Editing Saka (section)

=== Clothing ===
[[File:Majiayuan tomb figurines.jpg|thumb|Saka-style [[Majiayuan|Majiayuan culture]] tomb figurines (3rd-2nd century BC).<ref>See {{cite journal |last1=Linduff |first1=Katheryn |title=A Contextual Explanation for &quot;Foreign&quot; or &quot;Steppic&quot; Factors Exhibited in Burials at the Majiayuan Cemetery and the Opening of the Tianshan Mountain Corridor |journal=Asian Archaeology |date=2013 |page=81, Figure 6 (Majiayuan Tomb 3)| url=https://www.academia.edu/36091247}}</ref>]]
Similar to other [[eastern Iranian peoples]] represented on the reliefs of the [[Apadana]] at [[Persepolis]], Sakas are depicted as wearing long trousers, which cover the uppers of their boots. Over their shoulders they trail a type of long mantle, with one diagonal edge in back. One particular tribe of Sakas (''the Saka tigraxaudā'') wore [[Phrygian cap|pointed caps]]. [[Herodotus]] in his description of the Persian army mentions the Sakas as wearing trousers and tall pointed caps.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Gropp |first1=G |title=Clothing v. In Pre-Islamic Eastern Iran |url=http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/clothing-v |website=iranicaonline.org |publisher=Encyclopaedia Iranica |access-date=6 January 2019}}</ref>

[[File:Kneeling bronze warrior figurine in Greeco-Bactrian style. Central Asian, 5th Cnetury BC - 3rc Century BC.jpg|thumb|upright|left|Statuette from the Saka culture in [[Xinjiang]], from a 3rd-century BC burial site north of the [[Tian Shan]], [[Xinjiang Region Museum]], [[Ürümqi]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Metropolitan Museum of Art |url=https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/640849 |website=www.metmuseum.org}}</ref>{{sfn|Di Cosmo|1999|loc=[https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Statuette-of-warrior-a-and-bronze-cauldron-b-Saka-culture-Xinjiang-From-Mu_fig3_286685537 13.5. Statuette of warrior (a), and bronze cauldron (b), Saka...]}} Could alternatively be a Greek hoplite.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Betts |first1=Alison |last2=Vicziany |first2=Marika |last3=Jia |first3=Peter Weiming |last4=Castro |first4=Angelo Andrea Di |title=The Cultures of Ancient Xinjiang, Western China: Crossroads of the Silk Roads |date=19 December 2019 |publisher=Archaeopress Publishing Ltd |isbn=978-1-78969-407-9 |page=103 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rxUSEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA103 |language=en}}</ref>]]
Men and women wore long trousers, often adorned with metal plaques and often embroidered or adorned with felt {{transliteration|fr|appliqué}}s; trousers could have been wider or tight fitting depending on the area. Materials used depended on the wealth, climate and necessity.<ref>{{cite journal |url= http://koreascience.or.kr/article/JAKO201628663264867.page | title= The Study on the Scythian Costume III -Focaused on the Scythian of the Pazyryk region in Altai-|publisher= Korea Institute of Science and Technology | journal=Fashion & Textile Research Journal (한국의류산업학회지) |volume=18|issue=4|year=2016|first= Youngsoo |last= Yi-Chang | pages= 424–437| doi= 10.5805/SFTI.2016.18.4.424 | access-date= 19 October 2020|doi-access= free}}</ref>

Herodotus says Sakas had "high caps tapering to a point and stiffly upright." Asian Saka headgear is clearly visible on the Persepolis Apadana staircase bas-relief – high pointed hat with flaps over ears and the nape of the neck.<ref name="saka_bas_relief">The Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago Photographic Archives. Persepolis – Apadana, E Stairway, Tribute Procession, the Saka Tigraxauda Delegation.[http://oi.uchicago.edu/gallery/pa_iran_paai_per_apa/index.php/1E8_72dpi.png?action=big&size=resize&fromthumbnail=true] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121012073352/http://oi.uchicago.edu/gallery/pa_iran_paai_per_apa/index.php/1E8_72dpi.png?action=big&size=resize&fromthumbnail=true|date=12 October 2012}} Retrieved 27 June 2012</ref> From China to the Danube delta, men seemed to have worn a variety of soft headgear – either conical like the one described by Herodotus, or rounder, more like a Phrygian cap.

Saka women dressed in much the same fashion as men. A Pazyryk burial, discovered in the 1990s, contained the skeletons of a man and a woman, each with weapons, arrowheads, and an axe. Clothing was sewn from plain-weave wool, hemp cloth, silk fabrics, felt, leather and hides.

[[File:Cavalry and Horse Warring States period 475-221 BCE Terracotta Warriors 2013 exhibit at San Francisco's Asian Art Museum 20130320-110726 C4A.jpg|thumb|upright=1.3|The ''[[Taerpo horserider]]'', a Chinese [[Qin (state)|Warrior-State Qin]] terracotta figurine from a tomb in the Taerpo cemetery near [[Xianyang]] in [[Shaanxi Province]], 4th-3rd century BC. This is the earliest known representation of a cavalryman in China.<ref name="MK">{{cite journal |last1=Khayutina |first1=Maria |title=From wooden attendants to terracotta warriors |journal=Bernisches Historisches Museum the Newsletter |date=Autumn 2013 |volume=65 |page=2, Fig.4 |url=https://www.iias.asia/sites/iias/files/nwl_article/2019-05/IIAS_NL65_1213.pdf|quote=Other noteworthy terracotta figurines were found in 1995 in a 4th-3rd century BCE tomb in the Taerpo cemetery near Xianyang in Shaanxi Province, where the last Qin capital of the same name was located from 350 to 207 BCE. These are the earliest representations of cavalrymen in China discovered up to this day. One of this pair can now be seen at the exhibition in Bern (Fig. 4). A small, ca. 23 cm tall, figurine represents a man sitting on a settled horse. He stretches out his left hand, whereas his right hand points downwards. Holes pierced through both his fists suggest that he originally held the reins of his horse in one hand and a weapon in the other. The rider wears a short jacket, trousers and boots – elements of the typical outfit of the inhabitants of the Central Asian steppes. Trousers were first introduced in the early Chinese state of Zhao during the late 4th century BCE, as the Chinese started to learn horse riding from their nomadic neighbours. The state of Qin should have adopted the nomadic clothes about the same time. But the figurine from Taerpo also has some other features that may point to its foreign identity: a hood-like headgear with a flat wide crown framing his face and a high, pointed nose.}} Also in {{cite book |last1=Khayutina |first1=Maria |title=Qin: the eternal emperor and his terracotta warriors |date=2013 |publisher=Neue Zürcher Zeitung |location=Zürich |isbn=978-3-03823-838-6 |page=cat. no. 314 |edition=1. Aufl}}</ref> The outfit is of Central Asian style, probably Scythian,<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Qingbo |first1=Duan |title=Sino-Western Cultural Exchange as Seen through the Archaeology of the First Emperor's Necropolis |journal=Journal of Chinese History |date=January 2023 |volume=7 |issue=1 |page=26 Fig.1, 27 |doi=10.1017/jch.2022.25 |s2cid=251690411 |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/3F6506262A9ED57C9DC3827EEAA6B230/S2059163222000251a.pdf/sino-western-cultural-exchange-as-seen-through-the-archaeology-of-the-first-emperors-necropolis.pdf|quote=In terms of formal characteristics and style of dress and adornment, the closest parallels to the Warring States-period Qin figurines are found in the Scythian culture. Wang Hui 王輝 has examined the exchanges between the cultures of the Yellow River valley and the Scythian culture of the steppe. During a 2007 exhibition on the Scythians in Berlin, there was a bronze hood on display labeled a "Kazakh military cap." This bronze hood and the clothing of the nomads in kneeling posture [also depicted in the exhibition] are very similar in form to those of the terracotta figurines from the late Warring States Qin-period tomb at the Taerpo site (see Figure 1). The style of the Scythian bronze horse figures and the saddle, bridle, and other accessories on their bodies are nearly identical to those seen on the Warring States-period Qin figurines and a similar type of artifact from the Ordos region, and they all date to the fifth to third centuries BCE.}}</ref> and the rider with his high-pointed nose appears to be a foreigner.<ref name="MK"/> King [[Zheng of Qin]] (246–221 BC) is known to have employed steppe cavalry men in his army, as seen in his [[Terracotta Army]].<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Rawson |first1=Jessica |title=China and the steppe: reception and resistance |journal=Antiquity |date=April 2017 |volume=91 |issue=356 |page=386 |doi=10.15184/aqy.2016.276 |s2cid=165092308 |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/315991114|quote=King Zheng of Qin (246–221 BC), who was to be the First Emperor (221–210 BC), took material from many regions. As he unified the territory, he employed steppe cavalry men in his army, as we now recognise from the terracotta warriors guarding his tomb (Khayutina 2013: cat. no. 314), whose dress resembles that of the steppe leaders known to the Achaemenids and Parthians (Curtis 2000: front cover), but he proclaimed his conquest in the language of the Central Plains: Chinese. The First Emperor must have had advisors who knew something of the seals, weights and measures of Central Asia and Iran (Khayutina 2013: cat. nos 115–17), and also retained craftsmen who had mastered Western technologies and cast bronze birds for his tomb in hitherto unknown life-like forms (Mei et al. 2014). He also exploited mounted horsemen and iron weaponry originally from the steppe, and agriculture and settlements of the Central Plains, turning to the extraordinary organisation of people and manufacturing from this area to create a unified state. This could only be achieved by moving towards the centre, as the Emperor indeed did.}}</ref>]]
Pazyryk findings give the most almost fully preserved garments and clothing worn by the Scythian/Saka peoples. Ancient Persian bas-reliefs, inscriptions from [[Apadana]] and [[Behistun]] and archaeological findings give visual representations of these garments.

Based on the Pazyryk findings (can be seen also in the south Siberian, Uralic and Kazakhstan rock drawings) some caps were topped with zoomorphic wooden sculptures firmly attached to a cap and forming an integral part of the headgear, similar to the surviving nomad helmets from northern China. Men and warrior women wore tunics, often embroidered, adorned with felt applique work, or metal (golden) plaques.

Persepolis Apadana again serves a good starting point to observe the tunics of the Sakas. They appear to be a sewn, long-sleeved garment that extended to the knees and was girded with a belt, while the owner's weapons were fastened to the belt (sword or dagger, [[gorytos]], battle-axe, whetstone etc.). Based on numerous archeological findings, men and warrior women wore long-sleeved tunics that were always belted, often with richly ornamented belts. The Kazakhstan Saka (e.g. Issyk Golden Man/Maiden) wore shorter and closer-fitting tunics than the Pontic steppe Scythians. Some Pazyryk culture Saka wore short belted tunic with a lapel on the right side, with upright collar, 'puffed' sleeves narrowing at the wrist and bound in narrow cuffs of a color different from the rest of the tunic.

Men and women wore coats: e.g. Pazyryk Saka had many varieties, from fur to felt. They could have worn a riding coat that later was known as a Median robe or Kantus. Long sleeved, and open, it seems that on the Persepolis Apadana Skudrian delegation is perhaps shown wearing such coat. The Pazyryk felt tapestry shows a rider wearing a billowing cloak.

====Tattoos====

Men and women of eastern saka are known to have been extensively tattooed. The men in the [[Pazyryk burials]] had extensive tattoos in the Siberian [[animal style]].<ref name="nomads">{{cite web|url=http://www.hermitagemuseum.org/html_En/03/hm3_2_7.html
|title=Early Nomads of the Altaic Region|publisher=The Hermitage|access-date=31 July 2007|archive-date=22 June 2007
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070622035146/http://www.hermitagemuseum.org/html_En/03/hm3_2_7.html|url-status=dead}}</ref> A Pazyryk chief in burial mound 2, had his body covered in animal style tattoos, but not his face.<ref name="SP106">{{cite book |last1=Pankova |first1=Svetlana |last2=Simpson |first2=St John |title=Scythians: warriors of ancient Siberia |date=1 January 2017 |publisher=British Museum |pages=106–109 |url=https://www.academia.edu/34533231}}</ref> Parts of the body had deteriorated, but much of the tattooing was still clearly visible. Subsequent investigation using reflected [[infrared photography]] revealed that all five bodies discovered in the Pazyryk kurgans were tattooed.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Barkova |first1=L. L. |last2=Pankova |first2=S. V. |title=Tattooed Mummies From The Large Pazyryk Mounds: New findings |journal=Archaeology, Ethnology and Anthropology of Eurasia |date=2005 |volume=2 |issue=22 |pages=48–59 |url=https://www.academia.edu/3640168 |access-date=21 December 2023}}</ref> No instruments specifically designed for tattooing were found, but the Pazyryks had extremely fine needles with which they did miniature [[embroidery]], and these were probably used for tattooing. The chief was elaborately decorated with an interlocking series of striking designs representing a variety of fantastic beasts. The best preserved [[tattoo]]s were images of a [[donkey]], a [[argali|mountain ram]], two highly stylized [[deer]] with long antlers and an imaginary [[carnivore]] on the right arm. Two monsters resembling [[griffin]]s decorate the chest, and on the left arm are three partially obliterated images which seem to represent two deer and a [[mountain goat]]. On the front of the right leg a [[fish]] extends from the foot to the knee. A monster crawls over the right foot, and on the inside of the shin is a series of four running rams which touch each other to form a single design. The left leg also bears tattoos, but these designs could not be clearly distinguished. In addition, the chief's back was tattooed with a series of small circles in line with the vertebral column.<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 |pages=106–109, Items 31, 32, 33|url=https://www.academia.edu/34533231}}</ref> The [[Siberian Ice Maiden]] is also known for her extensive tattoos.<ref name="siberiantimes.com">{{cite journal |title=Siberian Princess reveals her 2,500 year old tattoos |journal=The Siberian Times |date=2012 |url=https://siberiantimes.com/culture/others/features/siberian-princess-reveals-her-2500-year-old-tattoos/}}</ref>

<gallery widths="200px" heights="200px" perrow="4">
File:Pazyryk-2 tattoos.png|Tattoos of the Pazyryk-2 chief.<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 |pages=106–109, Items 31, 32, 33 |url=https://www.academia.edu/34533231}}</ref>
File:Pazyryk tatoo design with zoomorphic symbols, 4th century BCE.jpg|Tattoos of the chief's right arm, with zoomorphic symbols.<ref name="siberiantimes.com"/>
File:Pazyryk-2 man, back and left arm (circa 300 BCE).jpg|Tattoos of the chief's back and left arm.<ref name="siberiantimes.com"/>
File:Tatoo motif on the arm of the Siberian Ice Maiden.png|Tattoo motif on the arm of the [[Siberian Ice Maiden]].<ref name="siberiantimes.com"/>
</gallery>