Barry Cunlife - The Scythians

predatory nomads
4.16 Bronze plaque in the form of curled feline from Arzhan 1 (late ninth century bc).
in groups of between fifteen and thirty; some were accompanied by human bodies,
probably of the equerries who in life had looked after them. Other deposits included
weapons and standards.
A careful study of the cultural attributes of the horse gear suggested that the
horses had been brought in from surrounding territories, often from a considerable
distance away, the implication being that the dead chieftain commanded the
allegiance of people across a very large area. In other words he may well have been
the leader of a warrior horde. The sheer size of the burial mound also reflects his
coercive power. Some 6,000 tree trunks were needed to build the timber part of his
monument requiring an estimated 9–10,000 person days of work. If the project had
been spread over a month it would have involved 300 people to complete this aspect
alone. In addition, the 2.5 metre high surrounding wall and the stone paved topping
had also to be provided. Here, then, was buried a man of considerable status with
coercive power.
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