Barry Cunlife - The Scythians

discovering the scythians
1.13 Contemporary plan of the Kul’-Oba kurgan showing the
burial chamber as excavated. The masonry architecture reflects
Greek influence and the tomb may, indeed, have been designed
by a Greek architect from the nearby town of Panticapaeum.
depicting a stag with legs folded beneath and antlers
streaming across its back. It is a masterpiece of animal
art matching the vitality of similar, well-known pieces
in the Siberian collection.
In 1831 the finds from Kul’-Oba were sent to the
Hermitage and put on display before a wondering
public. So impressed was the Imperial Court that it
granted 2,000 roubles to fund the continuation of the
excavation. Seeing the new finds, and in particular the
golden stag, many will have begun to wonder how
these Pontic Scythians, enjoying close contacts with the
Greeks, related to their contemporaries living a nomadic
existence thousands of kilometres away in Siberia.
More excavations followed thick and fast. Between
1853 and 1856 the massive kurgan of Alexandropol, 21 m
high, was examined. It was found to have been totally
robbed, but around the central grave the excavators
found fifteen horse burials, their bridles decorated in gold
and silver. Those who knew their Herodotus would have
been reminded of his descriptions of the slaughter of
horses to accompany dead leaders in their graves. Some
years later, in 1863, the excavators, who had taken on the
challenge of the Chertomlÿk kurgan were rewarded with
an intact burial chamber of the fourth century bc. One
of the stunning discoveries from the tomb was of a goldhilted
iron sword contained in a richly decorated gold
sheath depicting a battle between Greeks and Persians
and a griffin attacking a stag. The scabbard is almost
certainly of Greek workmanship, demonstrating the
presence of Greek craftsmen working in the Black Sea
colonies to serve the demands of the Scythian elite.
Other kurgan excavations were to follow. In the
Taman Peninsula, on the east side of the Strait of Kirch
which gives access to the Sea of Azov, the great Bliznits
kurgan was examined between 1864 and 1868. Among
the various grave goods recovered an Iranian seal and
an Egyptian amulet showed the extent of the exchange
networks then in operation. Immediately to the east, the
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