Barry Cunlife - The Scythians

scythians in central asia
were probably royal burials. The rest were significantly
smaller, some barely half a metre in height. Most conform
to a standard type. First a burial chamber was
dug with a long sloping ramp leading down to it. The
excavated earth was arranged to form a bank around
the chamber but at some distance from it, leaving
a gap for the entrance to the ramp. A tent-like structure
of logs was set up to cover the burial chamber and
ramp and was then sealed by thick layers of branches
before the entire structure was covered with a mound
of soil and turf. During this process rituals were performed
and sacrifices made, often involving horses.
In kurgan 3 twenty horses had been killed and buried
with their tackle nearby. The intention of the builders
was, clearly, to create a crypt that could be opened and
added to until such time in the cycle when they considered
the burial process to be complete. Then they
sealed the entrance. The number of burials varied:
seven were recorded in kurgan 3, while four of the others
each contained five.
The grave goods consisted mostly of weapons for the
men, with jewellery, toilet sets, and mirrors accompanying
the women. Wooden vessels with attached gold
7.7 Wooden stag covered in gold foil found together with four
others in the entrance passage of one of the kurgans at Filippovka
(fourth century bc). The creation embodies concepts
plates decorated in animal style are recorded, together
with wooden figures of deer covered with gold and silver
foil. These figures resemble items found at Pazyryk,
taken from Scythian animal art but also the art of the southern
Caucasus.
thus demonstrating links with the Altai region. Other
objects of Achaemenid origin or inspiration were recorded including a quiver clasp,
six bridle pieces, and several silver vessels belonging to a drinking set.
The Filippovka kurgans, with their provision for collective burial, are typical of
a tradition found in Sauromatian/Sarmatian contexts in the southern Urals extending
from the northern Don to the Trans-Ural region. It reflects a belief system that
requires members of the same lineage to be buried together in a single family tomb.
The Achaemenid goods and the stags made in the animal style of the Altai–Sayan
are a reflection of the long-distance networks which bound the steppe nomads
together.
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