Barry Cunlife - The Scythians

the way of death
In relishing the detail, offering sufficient instruction for the process to be replicated,
Herodotus betrays his evident fascination with the subject. The re-excavation of
Chertomlÿk in the 1970s provided what may reasonably be interpreted as evidence
of the practice. Several areas were cleared outside the wall that revetted the base of
the mound, exposing concentrations of horse bones, roughly equidistant from each
other, associated with harness fittings and human bones. They lay on the original
ground surface, no attempt having been made to bury them. Where gender could
be distinguished the remains were of males. These death riders (Tötenreiter), as they
were called by the archaeologists, must have been a frightening sight to anyone who
approached, the more so as they began to slump and lurch in their decay, gradually
disintegrating into piles of whitening bones amid the rags and tatters of rotting
clothes and rusting armour.
A simple explanation of the practice would be to suppose that the riders were the
entourage of the deceased king provided for his protection in the afterlife. Their dramatic
presence would also have deterred would-be tomb robbers. But why the interval
of a year before they were installed? The answer might lie in a belief that the king
still retained some earthly powers after his death and it was not until the transition
period was over that the final act of closure could take place. The concept of a transitional
year seems also to be embedded in the practice described above (p. 270) of
appointing a substitute king to guard the sacred golden objects, after which he was
killed. But how all this may have fitted together, if indeed it did, in a coherent belief
system must remain speculative.
Ways of Death across the Steppe
It needs to be remembered that Herodotus’ famous description of Scythian burial
rituals refers specifically to those who lived in the Pontic region. Elsewhere across the
vast expanse of steppe one might expect there to have been some variation. Yet what
stands out are the broad similarities of practice through space and time: interment in
a specially constructed chamber; the provision of a female partner for the male; the
slaughter and burial of his horse(s) placed close to the burial chamber; the accompaniment
of prize possessions and food for the afterlife; and the monumentalizing
of the grave with a mound. In some regions a stone statue, perhaps representing the
deceased, was erected on top of the mound while in other regions it is possible that
wooden markers were erected.
Another similarity in practice, in both the Pontic region and the Altai, was the
preparation of the body for a period of exposure, either for the long procession, as
described by Herodotus, or until it was deemed to be a propitious time for burial,
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