View source for Pazyryk burials

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[[Image:PazyrikHorseman.JPG|thumb|Horseman, Pazyryk [[felt]] artifact, c.300 BC. For another felt artifact, see [[:File:Pazyryk felt carpet.jpg|here]].]]

The '''Pazyryk''' ({{lang-ru|Пазырык}}) '''burials''' are a number of [[Scythians|Scythian]]<ref name="EB_Pazyryk">{{cite web |url=http://global.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/447584/Pazyryk |title=Pazyryk |last1= |first1= |last2= |first2= |date= |website=[[Encyclopædia Britannica Online]] |publisher=[[Encyclopædia Britannica (company)|Encyclopædia Britannica]] |access-date=March 2, 2015}}</ref><ref name="EB_Scythian_Art">{{cite web |url=http://global.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/530382/Scythian-art |title=Scythian Art |last1= |first1= |last2= |first2= |date= |website=[[Encyclopædia Britannica Online]] |publisher=[[Encyclopædia Britannica (company)|Encyclopædia Britannica]] |access-date=March 2, 2015}}</ref><ref name="EB_Drug">{{cite web |url=http://global.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/172013/drug-cult/40536/History-of-drug-use-in-religion |title=Drug cult: History of drug use in religion |last1= |first1= |last2= |first2= |date= |website=[[Encyclopædia Britannica Online]] |publisher=[[Encyclopædia Britannica (company)|Encyclopædia Britannica]] |access-date=March 2, 2015}}</ref> Iron Age tombs found in the Pazyryk Valley of the [[Ukok plateau]] in the [[Altai Mountains]], [[Siberia]], south of the modern city of [[Novosibirsk]],  [[Russia]]; the site is close to the borders with [[China]], [[Kazakhstan]] and [[Mongolia]].<ref name="nova">{{cite web
|url=http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/transcripts/2517siberian.html
|title=Ice Mummies: Siberian Ice Maiden
|publisher=PBS - NOVA
|accessdate=2009-09-01
}}
</ref>
Numerous comparable burials have been found in neighboring western Mongolia.

The tombs are [[Scythian]]-type [[kurgans]], [[tumulus|barrow]]-like tomb mounds containing wooden chambers covered over by large [[cairn]]s of boulders and stones, dated to the 4th - 3rd centuries BCE.<ref>''A Special Issue on the Dating of Pazyryk.'' ''Source: Notes in the History of Art'' 10, no. 4, p. 4.</ref> The spectacular burials at Pazyryk are responsible for the introduction of the term ''kurgan'', a Russian word of Turkic origin, into general usage to describe these tombs. The region of the Pazyryk kurgans is considered the [[type site]] of the wider [[Pazyryk culture]]. The site is included in the [[Golden Mountains of Altai]] [[UNESCO World Heritage Site]].<ref>{{cite web
|url=http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/768
|title=Golden Mountains of Altai
|publisher=UNESCO
|accessdate=2007-07-31
}}
</ref>

The bearers of the Pazyryk culture were horse-riding pastoral [[nomad]]s of the [[steppe]], and some may have accumulated great wealth through horse trading with merchants in [[Persia]], [[India]] and [[China]].<ref name="atlas">{{cite book
| first=Paul G.
| last= Bahn
| year=2000
| title=The Atlas of World Geology
| edition= 
| publisher=Checkmark Books
| location=New York
| pages= 128
| isbn=  0-8160-4051-6}}</ref> This wealth is evident in the wide array of finds from the Pazyryk tombs, which include many rare examples of organic objects such as felt hangings, Chinese silk, the earliest known [[Pazyryk carpet|pile carpet]], horses decked out in elaborate trappings, and wooden furniture and other household goods. These finds were preserved when water seeped into the tombs in antiquity and froze, encasing the burial goods in ice, which remained frozen in the permafrost until the time of their excavation.

Because of a freak climatic freeze, some of the [[Altaic]] burials, notably those of the 5th century BCE at Pazyryk and neighbouring sites, such as [[Katanda]], [[Shibe, Siberia|Shibe]], and [[Tuekt]], were isolated from external climatic variations by a protective layer of ice that conserved the organic substances buried in them.
Certain geometric designs and [[sun symbols]], such as the circle and [[Rosette (design)|rosette]], recur at Pazyryk but are completely outnumbered by animal motifs. Such specifically Scythian features as zoomorphic junctures—i.e., the addition of a part of one animal to the body of another—are rarer in the Altaic region than in southern Russia. The stag and its relatives, however, figure as prominently in Altaic as in [[Scythian art]]. <ref name="Central-Asian-arts/Visual-arts">{{cite web |url=https://global.britannica.com/art/Central-Asian-arts/Visual-arts |title=Altaic Tribes|last1= |first1= |last2= |first2= |date= |website=[[Encyclopædia Britannica Online]] |publisher=[[Encyclopædia Britannica (company)|Encyclopædia Britannica]] |access-date=December 5, 2016}}</ref>

"At Pazyryk too are found bearded mascarons ([[funerary mask|masks]]) of well-defined Greco-Roman origin, which were doubtless inspired by the [[Hellenistic kingdoms]] of the [[Cimmerian]] [[Bosporus]]."<ref name=Rene>{{Cite book |last=Grousset |first=Rene |title=The Empire of the Steppes |publisher=Rutgers University Press |year=1970 |isbn=0-8135-1304-9 |pages=18–19}}</ref>

== Discoveries ==
[[Image:Pazyryk deer.jpg|thumb|A gilded wooden figurine of a deer from the Pazyryk burials, fifth century BC]]
The first tomb at Pazyryk, barrow 1, was excavated by the [[archaeologist]] M. P. Gryaznov in 1929; barrows 2-5 were excavated by [[Sergei Ivanovich Rudenko]] in 1947-1949.<ref>{{harvnb|Rudenko|1970|pp=18, 33}}</ref> While many of the tombs had already been looted in earlier times, the excavators unearthed buried horses, and with them immaculately preserved cloth saddles, felt and woven rugs including the world's oldest pile [[carpet]],<ref name="EB_Carpet">{{cite web |url=http://global.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/512386/rug-and-carpet/73762/Symbolism-of-overall-design#toc73765 |title=Rug and carpet: Oriental carpets |last1= |first1= |last2= |first2= |date= |website=[[Encyclopædia Britannica Online]] |publisher=[[Encyclopædia Britannica (company)|Encyclopædia Britannica]] |access-date=March 2, 2015}}</ref><ref name="EB_Central_Asian_Arts">{{cite web |url=http://global.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/102325/Central-Asian-arts/13969/Altaic-tribes |title=Central Asian Arts: Altaic tribes |last1= |first1= |last2= |first2= |date= |website=[[Encyclopædia Britannica Online]] |publisher=[[Encyclopædia Britannica (company)|Encyclopædia Britannica]] |access-date=March 2, 2015}}</ref> a [http://www.hermitagemuseum.org/html_En/03/hm3_2_7e.html 3-metre-high four-wheel funeral chariot] from the 5th century BC and other splendid objects that had escaped the ravages of time.<ref name="EB_Stone_Age">{{cite web |url=http://global.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/567232/Stone-Age/52383/European-cultures |title=Stone Age: European cultures |last1= |first1= |last2= |first2= |date= |website=[[Encyclopædia Britannica Online]] |publisher=[[Encyclopædia Britannica (company)|Encyclopædia Britannica]] |access-date=March 2, 2015}}</ref> These finds are now exhibited at the [[Hermitage Museum]] in [[St. Petersburg]].

Craniological studies of samples from the Pazyryk burials determined that skulls were generally of [[Europoid]] type, with some showing [[Mongoloid]] features.<ref name="Rudenko45">{{harvnb|Rudenko|1970|p=45}} "Although in general the skulls in the series are of europeoid type, there are some among them with markedly mongoloid features."</ref>

===Pazyryk chief===
Rudenko's most striking discovery was the body of a tattooed Pazyryk chief: a thick-set, powerfully built man who had died when he was about 50. Parts of the body had deteriorated, but much of the tattooing was still clearly visible (see [[:Image:Scythian tatoo.jpg|image]]). Subsequent investigation using reflected [[infrared photography]] revealed that all five bodies discovered in the Pazyryk kurgans were tattooed.<ref>Findings published in ''Archaeology, Ethnology and Anthropology of Eurasia'', Spring 2005.</ref> No instruments specifically designed for tattooing were found, but the Pazyryks had extremely fine needles with which they did miniature [[embroidery]], and these were probably used for tattooing.

The chief was elaborately decorated with an interlocking series of striking designs representing a variety of fantastic beasts. The best preserved [[tattoo]]s were images of a [[donkey]], a [[argali|mountain ram]], two highly stylized [[deer]] with long antlers and an imaginary [[carnivore]] on the right arm. Two monsters resembling [[griffin]]s decorate the chest, and on the left arm are three partially obliterated images which seem to represent two deer and a [[mountain goat]]. On the front of the right leg a [[fish]] extends from the foot to the knee. A monster crawls over the right foot, and on the inside of the shin is a series of four running rams which touch each other to form a single design. The left leg also bears tattoos, but these designs could not be clearly distinguished. In addition, the chief's back is tattooed with a series of small circles in line with the vertebral column.  This tattooing was probably done for therapeutic reasons. Contemporary Siberian tribesmen still practice tattooing of this kind to relieve back pain.

===Ice Maiden===
{{main|Siberian Ice Maiden}}
[[Image:Mummy of the Ukok Princess.jpg|thumb|The Ice Maiden - fifth century BC]]
The most famous undisturbed Pazyryk burial so far recovered is the [[Siberian Ice Maiden|Ice Maiden]] or "Altai Lady" found by archaeologist [[Natalia Polosmak]] in 1993 at Ukok, near the Chinese border. The find was a rare example of a single woman given a full ceremonial burial in a wooden chamber tomb in the fifth century BC, accompanied by six horses.<ref name="nova" />
She had been buried over 2,400 years ago in a casket fashioned from the hollowed-out trunk of a Siberian [[Larch|larch tree]]. On the outside of the casket were stylized images of deer and [[snow leopard]]s carved in leather. Shortly after burial the grave had apparently been flooded by freezing rain, and the entire contents of the burial chamber had remained frozen in [[permafrost]]. Six horses wearing elaborate harnesses had been sacrificed and lay to the north of the chamber.<ref>Polosmak, Natalia (1994). "A Mummy Unearthed from the Pastures of Heaven." ''National Geographic'' 186:4, p. 91.</ref> The maiden's well-preserved body, carefully embalmed with peat and bark, was arranged to lie on her side as if asleep. She was young, and her hair was shaven off but wearing a wig and tall hat; she had been 167 cm (5 feet 6&nbsp;inches) tall. Even the [[animal style]] [[tattoo]]s were preserved on her pale skin: creatures with horns that develop into flowered forms. Her coffin was made large enough to accommodate the high felt headdress she was wearing, which was decorated with swans and gold-covered carved cats.<ref>Polosmak (1994), pp. 98-99.</ref> She was clad in a long crimson and white striped woolen skirt and white felt stockings. Her yellow blouse was originally thought to be made of wild "[[tussah]]" silk but closer examination of the fibers indicate the material is not Chinese but was a [[wild silk]] which came from somewhere else, perhaps [[India]].<ref name="atlas"/> Near her coffin was a vessel made of [[yak]] horn, and dishes containing gifts of [[coriander]] seeds:  all of which suggest that the Pazyryk trade routes stretched across vast areas of Iran{{Citation needed|date=October 2011}}. Similar dishes in other tombs were thought to have held ''[[Cannabis sativa]]'',  confirming a practice described by [[Herodotus]]<ref name="nova"/> but after tests the mixture was found to be coriander seeds, probably used to disguise the smell of the body.

Two years after the discovery of the "Ice Maiden" Dr. Polosmak's husband, Vyacheslav Molodin, found a frozen man, elaborately tattooed with an elk, with two long braids that reached to his waist, buried with his weapons.

Doctor Anicua also noted that her blouse was a bit stained, indicating that the material was not a new garment, made for the burial.

===Pazyryk carpet===
[[Image:Scythiancarpet.jpg|thumb|The Pazyryk carpet]]

One of the most famous finds at Pazyryk is the '''Pazyryk carpet''', which is probably the oldest surviving [[pile carpet]] in the world. It measures 183×200&nbsp;cm and has a knot density of approximately 360,000 [[knot density|knots per]] square meter, which is higher than most modern carpets. The middle of the carpet consists of a ribbon motif, while in the border there is a procession with elk or deer, and in another border warriors on horses. The Pazyryk carpet was probably manufactured in Armenia or Persia around 400 BC. When it was found it had been deeply frozen in a block of ice, which is why it is so well-preserved. The carpet can be seen at the [[Hermitage Museum]] in [[St. Petersburg]], Russia.<ref name="Carpet">{{cite web |url=http://www.carpetencyclopedia.com/pages/History-184.html |title=History of handknotted carpets |last1= |first1= |last2= |first2= |date= |website=CarpetEncyclopedia.com |publisher= |access-date=March 2, 2015}}</ref>

===Other findings===
In a corner of one grave chamber of the Pazyryk cemetery was a fur bag containing cannabis seed, a censer filled with stones, and the hexapod frame of an inhalation tent - these are believed to have been utilized at the end of the funerary ritual for purification.

Other undisturbed kurgans have been found to contain remarkably well-preserved remains, comparable to the earlier [[Tarim mummies]] of [[Xinjiang]]. Bodies were preserved using [[mummy|mummification]] techniques and were also naturally frozen in solid ice from water seeping into the tombs.  They were encased in coffins made from hollowed trunks of [[larch]] (which may have had sacral significance) and sometimes accompanied by sacrificed concubines and horses.  The clustering of tombs in a single area implies that it had particular ritual significance for these people, who were likely to have been willing to transport their deceased leaders great distances for burial.

As recently as the summer of 2012,  tombs have been discovered at various locations.{{citation needed|date=May 2014}}  In January 2007 a timber tomb of a blond chieftain warrior was unearthed in the permafrost of the [[Altai Republic|Altai mountains region]] close to the Mongolian border.<ref>{{cite news | title=Russian Archaeologists Discover Remains of Ancient Chieftain in Altai Permafrost |  url=http://www.mosnews.com/news/2007/01/10/ancienttomb.shtml | date=2007-01-10 | accessdate=2007-05-06}}</ref> The body of the presumed Pazyryk chieftain is tattooed; his sable coat is well preserved, as are some other objects, including what looks like [[scissors]]. A local archaeologist, Aleksei Tishkin, complained that the indigenous population of the region strongly disapproves of archaeological digs, prompting the scientists to move their activities across the border to [[Mongolia]].<ref>{{cite news | author=Daria Radovskaya | url=http://www.rg.ru/2007/01/10/kochevnik.html | title=Кочевник был блондином | publisher=[[Rossiyskaya Gazeta]] | date=2007-01-10 | accessdate=2007-05-06 }}</ref>

==Pazyryk culture==
{{main|Pazyryk culture}}
Rudenko initially assigned the neutral label [[Pazyryk culture]] for these nomads and dated them to the 5th century BC; the dating has been revised for barrows 1-5 at Pazyryk, which are now considered to date to the 4th-3rd centuries B.C.<ref>See above, n. 2.</ref> The Pazyryk culture has since been connected to the [[Scythians]] whose similar tombs have been found across the steppes.  The Siberian [[animal style]] tattooing is characteristic of the Scythians. Trading routes between [[Central Asia]], [[China]] and the [[Near East]] passed through the oases on the plateau and these ancient Altai nomads profited from the rich trade and culture passing through.<ref name="nomads">{{cite web
|url=http://www.hermitagemuseum.org/html_En/03/hm3_2_7.html
|title=Early Nomads of the Altaic Region
|publisher=The Hermitage
|accessdate=2007-07-31
}}</ref> There is evidence that Pazyryk trade routes were vast and connected with large areas of [[Asia]] including [[India]], perhaps Pazyryk merchants largely trading in high quality horses.<ref name="nova"/>

It has been suggested{{who|date=December 2015}} that Pazyryk was a homeland for these tribes before they migrated west{{citation needed|date=May 2014}}.  There is also the possibility that the current inhabitants of the [[Altay Mountains|Altai]] region are descendants of the Pazyryk culture, a continuity that would accord with current ethnic politics: [[Archaeogenetics]] is now being used to study the Pazyryk mummies.

==See also==
*[[Horse burial]]

==References==

===Citations===
{{reflist}}

===Sources===
*{{cite book |last=Rudenko |first=Sergei Ivanovich |authorlink=Sergei Rudenko |year=1970 |title=Frozen Tombs of Siberia: The Pazyryk Burials of Iron Age Horsemen |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZBydRHyHN10C |location= |publisher=[[University of California Press]] |page= |isbn=0520013956 |accessdate=March 1, 2015 |ref=harv}}

== External links ==
* {{ru icon}} [http://new.hist.asu.ru/skif/pub.html A library of scholarly publications about the Altai Scythians]
* [http://www.mmedia.nsu.ru/museum/Data/obj543/ENGLISH_INTERFACE_COLLECTION2.htm A collection at Novosibirsk State University site, including Pazyryk]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20131005151326/http://www.hermitagemuseum.org/html_En/03/hm3_2_7d.html Pazyryk carpet], at State Hermitage Museum
*[http://wiki.bmezine.com/index.php/Pazyryk_Mummies BME wiki: Pazyryk Mummies]
*[http://www.exn.ca/mummies/story.asp?id=1999041653 (Discovery Channel) Winnie Allingham, "The frozen horseman of Siberia"]
* [http://www.spiegel.de/international/0,1518,433600,00.html "Ancient Mummy found in Mongolia", Der Spiegel, 2004]
* [https://www.flickr.com/photos/velovotee/sets/72157622583580467/"Ice Maiden recreated in photographic project", Sydney Australia, 2009]
* [http://whc.unesco.org/uploads/news/documents/news-433-1.pdf 'The Preservation of the Frozen Tombs of the Altai Mountains'], [[UNESCO]] (pdf)
* http://www.mnh.si.edu/arctic/html/pdf/Rock%20Art%20and%20Archaeology%20Field%20Report%202011%20FINAL_webv4.pdf

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pazyryk Burials}}
[[Category:Kurgans]]
[[Category:Archaeological sites in Russia]]
[[Category:Archaeological collections of the Hermitage Museum]]
[[Category:Scythians]]
[[Category:Altai Mountains]]
[[Category:Archaeological type sites]]
[[Category:Scythian art]]
[[Category:Cannabis and religion]]