Kurgan

Scytho-Siberian monuments

Monuments of this sort are found at known sites of ancient Scytho-Siberian (including Saka and later Sarmatian) activity. Scytho-Siberian monuments have common features with other kurgans,^[13] and the bodies within them sometimes have common genetic roots with those in Eastern European kurgans.^{[citation needed]} Also associated with these burial mounds are the Pazyryk, an ancient people who lived in the Altai Mountains that lay in Siberian Russia on the Ukok Plateau, near the modern borders with China, Kazakhstan, and Mongolia.^[14] The archaeological site on the Ukok Plateau associated with the Pazyryk culture is included in the Golden Mountains of Altai UNESCO World Heritage Site.^[15]

Scytho-Siberian classification includes monuments from the eighth to the third century BC.^{[citation needed]} This period is called the Early or Ancient Nomads epoch. "Hunnic" monuments date from the third century BC to the sixth century AD, and Turkic ones from the sixth century AD to the thirteenth century AD, leading up to the Mongolian epoch.^{[citation needed]}

Architecture

Burial mounds are complex structures with internal chambers. Within the burial chamber at the heart of the kurgan, elite individuals were buried with grave goods and sacrificial offerings, sometimes including horses and chariots. The structures of the earlier Neolithic period from the fourth to the third millenniums BC, and Bronze Age until the first millennium BC, display continuity of the archaic forming methods. They were inspired by common ritual–mythological concepts.

Common components

In all periods, the development of the kurgan structure tradition in the various ethnocultural zones is revealed by common components or typical features in the construction of the monuments. They include:

• funeral chambers
• tombs
• surface and underground constructions of different configurations
• a mound of earth or stone, with or without an entrance
• funeral, ritual, and other traits
• the presence of an altar in the chamber
• a stone fence
• a moat
• a bulwark
• funeral paths from the moat or bulwark.
• the presence of an entryway into the chamber, into the tomb, into the fence, or into the kurgan
• the location of a sacrificial site on the embankments, inside the mound, inside the moat, inside the embankments, and in their links, entryways, and around the kurgan
• a fire pit in the chamber
• a wooden roof over or under the kurgan, at the top of the kurgan, or around the kurgan
• the location of stone statues, columns, poles, and other objects
• bypass passages inside the kurgan, inside tombs, or around the kurgan

Depending on the combination of these elements, each historical and cultural zone has certain architectural distinctions.

Scytho-Siberian kurgans (Early Iron Age)

The Scytho-Siberian kurgans in the Early Iron Age have grandiose mounds, and are found throughout the Eurasian continent.^{[19][better source needed]}

Regional and temporal sex ratios

In the eastern Manych steppes and Kuban–Azov steppes during the Yamna culture,^[20] a near-equal ratio of female-to-male graves was found among kurgans.

In the lower and middle Volga River region during the Yamna and Poltavka cultures, females were buried in only about 20% of graves. Two thousand years later, women dressed as warriors were buried in the same region.^[20] David Anthony notes, "About 20% of Scythian–Sarmatian 'warrior graves' on the lower Don and lower Volga contained females dressed for battle ... a phenomenon that probably inspired the Greek tales about the Amazons."^[20]

In Ukraine, the ratio was intermediate between the other two regions; approximately 35% were women.^[20]

Excavated kurgans

Some excavated kurgans include:

• The Aleksandrovo kurgan is a Thracian kurgan of c. fourth century BC.
• The Beşiktaş kurgan formation from 3000 BC was unearthed during Istanbul Metro M7's station construction in Turkey.^[22]
• The Boralday tombs, are located in Almaty, Kazakhstan.
• The Håga Kurgan, located on the outskirts of Uppsala, Sweden, is a large Nordic Bronze Age kurgan from c. 1000 BC.
• The Ipatovo kurgan revealed a long sequence of burials from the Maykop culture c. 4000 BC down to the burial of an elite woman of the third century BC; excavated 1998–99.
• The Issyk kurgan, in southern Kazakhstan, contains a skeleton, possibly female, c. fourth century BC, with an inscribed silver cup, gold ornaments, Scythian animal art objects, and headdress reminiscent of Kazakh bridal hats;discovered in 1969.
• The Kostromskaya kurgan of the seventh century BC produced a famous Scythian gold stag (now at Hermitage Museum), next to the iron shield it decorated.^[23] Apart from the principal male body with his accoutrements, the burial included 13 humans with no adornment above him, and around the edges of the burial 22 horses were buried in pairs.^[24] It was excavated by N. I. Veselovski in 1897.^[25]
• Kurgan 4 at Kutuluk near Samara, Russia, dated to c. 2400 BC, contains the skeleton of a man, estimated to have been 35 to 40 years old and about 152 centimetres (4.99 ft) tall.^[26] Resting on the skeleton's bent left elbow was a copper object 65 cm long with a blade of a diamond-shaped cross-section and sharp edges, but no point, and a handle, originally probably wrapped in leather. No similar object is known from Bronze Age Eurasian steppe cultures.
• Kurgan 11 of the Berel cemetery, in the Bukhtarma River valley of Kazakhstan, contains a tomb of c. 300 BC, with a dozen sacrificed horses preserved with their skin, hair, harnesses, and saddles intact, buried side by side on a bed of birch bark next to a funeral chamber containing the pillaged burial of two Scythian nobles; excavated in 1998.
• The Maikop kurgan dates to the third millennium BC.
• Mamai-Hora, a kurgan complex on the banks of Kakhovka Reservoir southwest of Enerhodar (near the village of Velyka Znamianka), includes one of the biggest tumuli in Europe, at 80 metres (260 ft) high. Here were found remains of Bronze Age people including Scythians, Sarmatians, Cimmerians, and Nogai.
• The Melgunov kurgan near Kropyvnytskyi is one of the oldest Scythian kurgans, dating back to the seventh century BC.
• The Melitopol kurgan near Melitopol included Scythian gold jewellery, which is now in the collection of the Melitopol Museum of Local History.^[27]
• The Noin-Ula kurgan, located by the Selenga River in the northern Mongolia hills north of Ulan Bator, is the tomb of Uchjulü-Chanuy (8 BC – AD 13), head of the Hun confederation.^[28]
• The Novovelichkovskaya kurgan of c. 2000 BC on the Ponura River, Krasnodar region, southern Russia, contains the remains of 11 people, including an embracing couple, buried with bronze tools, stone carvings, jewelry, and ceramic vessels decorated with red ocher. The tomb is associated with the Novotitorovka culture nomads.
• The Pereshchepina kurgan is a burial memorial of the Bulgarian ruler Kubrat from c. AD 660.
• The Ryzhanivka kurgan, a 10-metre-high (33 ft) kurgan 125 kilometres (78 mi) south of Kyiv, Ukraine, contained the tomb of a Scythian chieftain of the third century BC; excavated in 1996.
• The Solokha kurgan, in the Zaporizhzhia Oblast of Ukraine, is Scythian and dates to the early fourth century BC.
• The Thracian Tomb of Kazanlak, near the town of Kazanlak in central Bulgaria, is a Thracian kurgan of c. fourth century BC.
• The Thracian Tomb of Sveshtari, Bulgaria, is a Thracian kurgan of c. third century BC.
• The Tovsta Mohyla kurgan belongs to the fourth century BC and was excavated in 1971 by the Ukrainian archaeologist Boris M. Mozolevsky. It contained the famous Golden Pectoral that is now in exhibition in the Museum of Historical Treasures of Ukraine, which is located inside the Kyiv Pechersk Lavra. This pectoral is the most famous artwork connected with the Scythians. A beautiful sword scabbard was found in the antechamber of the burial, which was never robbed (unlike the main chamber). A second lateral burial was found intact in the same kurgan. It belonged to a woman and her two-year old daughter. She was found covered with gold, including a golden diadem and other fine golden jewels. The woman's burial is interpreted as likely related to the burial at the center of the kurgan. The kurgan is 60 metres (200 ft) in pre-excavation diameter, and is located in southern Ukraine near the city of Pokrov in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast.

Kurgans in Poland

Kurgan building has a long history in Poland. The Polish words for kurgan are kopiec and kurhan. Some excavated kurgans in Poland:

• In Bełchatów, there is a pagan temple built upon a kurgan. Dating of this structure awaited results of carbon-14 tests As of 2001.^[update][29]
• Mounds at Jawczyce were described by Bishop Nankerus in 1322. A kurgan uncertainly dated to the Neolithic or Bronze Age included a burial of an elderly person, perhaps male. Some weapons and pottery fragments were also found in the tomb.^[30]
• Kopiec Esterki, a latter-day kurgan, was erected in the 14th century by Casimir III of Poland for his deceased wife.
• Kopiec Tatarski at Przemyśl is triangular in shape, 10 metres (33 ft) in length, and pointing east. In 1869, T. Żebrawski found bones and ancient coins. In 1958, A. Kunysz found skulls and other bones, and medieval ceramics. A structure called Templum S. Leonardi was constructed around 1534 AD on top of the mound; it was destroyed in World War II.
• Kopiec Wyzwolenia [pl] (Mound of Liberation) is a modern kurgan commemorating the 250th anniversary of the passage of the Polish Hussars through the city of Piekary Śląskie under John III Sobieski. It was completed in 1937.
• Kościuszko Mound in Kraków was completed in November 1823 as a memorial to Tadeusz Kościuszko
• The Krakus Mound is located in Kraków. Legend says it is the burial place of Krakus, founder of the city.
• Kraśnik Neolithic (Late Stone Age) kurgans
• A kurgan burial site at Łubna-Jakusy and a kurgan cremation near Guciów are examples of Trzciniec culture of c. 1500 BC.
• The Mound of Immortality was constructed to honor poet Adam Mickiewicz in 1898.
• Piłakno near Mrągowo, excavated in 1988, is an example of west Baltic kurhan culture.^{[31][better source needed]}
• Piłsudski's Mound, another modern monument, is in Kraków and honors Polish general and politician Józef Piłsudski.
• Tombs at Pleśnik^[32]
• Skalbmierz has kurgans dated 4000 BC.^[33]
• Near Sieradz, a tomb dated to the Trzciniec culture of c. 1500 BC contains a man and woman buried together.
• Trawiasta Buczyna has hundreds of stone kurgans dated to 1200–1000 BC
• Únětice-culture burial mounds include 14 kurgans dated to 2000–1800 BC^[34]
• The Union of Lublin Mound was completed in Lviv in 1980, as an artificial mound in modern-day Ukraine.
• Wanda Mound, the burial place of the daughter of Krakus, is located in Kraków.
• The tomb of Władysław III of Poland (died 1444), is now part of the Memorial of the Battle of Varna built in 1924 in Varna, Bulgaria. The tomb was dug into an ancient kurgan.
• Zambrow^[35]