Pazyryk culture, a Saka (Central Asian Scythian) nomadic Iron Age archaeological culture (6th-3rd Centuries BC) identified by excavated artifacts and mummified humans found in the Siberian permafrost, in the Altay Mountains, Kazakhstan and Mongolia. The mummies are buried in long barrows (kurgans) similar to the tomb mounds of Scythian culture in Ukraine. Pazyryk are considered to have had a war-like life. Sacrificing horses and placing them in graves are standard elements of Scythian funerary practices and recent archaeological projects in Mongolia provide additional evidence of this. These sites complement earlier investigations carried out at the site of Berel’ in Kazakhstan. The descriptions of the age, gender, colour and form of sacrifice of these horses allow a better understanding of the criteria of choice, enable a better understanding of why they were selected and underline the primordial place these horses enjoyed during the funerary ceremonies. Because of a freak climatic freeze, some of the Altai burials, notably those of 5th Century BC at Pazyryk and neighbouring sites, such as Katanda, Shibe, and Tuekta, were isolated from external climatic variations by a protective layer of ice that conserved the organic substances buried in them. At Pazyryk these included the bodies of horses and an embalmed man whose body was covered with tattoos of animal motifs. The remarkable textiles recovered from the Pazyryk burials include the oldest woollen knotted-pile carpet known, the oldest embroidered Chinese silk, and two pieces of woven Persian fabric (State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg). Red and ochre predominate in the carpet, the main design of which is of riders, stags, and griffins. Many of the Pazyryk felt hangings, saddlecloths, and cushions were covered with elaborate designs executed in appliqué feltwork, dyed furs, and embroidery. Of exceptional interest are those with animal and human figural compositions, the most notable of which are the repeat design of an investiture scene on a felt hanging and that of a semihuman, semibird creature on another (both in the State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg). Clothing, whether of felt, leather, or fur, was also lavishly ornamented. Horse reins either had animal designs cut out on them or were studded with wooden ones covered in gold foil. Their tail sheaths were ornamented, as were their headpieces and breastpieces. Some horses were provided with leather or felt masks made to resemble animals, with stag antlers or rams’ horns often incorporated in them. Many of the trappings took the form of iron, bronze, and gilt wood animal motifs either applied or suspended from them; and bits had animal-shaped terminal ornaments. Altai-Sayan animals frequently display muscles delineated with dot and comma markings, a formal convention that may have derived from appliqué needlework. Such markings are sometimes included in Assyrian, Achaemenian and even Urartian animal representations of the ancient Middle East. Roundels containing a dot serve the same purpose on stag and other animal renderings executed by contemporary Śaka metalworkers. Animal processions of the Assyro-Achaemenian type also appealed to many Central Asian tribesmen and are featured in their arts. Certain geometric designs and sun symbols, such as the circle and rosette, recur at Pazyryk but are completely outnumbered by animal motifs. The stag and its relatives figure as prominently as in Altai-Sayan. Combat scenes between carnivores and herbivores are exceedingly numerous in Pazyryk work; the Pazyryk beasts are locked in such bitter fights that the victim's hindquarters become inverted. 📷 : Funerary Horse Decorations (3rd Century BC), associated with the Paryzyk culture, Russia. (Amsterdam Hermitage) #archaeohistories