Barry Cunlife - The Scythians

scythians in central asia
from the trunk of a larch tree, was of a young woman aged between 20 and 30 years.
She had been tattooed on one arm with a deer motif and wore a yellow silk blouse, a
red-and-white striped woollen skirt, white felt leggings, and a tall headdress made of
wood covered with felt to which were attached wooden carvings of felines covered
with gold foil. The grave goods buried with her included two small wooden tables
with offerings of horse meat and mutton, a wooden vessel containing a milk-based
substance, and a horn cup holding a drink of another kind. Coriander seeds were
found in a stone dish and cannabis had been placed in a container close to her body.
She was also provided with a mirror. Her six horses, saddled and bridled, were buried
within the grave pit outside the timber burial chamber.
The Ak-Alakha female was evidently a person of some status in society. She may
have been a member of an aristocratic family—a princess as she is now popularly
known—but it is equally possible that she was a priestess with shamanistic powers.
No matter which, it is interesting to see that in the nomadic society of the Altai
women could gain exalted status in their own right and were not always attendant
on men.
The Ak-Alakha woman and the people buried in the Berel cemetery clearly
belonged to the same culture as did those interred at Pazyryk, even though the cemeteries
are hundreds of kilometres apart and separated by mountain ranges. What
this shows is that the people of the Altai, far from being remote from each other
and isolated in their own valleys, maintained contact across very considerable distances.
How this was achieved we can only speculate but it must in some way reflect
the mobility of the elites constantly moving through networks built on alliances,
exchanging gifts, sharing ideas and beliefs, negotiating marriages, and, of course,
feasting. In all probability the death of a revered leader would have provided the occasion
for the disparate bands to come together to reaffirm alliances through storytelling,
reminding those gathered of the exploits and valour of the ancestors. At such
times it would have been the structures and ritual of burial displayed before them
that provided the outward and visible sign of their cultural unity.
The organic remains preserved in the frozen tombs are a vivid reminder of the
craft skills of nomads reliant largely on the raw materials immediately to hand—
leather, wool, fur, and wood. Tough leather provided the essential horse gear but
finer cuts were chosen to provide the silhouettes of animals used in appliqué work
and for clothing. Wool had many uses. Sheep’s wool pounded together created felt
of various qualities for use in a wide range of domestic situations. Larger sheets were
made into covers for wagons or into temporary dwellings, like the Mongolian gers,
while smaller, finer pieces were fashioned into clothing or used as the base of flat
polychrome appliqué figures made for decoration like the swans found in kurgan 5 at
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