Siberian burial mound yields evidence of ancient sacrificial rituals

Archaeologists have made a groundbreaking discovery at a prehistoric burial mound in southern Siberia, revealing evidence of a unique ritual that involved the sacrifice of both humans and horses.

This discovery was made during excavations at the Tunnug 1 site in Tuva, Russia, as reported in a study published in the journal Antiquity. The Iron Age site features a royal burial mound dating back to the late 9th century, recognized as one of the earliest and largest in the Eurasian steppes, Caliber.Az reports, citing an article published in foreign media.

Excavations revealed the fragmented remains of at least 18 horses and one human, indicating that these sacrifices were performed in honor of the elite individual buried within the mound. The remains were found alongside "Scythian-style" artifacts and horse-riding equipment, suggesting that this burial represents an early example of the horse-centric funerary rituals practiced by later Scythians, as described in Classical European texts.

The Scythians were an Iron Age people from the Eurasian Steppe, renowned for their equestrian culture and distinctive "animal-style" art.

"We discovered a unique burial ritual that had long been considered an exaggeration by the Greek historian Herodotus, intended to portray the steppe nomads as more barbaric," said Gino Caspari, the senior author of the study from the Max Planck Institute of Geoanthropology and the University of Bern, Switzerland, in an interview. 

"This archaeological evidence allows us to bridge the gap between written sources and material remains found thousands of kilometers across the Eurasian steppes." "People created a tableau of deceased individuals alongside the most valuable domesticated animals—it's a display of extreme power," he noted.

"While we can't be certain about the exact significance for those involved, imagine riding across the steppes and encountering such a sight of decaying corpses. Few things would convey so clearly that the inhabitants of these lands should not be trifled with."

The latest discoveries at the burial mound indicate that it belonged to a culture related to the Scythians. The Scythians are known to have migrated from Central Asia to the Pontic Steppe, which encompasses parts of modern southwestern Russia and Ukraine, yet their precise origins remain unclear. 

These findings represent some of the earliest examples of Scythian-style funerary practices, suggesting that the Scythians, typically associated with Eastern Europe, actually originated much farther east.

"Scythian is often viewed as an ethnic term," Caspari explained. "The people at Tunnug were not Scythians in the strictest sense. We don't know what they called themselves, but their material culture displays many characteristics later found in the northern Black Sea region and throughout the western Eurasian steppes. In essence, they were culturally related, though they did not identify as one people or an empire."

The sacrificial burial also exhibits elements characteristic of Late Bronze Age practices in Mongolia, indicating that some Scythian funerary rituals may have origins even further east and south, tied to the Bronze Age horse cultures of Mongolia. 

"This highlights the significant changes and transfer of ideas occurring during the early Iron Age across vast distances in the Eurasian steppes. This development serves as a precursor to the empires of the Huns and the Mongols, which had a profound impact on both European and East Asian histories," Caspari remarked.

By Naila Huseynova