Funerary Practices from 800 BC Show Eastern Origins of Nomadic Scythians

Archaeologists studying a ninth-century BC burial mound in the Siberian Republic of Tuva unearthed evidence of sacrificial rituals involving horses that have been linked to the horse-riding Scythian culture of the inner Asian steppes. These discoveries provide some fascinating data about the burial practices of the early Scythians, findings that were consistent with the practices of later Scythians. But they also reveal that the roots of this horse-obsessed culture can be found far to the east of the Pontic-Caspian steppes, which is generally recognized as the home territory of these peoples.

In the early Scythian period, which dates to approximately the ninth through the seventh centuries BC, the culture constructed hundreds of large burial mounds in the Uyuk Valley in southern Siberia, in the geographical center of Asia. Excavations of these mounds have been revealing invaluable data about the funerary practices of the first Scythians, as they pertain to the burials of elites and the use of horses in various rituals and ceremonies associated with those burials.

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Excavations in Siberia can be pretty difficult! (Trevor Wallace/Antiquity Publications Ltd)

Tunnug 1: A Window into Scythian Funerary Rituals

The specific mound that produced the latest important discoveries is known as Tunnug 1. It is located in Siberia’s Uyuk Valley, where ancient mound builders were extremely active. Digging down through the various layers of the mound, an international team of archaeologists found collections of horse bones intermingled with some human bones. They also unearthed various bits and pieces of equipment and accessories associated with the domestication of horses, including artifacts that suggest the riding of horses was a well-established practice by this time.

The study authors wrote in a paper published in the journal Antiquity:

“Our investigation of horse bones and tack [horse-related accessories] from the site of Tunnug 1, associated with the earliest Scythian horizon in southern Siberia, suggests that elements of Scythian funerary ritual were already present in this region during the early first millennium BC, and may have derived from earlier antecedents in the Mongolian steppe.”

Autumn and Winter excavation camp. (Trevor Wallace/Antiquity Publications Ltd)

It was in approximately 1200 BC that the Deer-Stone Khirigsuur (DSK) culture of Mongolia began to include horses in their funerary rituals and ceremonies. The exact nature of their relationship with horses is not known, but horse bones and related artifacts discovered in Mongolian tombs linked to this culture showed the animals had been domesticated to some degree. There appears to be a continuity between these practices and those of the later Scythian occupants of southern Siberia, suggesting that the horse-riding cultures of the first millennium BC can trace their origins back at least a few centuries further.

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Left; Horse mandible and bronze stirrup in situ at Tunnug 1. Right; Archaeologist at the Tunnug 1 excavation. (Trevor Wallace/Antiquity Publications Ltd)

The Scythians Started in Siberia

Beginning in the first millennium BC, horse-riding cultures from the steppes of inner Asia spread out across the Eurasian landscape, profoundly altering the historical trajectories of the civilizations they interacted with. Broadly identified with the Scythian culture, these peoples pioneered the domestication of horses, and their taming of the ancestors of the modern horse represents a true turning point in world history.

Archaeological discoveries and DNA studies have revealed many details about the interactions of the nomadic steppe peoples from the east with the native inhabitants of other parts of Asia and Europe. But much less is known about the history of these people, who were living in the Pontic-Caspian region (modern southwest Russia and Ukraine) before they began their migrations to other parts of the continent. In particular there have been limited discoveries that might shed light on how the revolutionary changes associated with the domestication of horses unfolded in the region.

“The horseback-riding Scythians have sparked the imaginations of people since the days of Herodotus,” stated the senior researcher involved in the latest discovery, Dr. Gino Caspari from the Max Planck Institute of Geoanthropology and the University of Bern. “But the origins of their culture have long remained hidden in remote corners of the Eurasian steppes.”

It was the Greek historian Herodotus, writing about the horse-riders from the east in the fifth century BC, who first mentioned the connection between elite burials in Scythian cultures and various sacrificial rituals associated with horses. These rituals seemingly involved both horse and human sacrifices.

The royal burial mound known as Tunnug 1 dates to somewhere around the year 800 BC. This was established through the radiocarbon dating of pieces of wood found mixed in with the horse bones that were excavated there.

In total bones from 18 horses and one human were uncovered, and it is believed all were sacrificial victims sent to the afterlife to accompany the elite person buried in the depths of the mound.

Finds from Tunnug 1, made from bronze, boar tusk, antler etc. (Trevor Wallace/Antiquity Publications Ltd)

In among the bones an assortment of broken pieces of equipment were found, all of which indicated the horses had been fully domesticated and used for transportation (meaning they were either ridden or used to pull carts). The researchers also found two small bronze pieces from a belt that featured distinctive artistic “animal-style” engravings of a type associated with Scythian culture.

“After years of tough fieldwork in Siberia, it is just wonderful to hold some of the oldest Scythian animal-style items in our hands,” Dr. Caspari said. “Unearthing some of the earliest evidence of a unique cultural phenomenon is a privilege and a childhood dream come true.”

Tracing the Roots of a Profound Eurasian Transformation

Horse-centered funerary rituals were a staple of later Scythian culture, as it was observed once they’d moved onto the Pontic-Caspian steppe and migrated to other places from there. But as the new discoveries make clear, these cultures were only continuing a practice that had a much more ancient origin.

“The evidence from Tunnug 1 solidifies the crucial role Tuva plays in Eurasian prehistory,” Dr. Caspari stated. “Our findings highlight the importance of Inner Asia in the development of transcontinental cultural connections. The findings also suggest that these funerary practices played a role in the broader process of cultural and political transformation across Eurasia, contributing to the emergence of later pastoralist empires.”

Top image: Overview of the site Tunnug 1, one of the earliest and largest burial mounds in the Eurasian steppes.      Source: Trevor Wallace/Antiquity Publications Ltd

By Nathan Falde