Sarmatian/Scythian burials

[Michael Kerr]

Hi, I was looking at some images relating to Sarmatian/Scythian graves when I noticed in a couple of pics that the dead warrior is near a tree where they hang his bowcase. See images below. Does anyone know why or have an opinion/ Looks symbolic to me.

[attachment=6865]TombatKerch2.jpg[/attachment]

[attachment=6866]scythian2.jpg[/attachment]
The first image is a wall painting at a grave in Kerch of a Sarmatian(probably Alan) noble (now destroyed)
The second image is a Scythian/Saka plaque from Siberia
I was wondering if someone knows why trees were significant in Steppe culture and why the dead person's bowcase is hung on a tree.

Regards
Michael Kerr

[Flavivs Aetivs]

Well trees were rare on the steppe, and the right kind of tree was needed to make the wood for their composite bows. And of course arrows. The Bow was an important piece in steppe culture, and a status symbol as well. I would imagine that would be the significance.

[koechlyruestow]

The reclining figiure on the belt-piece is not dead. He has simply dismounted, hung up his belt and put his head in the lap of the woman in the tall cap, who is stroking his hair (picking the lice for all I know, you can see a reconstruction of the cap in Ospre's the Scythians). I ve read the story in a book on Magyar art, cannot remember the name. Lots of those old-fashioned 70ties photographs in orange-brownish color and black and white, so close-up that you can see every scratch and dent and as a result it is very difficult to make out what the items actually represent, to make them look more like the then fashionable "primitive art".

[Michael Kerr]

Magister Militum Flavius Aetius wrote:

The Bow was an important piece in steppe culture, and a status symbol as well. I would imagine that would be the significance.

Good point sort of returning something from whence it came. To the Scythians the bow was their major weapon and even though Sarmatians had adopted contus and long sword I suppose the bow still was a status symbol of authority because the Kerch wall painting was located at a grave of an important Bosporan Sarmatian.

Regards
Michael Kerr

[Alanus]

The Ordos gold plaque (posted above by Michael) can be interpreted many ways; I follow views of the Russian anthropologists. We have the Tree of Life, here as an Axis Mundi, a symbol of Eternity with the dying warrior's bow hanging from it. The dying warrior reposes in the lap of a Warrior Priestess. So the whole depiction is about the warrior's journey to the Afterlife.

At least two High Warrior Priestess have been found, one at Ukok, the other at Issyk kul. They are also referred to as "queens," probably holding both offices within a matriarchal society. The Ukok pricess/queen shaved her scalp bald so she could wear a complicated and Extremely tall headdress, or hat. (This is what we see on the above plaque.) Judging from burials, women wore the tallest hats; and no doubt their office/status appears as both queen and priestess. The Ukok queen also wore thigh-height boots and was buried with a complete makeup kit. The Issyk Kul Queen was buried with an akinakes and sword, and she held a kumis beater for stirring hauma. :-)

We have only one historical account of such a high woman, the amazing Tomyris found in Book I of Herodotus, plus a quick battle overview by Frontinus. She probably filled three offices-- Queen, High Warrior Priestess, and General. :cheer:

Here are photos of the Issyk Kul priestess-queen and two kurgans in the Altai:

[Alanus]

Here's more, considering the Saka/Massagetae confederation evolved into the Sarmatians/Alans. The original culture spread southwest from the Siberian Altai to the Pamirs and Tien Shan valleys, then moved northwest onto the Ural steppes. The Persians referred to them with the blanket-term, "Tall-Hat Saka."

Here is a physical reconsruction based on the Ukok queen's skull and headdress, c. 400 to 300BC.


[attachment=6872]Ukokprincessreconstruction.jpg[/attachment]


[attachment=6873]Ukokprincessartistconception.jpg[/attachment]



And here is a detailed view of the Issyk Kul queen's headdress/hat, which corresponds to the one shown on the Ordos plaque.


[attachment=6874]steppedetails047.JPG[/attachment]

[M. Demetrius]

Tough to wear a headdress like that in any kind of strong wind, I'd bet. But you would surely be able to pick out which carriage/horse she was riding from a long distance.

[Alanus]

:-D

[Alanus]

Hi, David

Comical, but in Saka society whomever wore the tallest hat was the biggest cheese. :cheer:

Less humorous are the circumstances surrounding the discovery and deposition of the Golden Woman of Issyk Kul, wearer of the tallest headgear yet found. 8)

The kurgan was excavated in 1970 by a Kazakh archaeological team. Shortly thereafter, the head of Kazakhstan's Museum and History branch was replaced by Beken Nurmukhanbetov, who was officially declared the "discoveror." He is a well-known anti-Iranian and a Turkic nationalist. The body found in the kurgan was declared the "Golden Man," and almost immediately a large manly statue of this person was erected in the capital of Almaty. To most of the world, the Golden Woman became a man, supposedly a 16 to 18 year-old youth... since it was physically impossible to declare the skeleton as a grown male. Shortly after the discovery, the bones "disappeared."

The whole thing has become a bone of contention, and the Kazakh government (noted for its Fascist regime) has declared the "Golden Man" as a direct ancestor to its Turkic-speaking population.

For us, who study the roots of Sarmatian/Alanic culture, Kazakhstan's stance is an affront to human dignity. Last year, a newspaper, the Ukraine Weekly, had the guts to declare, "The Saka, who were the champions of truth and courage, have been maligned." :whistle:

So, it's a case of "he" who wears the tallest hat. Here is the original macho version in Almaty, now copied by similar statues in other Kazakh cities.


[attachment=6875]amazons033.JPG[/attachment]

[M. Demetrius]

bone of contention

Missing bones.
:lol: :cheer: 8-)

[Alanus]

I thought you might catch that. (nuk, nuk, nuk) illy: illy:

By the way-- I think the Kazakhs hired Arnold Scwarzenegger as the model for the statue. Check out those biceps. :woot:

[koechlyruestow]

Looks more like a cheap plastic actiion figure.

[Michael Kerr]

Eduard wrote:

The reclining figiure on the belt-piece is not dead. He has simply dismounted, hung up his belt and put his head in the lap of the woman in the tall cap, who is stroking his hair (picking the lice for all I know, you can see a reconstruction of the cap in Ospre's the Scythians).

Hi Eduard, the Hermitage Museum which has this piece of the 2 Saka men, woman and bowcase in tree lists the caption under the photo on its website below.

These double belt buckles were cast and decorated in chased relief, one the mirror image of the other. The composition consists of two male and one female figure with horses resting under a tree. It has been variously interpreted as a genre scene with the title 'Breaking the Journey' and as a scene from folklore or epic legend concerning the return to life of a dead hero. Such very careful depictions provide rich material for the study of ancient cultures. Analogies for the figures depicted and their clothes, the bow and quiver hanging in the tree, the horses with their bridles and saddles, can be seen among artifacts of Sakae culture, and buckles are very similar to objects found in the burial mounds of the High Altai.

Going by the caption they are not really sure how to interpret the scene on the plaque. I only had a Wikipedia quote on it being a "resurrection scene" which I didn't trust so thats why I started this thread in the hope that someone else might know.
Michael Rostovtzeff gives an explanation of the first image saying that the deceased noble lived in the local town/city most of the year but at harvest time(semi sedentary) and breeding or foaling season he and his family and armed retainers live on the land the traditional Sarmatian (Alan) way in tents and the tree with his weapons are symbolic as showing that he will defend his "patch" family and laborers against raiders and predatory neighbours. Sounds good anyway and the fact he lived in town most of the year contradicts a lot of Roman writers who describe them as savage barbarians who spend their idle time on raids etc.

Regards
Michael Kerr

[Alanus]

Looks more like a cheap plastic actiion figure.

Oh nooooooo...! It's Kazahk "high arhht." (as we say in Maine, ayuh.)

[Alanus]

[

The reclining figiure on the belt-piece is not dead. He has simply dismounted, hung up his belt and put his head in the lap of the woman in the tall cap, who is stroking his hair (picking the lice for all I know, you can see a reconstruction of the cap in Ospre's the Scythians).

The second image goes beyond the mundane, and I believe we are looking at the Tree of Life. There are many such trees still on the steppes, a symbolic tie to one's ancestors (the dead). Often, they have votive rags tied to them, parts of the deceased clothing.

Where in Ospray's The Scythians does it show a tall and pointed Saka hat? They are two different cultures. I have never seen a Scythian hat this tall, but Cimmerian ones were. :dizzy:

Michael Rostovtzeff gives an explanation of the first image saying that the deceased noble lived in the local town/city most of the year but at harvest time...

Rostovtzeff was transferring his own Russian culture onto the Sarmatians, whether he realized or not.

View art as an allegory. In the upper left corner of the first image posted, we again see the Tree of Life with the deceased bow hanging from it. (It's small, but it's there.) The theme is constant and is a visual connection between "worlds," that of the living and the ancestors.