Editing Saka (section)

== Archaeology ==
{{Saka kurgans}}
[[Image:ScythianC14AsiaEuropeFig6SketchEn 3dGraph.gif|thumb|Compative timeline of Scythian kurgans in Asia and Europe.<ref>Alekseev A.Yu. et al., ''"Chronology of Eurasian Scythian Antiquities Born by New Archaeological and 14C Data"'', © 2001 by the Arizona Board of Regents on behalf of the University of Arizona, ''Radiocarbon'', Vol .43, No 2B, 2001, p 1085-1107 Fig.6</ref>]]
The spectacular grave-goods from [[Arzhan culture|Arzhan]], and others in [[Tuva]], have been dated from about 800 BC onward, and the kurgans of [[Shilikty]] in eastern [[Kazakhstan]] circa 700 BC, and are associated with the Early Sakas.<ref name="Amir">{{cite journal |last1=Amir |first1=Saltanat |last2=Roberts |first2=Rebecca C. |title=The Saka 'Animal Style' in Context: Material, Technology, Form and Use |journal=Arts |date=2023 |volume=12 |page=23 |doi=10.3390/arts12010023 |doi-access=free }}</ref> Burials at [[Pazyryk burials|Pazyryk]] in the [[Altay Mountains]] have included some spectacularly preserved Sakas of the "Pazyryk culture" – including the [[Pazyryk Ice Maiden|Ice Maiden]] of the 5th century BC.

===Arzhan 1 kurgan ({{circa|800 BC}})===
{{main|Arzhan culture}}
Arzhan-1 was excavated by M. P. Gryaznov in the 1970s, establishing the origins of Scythian culture in the region in the 10th to 8th centuries BC:<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Francfort |first1=Henri-Paul |title=Images du combat contre le sanglier en Asie centrale (3 ème au 1 er millénaire av. J.-C.) |journal=Bulletin of the Asia Institute |date=2002 |volume=16 |page=118 |jstor=24049162 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/24049162 |issn=0890-4464|quote=Dans le kourgane plus ancien d'Arzhan-1 (8-10ème s.)...}}</ref> Arzhan-1 was carbon-dated to circa 800 BC.<ref>{{cite book |date=2004 |publisher=Kluwer Academic |location=Dordrecht |isbn=1-4020-2655-2 |page=23 |doi=10.1007/1-4020-2656-0_1 |chapter-url=|quote=p.23 "Dendrochronological and radiocarbon dating indicate that Arzhan dates to the end 9th - beginning 8th century BC (Zaitseva, Vasilev, Marsadolov, Sementsov, Dergachev, Lebedeva, 1996)." |chapter=Chronology and Cultural Affinity of the Kurgan Arzhan-2 Complex According to Archaeological Data |title=Impact of the Environment on Human Migration in Eurasia |series=NATO Science Series: IV: Earth and Environmental Sciences |last1=Chugunov |first1=K. V. |last2=Parzinger |first2=H. |last3=Nagler |first3=A. |volume=42 }}</ref> Many of the styles of the artifacts found in Arzhan 1 (such as the animal style images of deer, boar, and panther) soon propagated to the west, probably following a migration mouvement from the east to the west in the 9th-7th centuries BC, and ultimately reaching European Scythia and influencing artistic styles there.<ref>{{cite book |date=2004 |publisher=Kluwer Academic |location=Dordrecht |isbn=1-4020-2655-2 |pages=24–32 |doi=10.1007/1-4020-2656-0_1 |chapter-url=|quote="We can only note certain elements in the culture of European Scythia which doubtless have an Asiatic origin and are connected with the cultures of Asia." "In many scholars' opinion it is necessary to distinguish the following cultural components of European Scythia genetically tied with the East: daggers with butterfly-shaped guards, arrowheads early forms, helmets of the Kelermes type, spiked battle-axes, horse-bits, cheek-pieces of the Chernogorovo and Zhabotinsk type, bordered mirrors, bronze cauldrons of the Beshtaugor type and "stag-stones". We can follow the development of some animal style images (deer, boar, and panther) from east to west. There are elements of stylization and degradation on the objects from the western part of the Scythian World |chapter=Chronology and Cultural Affinity of the Kurgan Arzhan-2 Complex According to Archaeological Data |title=Impact of the Environment on Human Migration in Eurasia |series=NATO Science Series: IV: Earth and Environmental Sciences |last1=Chugunov |first1=K. V. |last2=Parzinger |first2=H. |last3=Nagler |first3=A. |volume=42 }}</ref>

<gallery widths="200px" heights="200px" perrow="4">
File:Аржаан-1.JPG|Arzhan-1, dated to circa 800 BC, partly looted in Antiquity
File:Arzhan animal ring.jpg|Curled-up feline animal from Arzhan-1, circa 800 BC.<ref>{{cite book |date=2004 |publisher=Kluwer Academic |location=Dordrecht |isbn=1-4020-2655-2 |page=24 |doi=10.1007/1-4020-2656-0_1 |chapter-url=|quote=p.24 "Figure.2. Royal barrow Arzhan 1: funeral artifacts. 36-39" |chapter=Chronology and Cultural Affinity of the Kurgan Arzhan-2 Complex According to Archaeological Data |title=Impact of the Environment on Human Migration in Eurasia |series=NATO Science Series: IV: Earth and Environmental Sciences |last1=Chugunov |first1=K. V. |last2=Parzinger |first2=H. |last3=Nagler |first3=A. |volume=42 }}</ref>
</gallery>

===Shilikty/ Baigetobe kurgan ({{circa|700 BC}})===
<!--[[File:26. Flying deer Chilikti (VII. - VI. B. C.) Kazakhstan.JPG|thumb|Flying deer, Shilikty (7th-6th centuries BC) Kazakhstan.<ref>{{cite book |title="Roter Altai, gib dein Echo!" Festschrift für Erika Taube zum 65. Geburtstag |date=2005 |page=37 |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/327393095|publisher=Leipziger Universitätsverlag}}</ref>]]-->
{{main|Shilikty}}
Shilikty is an archaeological site in eastern [[Kazakhstan]] with numerous 8-6th century BC Early Saka [[kurgans]].<ref name="Pan"/><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Zhumatayev |first1=Rinat |title=Royal Mound Baygetobe from the Burial Ground Shilikty |journal=International Journal of Social, Behavioral, Educational, Economic, Business and Industrial Engineering |date=1 January 2013 |url=https://www.academia.edu/45623946}}</ref> Carbon-14 dating suggests date of 730-690 BC for the kurgans, and a broad contemporaneity with the [[Arzhan-2]] kurgan in Tuva.<ref name="Pan">{{cite journal |last1=Panyushkina |first1=Irina P |last2=Slyusarenko |first2=Igor Y |last3=Sala |first3=Renato |last4=Deom |first4=Jean-Marc |last5=Toleubayev |first5=Abdesh T |title=Calendar Age of the Baigetobe Kurgan from the Iron Age Saka Cemetery in Shilikty Valley, Kazakhstan |journal=Radiocarbon |date=March 2016 |volume=58 |issue=1 |pages=157–167 |doi=10.1017/RDC.2015.15 |bibcode=2016Radcb..58..157P |hdl=10150/628658 |s2cid=131703468 |url=https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Location-of-the-Shilikty-burial-site-in-the-Altai-Mountains-of-southeastern-Kazakhstan_fig2_289407150|hdl-access=free }}</ref>

The Kurgans contained vast quantities of precious golden jewelry.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Francfort |first1=Henri-Paul |title=Images du combat contre le sanglier en Asie centrale (3 ème au 1 er millénaire av. J.-C.) |journal=Bulletin of the Asia Institute |date=2002 |volume=16 |page=118 |jstor=24049162 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/24049162 |issn=0890-4464|quote=Ainsi des bractrées d'or à l'effigie du sanglier qui étaient fixées aux vêtements ont été découvertes dans les Kourganes du 6eme siècle de Chilikti (Kazakhstan oriental) et d'Arzhan-2 (Touva)}}</ref> Remains of a "golden man" (similar to the [[Issyk kurgan]] golden man) were found in 2003, with 4262 gold finds.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Noyanuly |first1=Noyanov Edyl |title=THE "GOLDEN PEOPLE" OF KAZAKHSTAN |journal=World Science |date=2016 |page=47 |url=https://cyberleninka.ru/article/n/the-golden-people-of-kazakhstan/viewer|quote="2003 Associate Professor of National University of Al-Farabi Kazakh National University and Professor Gani lobster Abde§ Tulebaev in East -Kazakhstan near Zaisan in place Baygetobe "Chilikti-3" number 1, the mound of the "golden man" (4262 gold find) (Figure 4)"}}</ref>

===Arzhan 2 ({{circa|650 BC}})===
{{see also|Aldy-Bel culture}}
[[File:Аржаан - 2.JPG|thumb|Arzhan 2 kurgan (7th-6th centuries BC, associated with the [[Aldy-Bel culture]]).<ref>{{cite book |last1=Chugunov |first1=K. V. |last2=Parzinger |first2=H. |last3=Nagler |first3=A. |title=Impact of the Environment on Human Migration in Eurasia |chapter=Chronology and Cultural Affinity of the Kurgan Arzhan-2 Complex According to Archaeological Data |series=NATO Science Series: IV: Earth and Environmental Sciences |date=2005 |volume=42 |pages=1–7 |doi=10.1007/1-4020-2656-0_1 |chapter-url=|publisher=Springer Netherlands |isbn=1-4020-2655-2 |language=en}}</ref>]]
Arzhan-2 was an undisturbed burial.<ref name="Man20">{{cite book |last=Man |first=John |author-link=John Man (author) |date=2020 |title=Empire of Horses: The First Nomadic Civilization and the Making of China |location=New York |publisher=Pegasus Books |page=20 |isbn=978-1-64313-327-0}}</ref> Archaeologists found a royal couple, sixteen murdered attendants, and 9,300 objects.<ref name="Man20"/> 5,700 of these artifacts were made of gold, weighing a Siberian record-breaking twenty kilograms.<ref name="Man20"/> The male, who researchers guess was some sort of king, wore a golden [[torc]], a jacket decorated with 2,500 golden panther figurines, a gold-encrusted dagger on a belt, trousers sewn with golden beads, and gold-cuffed boots.<ref name="Man20"/> The woman wore a red cloak that was also covered in 2,500 golden panther figurines, as well as a golden-hilted iron dagger, a gold comb, and a wooden ladle with a golden handle.<ref name="Man20"/>

<gallery widths="180px" heights="180px" perrow="4">
File:Arzhan deer.jpg|"Animal style" deer, (7-6th century BC) Tuva.
File:6. Pectorale burial mound Arzhan (VIII. - VII. B. C.) Tuva.JPG|Pectoral plate, from burial mound Arzhan (7-6th century BC) Tuva.
File:8. Akinak (dagger) bural mound Arzhan (VIII.-VII. B.C.) Tuva.JPG|Akinak (dagger) burial mound Arzhan (7-6th century BC) Tuva.
</gallery>

=== Eleke Sazy Burial Complex ({{circa|800-400 BC}})===
[[File:Recumbent stag plaque (EKRM inv. no. KПO93-38625); gold with turquoise and lapis lazuli inlays; Kurgan 4, group II, Eleke Sazy, Tarbagatai mountains, Kazakhstan; 8th to 6th century BC.jpg|thumb|Recumbent stag plaque, Eleke Sazy, Kazakhstan; 8th to 6th century BC]]
In 2020, archaeologists excavated multiple burial mounds in the Eleke Sazy Valley in East Kazakhstan. Here, a large number of gold artifacts were found. These artifacts included golf harness fittings, pendants, chains, appliqués, and more – most of which are in the [[Animal Style]] of the Scythian-Saka era dating back to the 5th–4th centuries BC.<ref>{{Cite web|title=850 gold artefacts belonging to the Scythian-Saka era found in Kazakhstan|url=https://archaeologynewsnetwork.blogspot.com/2020/09/850-gold-artefacts-belonging-to.html|access-date=27 September 2021|website=The Archaeology News Network}}</ref>

===Berel burial mound ({{circa|350-300 BC}})===
Near the selo of Berel in the [[Katonkaragay District]] of eastern [[Kazakhstan]] ({{coord|49.3732082|86.4380264|scale:20000|format=dms|display=inline|name=Berel}}<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://wikimapia.org/|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20070623073958/http://www.wikimapia.org/#lat=49.3732082&lon=86.4380264&z=15&l=9&m=s&v=9|url-status=dead|title=Wikimapia - Let's describe the whole world!|archivedate=23 June 2007|website=wikimapia.org}}</ref>) excavations of ancient burial mounds have revealed artefacts the sophistication of which are encouraging a revaluation of the nomadic cultures of the 3rd and 4th centuries BC.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/13/science/from-their-graves-ancient-nomads-speak.html|title=Artifacts Show Sophistication of Ancient Nomads|newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|date=12 March 2012 |accessdate=1 March 2014|last1=Wilford |first1=John Noble }}</ref>

<gallery>
File:31. Catlike predator with protomas of two elk burial mound Berel (IV.-III. B.C.) Kazakhstan.JPG|Catlike predator with protomas of two elk, burial mound [[Berel, Kazakhstan|Berel]] (4th-3rd centuries BC) Kazakhstan, Pazyryk culture.
File:1. Deer in Griffin's beak, burial mound Berel (IV-III. B.C.) Kazakstan.JPG|Deer in Griffin's beak, burial mound Berel (4th-3rd centuries BC) Kazakhstan.
File:12. Tigergriffin arthor work based on Scytian- saka animal style burial mound Berel (V. - III. B.C.) Kazakstan.JPG|Tigergriffin arthor work based on Scytian- saka animal style, burial mound Berel (5th-3rd centuries BC) Kazakhstan.
File:28. Griffins burial mound Berel (V.-III. B.C.) Kazakhstan.JPG|Griffins, burial mound Berel (5th-3rd centuries BC) Kazakhstan.
File:34. Frontal decoration (harness) burial mound Berel (IV.-III. B.C.) Kazakhstan.JPG|Frontal decoration (harness), burial mound Berel (4th-3rd centuries BC) Kazakhstan, Pazyryk culture.
</gallery>

=== Pazyryk culture ({{circa|300 BC}})===
{{Main|Pazyryk culture}}
[[File:PazyrikHorseman.JPG|thumb|upright|right|A ''[[Pazyryk culture|Pazyryk]]'' horseman in a felt painting from a burial around 300 BC. The Pazyryks appear to be closely related to the Scythians.<ref name=Parragon>{{cite book |author=Dr. Aaron Ralby|title=Atlas of Military History|chapter=Scythians, c. 700 BCE—600 CE: Punching a Cloud|chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/atlasofworldmili0000ralb|chapter-url-access=registration|year=2013 |publisher=Parragon|isbn=978-1-4723-0963-1|pages=[https://archive.org/details/atlasofworldmili0000ralb/page/224 224–225]}}</ref>]]
Saka burials documented by modern archaeologists include the [[kurgan]]s at [[Pazyryk burials|Pazyryk]] in the [[Ulagan]] (Red) district of the [[Altai Republic]], south of [[Novosibirsk]] in the [[Altai Mountains]] of southern [[Siberia]] (near Mongolia). Archaeologists have extrapolated the [[Pazyryk culture]] from these finds: five large burial mounds and several smaller ones between 1925 and 1949, one opened in 1947 by Russian archaeologist [[Sergei Rudenko]]. The burial mounds concealed chambers of larch-logs covered over with large [[cairn]]s of boulders and stones.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZBydRHyHN10C&pg=PR29 |title=Frozen Tombs of Siberia: The Pazyryk Burials of Iron Age Horsemen |author=Сергей Иванович Руденко (Sergei I. Rudenko) |isbn=978-0-520-01395-7 |date=1970 |publisher=University of California Press}}</ref>

The Pazyryk culture flourished between the 7th and 3rd century BC in the area associated with the ''[[Sacae]]''.

Ordinary Pazyryk graves contain only common utensils, but in one, among other treasures, archaeologists found the famous [[:File:Scythiancarpet.jpg|Pazyryk Carpet]], the oldest surviving wool-pile [[oriental rug]]. Another striking find, a 3-metre-high four-wheel funerary chariot, survived well-preserved from the 5th to 4th century BC.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://hermitagemuseum.org/html_En/08/hm88_0_0_17_0.html |title= Chariot |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20010706232807/http://www.hermitagemuseum.org/html_En/08/hm88_0_0_17_0.html |archive-date=6 July 2001 |work=Hermitage Museum}}</ref>

===Southern Siberian kurgans excavated in the 18th century===
{{main|Siberian Collection of Peter the Great}}
[[File:Approximate location of the finds of the Siberian Collection of Peter the Great.png|thumb|left|Approximate location of the finds of the Siberian Collection of Peter the Great.<ref name="BM">{{cite book |last1=Pankova |first1=Svetlana |last2=Simpson |first2=St John |title=Scythians: warriors of ancient Siberia |date=1 January 2017 |publisher=British Museum |url=https://www.academia.edu/34533231}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |title=Presenting the Warrior Iron Age Scythian Materials and Gender Identity at the British Museum American Journal of Archaeology |journal=American Journal of Archaeology |date=July 2018 |url=https://www.ajaonline.org/online-museum-review/3680 |language=en}}</ref>]]
During the 18th century and the Russian expansion into Siberia, many Saka kurgans were plundered, sometimes by independent grave-robbers or sometimes officially at the instigation of [[Peter the Great]], but usually without any archaeological records being taken.<ref>{{cite journal |title=Presenting the Warrior Iron Age Scythian Materials and Gender Identity at the British Museum, American Journal of Archaeology |website=www.ajaonline.org |date=July 2018 |url=https://www.ajaonline.org/online-museum-review/3680 |language=en}}</ref> Only the general location where they were excavated is known, between modern [[Kazakhstan]] and the [[Altai Mountains]].<ref name="BM"/>
ru
Many of these artefacts were part of the archaeological presents sent by {{ill|Matvey Gagarin|ru|Гагарин, Матвей Петрович}}, Governor of Siberia based in [[Tobolsk]], to [[Peter the Great]] in [[Saint-Petersburg]] in 1716.<ref>{{cite web |title=Museum notice |url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/68423546@N08/48574017982/in/photostream/ |date=19 August 2019}}</ref> They are now located in the [[Hermitage Museum]] in [[Saint-Petersburg]], and form the [[Siberian Collection of Peter the Great]]. Their estimated datation ranges from the 7th century BC to the 1st century BC, depending on the artefacts.<ref name="BM"/>
{{clear}}
<gallery widths="200px" heights="200px" perrow="4">
File:Siberian Collection of Peter the Great An aigrette. State Hermitage. Inv. Si 1727 1-131.jpg|Aigrette, 4th-3rd century BC. [[Siberian Collection of Peter the Great]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Pankova |first1=Svetlana |last2=Simpson |first2=St John |title=Masters of the Steppe: The Impact of the Scythians and Later Nomad Societies of Eurasia: Proceedings of a conference held at the British Museum, 27-29 October 2017 |date=21 January 2021 |publisher=Archaeopress Publishing Ltd |isbn=978-1-78969-648-6 |page=223 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=W6MWEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA223 |language=en}}</ref>
Steppes horseman hunting.jpg|[[Boar hunter (Hermitage Museum)]], 2nd-1st century BC.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Pankova |first1=Svetlana |last2=Simpson |first2=St John |title=Masters of the Steppe: The Impact of the Scythians and Later Nomad Societies of Eurasia: Proceedings of a conference held at the British Museum, 27-29 October 2017 |date=21 January 2021 |publisher=Archaeopress Publishing Ltd |isbn=978-1-78969-648-6 |page=219 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=W6MWEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA219 |language=en}}</ref>
File:Ингальская долина-3.jpg|Belt plaque from the Siberian collection of Peter the Great, probably [[Ingala Valley]]
File:Siberian gold, Siberian Collection of Peter the Great.jpg|Siberian gold, Siberian Collection of Peter the Great
</gallery>

=== Tillia Tepe treasure (2nd-1st century BC) ===
{{Main|Tillia Tepe}}
[[File:TilliaTepeReconstitution.jpg|thumb|upright=1.25|left|Artifacts found the tombs 2 and 4 of [[Tillya Tepe]] and reconstitution of their use on the man and woman found in these tombs]]
A site found in 1968 in [[Tillia Tepe]] (literally "the golden hill") in northern [[Afghanistan]] (former Bactria) near [[Shebergan]] consisted of the graves of five women and one man with extremely rich jewelry, dated to around the 1st century BC, and probably related to that of Saka tribes normally living slightly to the north.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Pankova |first1=Svetlana |last2=Simpson |first2=St John |title=Scythians: warriors of ancient Siberia |date=1 January 2017 |publisher=British Museum |page=66, Item 25 |url=https://www.academia.edu/34533231 |quote=These graves at Tillya Tepe were initially regarded by the excavator as belonging to Yuezhi or Kushan nobility, but they are most likely to be tombs of a local tribal chief and his family who had strong connections with the Sakā cultures of Central Asia.}}</ref> Altogether the graves yielded several thousands of pieces of fine jewelry, usually made from combinations of [[gold]], [[turquoise]] and [[lapis-lazuli]].

A high degree of cultural [[syncretism]] pervades the findings, however. [[Hellenistic]] cultural and artistic influences appear in many of the forms and human depictions (from [[Putto|amorini]] to rings with the depiction of [[Athena]] and her name inscribed in Greek), attributable to the existence of the [[Seleucid empire]] and [[Greco-Bactrian]] kingdom in the same area until around 140 BC, and the continued existence of the [[Indo-Greek kingdom]] in the northwestern Indian sub-continent until the beginning of our era. This testifies to the richness of cultural influences in the area of Bactria at that time.