he burialwas stillrich n impor-

www.archaeology.org ^







Kurgan1, elow,sthe argestmoundn heBerel' cythian

cemetery.he acrificedorseswereplaced n henorth alf f hekurgan,hile coffin,ight,ay n

the outh alf.oon fterheburial,grave obbersug ntohekurgan,takinghemost reciousrtifacts.

Awoodenhovel, robablyeftbehindy he ooters, asfound

near he offin.

tant rganic emains, venthough rave obbers ad lootedthe tomb nancient imes,making ffwithgrave oods ikegold ewelrynd metalweaponry.Withwinter pproachingtheAltai,we decided tostoptheexcavation ndprotect heburialwithmetalfoilblankets, lastic heets, nd backfill.The border atrolvolunteered o keep an eye on the siteuntil he pring.

We returned nMay 1999,

and roofed n thedig

withwood planksand plastic sheetsto protectourselves fromthethunderstorms ypical of theAltai Mountains in the spring.We excavated s quickly s pos-sible to reach the remains,cleaned themminimally, hencut blocks three feetby threefeet nd stored hem na refrig-erated truckparked near the

dig. They were then driventoAlmatywheretheywere storedat -4°F in a refrigeratedham-

ber flown nfrom rance.

After eopening hepit,we weresurprised ip iscovertwo keletons estingna coffin ecorated t eacft omerbya bronze agle-griffinith xtendedwings.The first o beburiedwas a man,hisheadrestingn a woodenpillow ndpointing ast. Parts fhis fur lothingnd organic issueswerepreserved, hich llowedus tosampleforDNA. Theman had been pushed violently o the side ofhis coffinwhen thetombwas

looted;not

ongfter

hat, hebody fan elderlywomanwas depositedin the same coffin nd coveredwithwooden debris. She wasfound na similartate fpreser-vation,withsome intacttissueand hair.Double burial in thesame coffinwas not commonpractice mongAltaiScythians.Perhaps the woman was thewidowofthetomb occupant ranother elative.Another ossi-bilitys that hewomanwasfromanother roup hattookposses-

sion of the kurganto mark aclaimonthe erritory.

The 13 sacrificedhorses inthenorth fthepitwereburiedin two levels coveredby twigsand birch-barkheets. The firstlevel was partlydisturbed bylooting but the second was

practically intact, having ustrecentlybegun to decay. Eventhe horses' skinand haircolorwerepreserved.

34 Archaeology May/June002







Wooden bexhorns ndother ilded oodendetails,eft,ndisplaynAlmaty.hehole eftby fatal low rompickaxsstill isible ntop f hehorse'skull. elow, gildedelinehead hat ncedecoratedhe ideof heKurgan1coffinlosely esembles hinese

styles f heperiod.

Conservatorsrym ltynbekov,eft,ndJorgeVasquez eginogingerlyxcavate thawed lock

of arthontainingorse emains.

Thatwinter, e gatheredn the laboratoryo excavatethe blocks of frozen arth. Lab personnel exposed theblocks o room emperatureor ne night. nlythenwas ateamofarchaeologists nd conservators ble to cut intothem,makingmeasurementsnd taking hotos.Veterinari-ans and biologistswerepresent o conduct an autopsy fsorts,recovering rganic samplesfrom he horses.Occasionally, nassistant ouldopena window,et-

ting blast of winter ir into theroomto ensure that the tempera-turenthe ab remained old.

Whileanalysis f thesamples songoing,we do have some initialconclusions. ccordingo the teambotanists,pollen in the stomachand intestinesndicates hehorseswere killed n autumn. Lab workhas alsoestablished hat he horseswere hort,boutfour eet all.

We also knowfrom he mageryassociated with the regalia thatour horsemenwere not confinedto the Altai Mountains.Analysisshowstheir rt was a synthesis f ancient ocal Siberiantradition, chaemenid Persian art (550-330 b.c.), and

perhapsChinese artoftheWarringtatesperiodfrom hefourthnd third enturies .c.

The moose image adorning some of the harnessesharkens ack to SiberianNeolithic nd BronzeAge artis-tic traditionshat re well known rom ock rt.A woodenbeltplaque showing tiger ttacking deer is typical fthe so-called Scytho-Siberian nimal style,which was

widespread rom he Black Sea to Mongolia.The griffins,sphinxes, nd horned ionsare reminiscent ffigureshatdecorated hepalace of Darius at Susa, thewinter apital

of theAchaemenidEmpire.A carvedgriffinlacedon thehead ofone horsemayhavebeen inspired ysomestonecapitalsof columnsat anotherPersian enter, ersepolis.The imageofthe wildsheep is similar odecoration oundon high-status chaemeniddrinking orns.Finally, oldfeline heads found on horse pendants and the burial

chamber seem to be inspiredbythe decoration of some WarringStates Chinese bronzes nd Chi-nese funerary ractices.We stillwonder how such an integrationof styles was possible in the

remoteAltaiMountains.The rich decoration of har-nesses contrasts harplywith themoresober bridles n use amongsedentary peoples like theAchaemenid Persians and theGreeks.But the Scythian ttach-ment o horsesdid have ts imits.Horsedecorationwas made out of

gildedpieces,but solid metalwasreserved forhuman ornaments.The Scythianswere also unwilling

topartwith heir ounger orsesfor hesakeofceremony.Lab analysis howsthatmost fthe sacrificed erel'horses

werebetweennine nd 18years ld,wellpasttheir rime.Conservation fthe horsesfrom erel' ontinues.Once

thisstageof our project s finished,we plan to return othe siteformore omplete xcavations f thecemetery.

Zainullah Samashev s directorftheprehistoricnd earlynomads epartmentt theMargulannstitutefArchaeologyoftheAcademy fSciences nd MinistryfResearch fthe

Republic fKazakhstan. enri-Paul Francfort isdirectorof heFrench rchaeological issionnCentral sia.

www.archaeology.org ^





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