Barry Cunlife - The Scythians

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4.18 The kurgan of Arzhan 2 during excavation.4.19 The undisturbed burial at Arzhan 2. The chief was accompanied by a female companion. Both were elaborately dressed, their clothesadorned with small gold attachments. Their regalia, including a gold decorated gorytos, was laid around them.
predatory nomadsan isolated later incident. The material found in the Arzhan 2 mound is typologicallylater than that found in Arzhan 1. This is confirmed by dendrological and radiocarbondating, which suggests that the burial took place towards the end of the seventhcentury.The two burials, nearly two centuries apart in date, reflect the opulence of thecommunity commanding the Uyuk Valley. The readiness of the elite to conspicuouslyconsume in their burial rites their acquired wealth—gold and precious stones,items of high craftsmanship, and horses— reflects, in large part, the productivityof their immediate homeland. But it also implies that they had established authorityover a much wider territory enabling them to call on distant resources. Rare rawmaterials such as turquoise, amber, and gold could be acquired through systems ofexchange, but the great number of fine stallions decked out in their flamboyant gearridden from far afield to Arzhan 1 to be sacrificed in honour of the deceased warlordspeak of more than just trade. Here, surely, we are seeing something of the networksof social obligation now at work—people sending, or bringing, gifts of great symbolicvalue to the graveside to acknowledge their subservience to an overlord and hislineage.While there is much that we will never know about the social dynamics of thenomadic communities of the Altai–Sayan region—the names of the tribes, the eventswhich structured their lives, and the true extent of their mobility—the archaeologicalevidence allows certain broad deductions to be made. The improvement in theclimate at the beginning of the first millennium, increasing the biomass of the valleysand plateaus, released a new energy in society that resulted in the rise of a warriorelite, recognizable in the archaeological record by their rich graves, but in reallife most likely expressed in their ability to lead, to raid, and to enter into allianceswith distant elites. This was a time of great mobility, with horsemanship becoming adominant way of life. Weapons were now common: the bow and arrow for engagementsat a distance and the vicious battleaxe and the short sword for close hand-tohandfighting. Pervading it all was an animal art, deeply rooted in earlier Bronze Agetraditions, manifest now in decorative attachments for clothes and horse harness,moulded extensions to the handles of knives and daggers, petroglyphs carried onthe deer-stone markers, and tattoos on the human body. The flying stag, the perchedargali ram, and the curled feline were everywhere to be seen.By the end of the ninth century bc warrior lords, like the individual interred atArzhan 1, were being buried in grand ceremonies involving large assemblies of peoplewilling to invest their effort in the construction of the kurgan and thereafter toindulge in lavish feasting. The burial of a leader was a spectacle designed to display, forall to see, the might of the clan. The greater the consumption in labour and Âmaterial102
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the scythians
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Great Clarendon Street, Oxford, ox2
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prefacehistory exploring, with undi
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contentsviii
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discovering the scythiansinterest i
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discovering the scythians1.3 Peter
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discovering the scythiansmounds to
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discovering the scythiansÂantiquit
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discovering the scythians1.7 The ex
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discovering the scythians1.9 (Oppos
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discovering the scythiansKuban regi
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discovering the scythiansNChulymKur
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discovering the scythians1.16 The e
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After the Revolutiondiscovering the
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discovering the scythiansLate Bronz
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discovering the scythians1.18 The g
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discovering the scythiansin 1986-90
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the scythians as others saw themlan
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the scythians as others saw themScy
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the scythians as others saw themThe
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the scythians as others saw themGre
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the scythians as others saw themwou
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Mediterranean Sea0 500 milesPersian
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the scythians as others saw themAlt
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the scythians as others saw themtha
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the scythians as others saw themaud
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the scythians as others saw themcra
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Page 65 and 66: the scythians as others saw them2.1
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Page 71 and 72: landscapes with people3.1 The lands
Page 73 and 74: landscapes with peopleThe steppe zo
Page 75 and 76: landscapes with peopletwo severe wi
Page 77 and 78: SeretBugDnieperlandscapes with peop
Page 79 and 80: landscapes with peopleSufficient wi
Page 81 and 82: landscapes with peopleMore direct e
Page 83 and 84: landscapes with peopleSrubnayaAndro
Page 85 and 86: landscapes with peopleskeletons fro
Page 87 and 88: landscapes with peopleAlongside the
Page 89 and 90: landscapes with people3.11 The elab
Page 91: landscapes with peopleBroadly conte
Page 95 and 96: predatory nomadshave tended to be i
Page 97 and 98: predatory nomads0Relative temperatu
Page 99 and 100: predatory nomads4.4 Tagar period br
Page 101 and 102: predatory nomads4.8 Bronze plaque i
Page 103 and 104: Deer stones (Olenniye Kami)Nsna iEl
Page 105 and 106: 4.13 Plan and section of the Arzhan
Page 107 and 108: predatory nomads4.16 Bronze plaque
Page 109: predatory nomadsThe astonishing dis
Page 113 and 114: Dnieperpredatory nomadssion no surp
Page 115 and 116: predatory nomadsbecoming the domina
Page 117 and 118: predatory nomadsies which concentra
Page 120 and 121: 5THE RISE OF THE PONTICSTEPPE SCYTH
Page 122 and 123: the rise of the pontic steppe scyth
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Page 157 and 158: crossing the carpathians6.1 Satelli
Page 159 and 160: crossing the carpathianslar materia
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crossing the carpathiansTransylvani
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DanubeOdercrossing the carpathiansB
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crossing the carpathiansnomads woul
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crossing the carpathians6.8 Large g
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crossing the carpathiansIt is not s
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crossing the carpathiansin its pred
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crossing the carpathians6.14 Detail
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crossing the carpathians6.16 Wooden
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scythians in central asiaThere is,
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scythians in central asiaAchaemenid
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7.4 Carpet made from knotted woolle
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scythians in central asiaIn another
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scythians in central asiawere proba
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scythians in central asiaAncient ri
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scythians in central asiaCemeteries
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scythians in central asia7.11 Recon
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A l tscythians in central asiaOb’
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7.16 Kurgan 5 at Pazyryk as it now
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scythians in central asiaby several
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scythians in central asia7.20 Recon
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scythians in central asiafrom the t
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scythians in central asiaChina duri
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8BODIES CLOTHEDIN SKINSDifferent ob
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bodies clothed in skinsmuch we can
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bodies clothed in skins8.2 Silver v
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bodies clothed in skinsleather, ano
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bodies clothed in skinsfelt legging
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bodies clothed in skinstight-fittin
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bodies clothed in skins8.10 Petrogl
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bodies clothed in skins8.12 Bronze
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bodies clothed in skinsits delicacy
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bodies clothed in skins8.15 Plaque
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bodies clothed in skinsThis usually
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bodies clothed in skinsThe large he
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bodies clothed in skins8.20 Man pla
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9BENDING THE BOWOne of the characte
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bending the bowtheir bodies with a
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bending the bow9.1a/b Two scenes fr
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bending the bow9.4 Saddle cover fro
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bending the bowA Pazyryk horse comp
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bending the bow9.9 The Scythian bow
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bending the bowParthians—the Part
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bending the bow9.15 (Right) The sil
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bending the bow9.18 Iron battleaxe
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bending the bowon the Gaymanova mog
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bending the bowof such intricacy wo
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bending the bowmake them more comfo
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bending the bowThe burial is remark
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bending the bowbare-headed foot sol
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bending the bowRealizing at the out
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bending the bowtime to time with th
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bending the bow9.28 Detail from a g
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bending the bowthe introduction of
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of gods, beliefs, and artof the sch
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of gods, beliefs, and arthearth. Th
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of gods, beliefs, and artwould have
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of gods, beliefs, and artsacred gol
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of gods, beliefs, and art10.2 (Left
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of gods, beliefs, and artImages of
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of gods, beliefs, and art10.8 Gilde
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of gods, beliefs, and art10.10 Deta
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of gods, beliefs, and art10.13 Gold
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of gods, beliefs, and art10.14 Petr
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of gods, beliefs, and art10.20 Deta
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of gods, beliefs, and art10.22 Leat
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11THE WAY OF DEATHDuring the human
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the way of deathtism. Another backw
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the way of deaththis is clearly not
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the way of deathThe ProcessionsIn t
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the way of death11.3 (Right) Kurgan
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the way of death11.5 Kurgan 4 at Pa
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shaft 1the way of deathTOLSTAYA MOG
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the way of death11.8 The Elizavetin
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the way of deathIn relishing the de
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the way of deathThe Massagetae had
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scythians in the longue duréetion
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A l176 -160 bcYuezhi 140 -135 bcSak
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scythians in the longue durée12.2
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scythians in the longue duréeBospo
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scythians in the longue duréeOn tw
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scythians in the longue duréeAs th
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scythians in the longue duréeunend
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SNVolgaUralAlans c.370Hun area of s
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gallery of objects
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1 The Kul’-Oba gold beakergallery
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2 Chastye Kurgany beakergallery of
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3 Gaymonova mogila cupgallery of ob
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4 Solokha cupgallery of objects(Sta
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5 Solokha combgallery of objects(St
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6 Perederiieva mogila helmetgallery
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7 Solokha gorytosgallery of objects
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8 Sachnovka diademgallery of object
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9 Tolstaya mogila pectoralgallery o
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10 The Chertomlÿk amphoragallery o
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timeline
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Asia Minor Central Asia Altai-Sayan
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scythian kings and dynastiesDynasti
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further readingClassical TextsIn th
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further reading116-47. The creation
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further readingArchaeology’, Worl
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further readingwriters as ‘noble
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further readingThe impact of horse-
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further reading7 (2001), 307-39 he
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further reading2007), 135-44 and in
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further reading(pp. 368-70). These
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further reading‘Tuva during the S
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further reading(Cambridge, 2011), 7
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further readingScythes (Hérodote 4
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further readingobryadnost’ nasele
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illustr ation sourcesMaps were prod
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illustration sources5.7 Author: mul
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illustration sourcesКаталог
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INDEXNote: numbers in bold refer to
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coiled feline motif, Scythian 284-5
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bone cheek pieces, Karasukperiod 77
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wall hanging 213, 243, 280, 280wool
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horse burials, Arzhan 1 95-8horse g
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Barry Cunlife - The Scythians

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