Barry Cunlife - The Scythians

the rise of the pontic steppe scythians
5.12 Kelermes, kurgan 1. Contemporary plan of the timber-built grave chamber excavated in 1904.
were lined up along one wall with another twelve outside the chamber. A different
type of burial, constructed at the same time, involved building the superstructure
of the tomb above the original ground level and subsequently covering it with the
kurgan. Kostromskaya conforms to this type. It was built on an earlier burial mound.
The burial chamber was constructed of four substantial corner posts with six smaller
timbers along each of the sides forming the framework for wattle and daub walls.
Above was a pyramidal arrangement of rafters supporting the roof. The main chamber
had been extensively robbed but the robbers had missed the magnificent recumbent
gold stag which may once have formed the central decoration of a shield or a
gorytos. Outside the tomb chamber twenty-two horses had been buried, some with
their horse gear. Other early shaft graves like those at Zhurovka and ÂElizavetovskaya
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