Triquestrums of the Scythian Period in the Northern Altai

Triquestrums of the Scythian Period in the Northern Altai

A.P. Borodovsky and E.L. Borodovskaya.

Triquestrums, or ornaments of female headgear widely used in Gorny Altai and Tuva during the Scythian period no later than the 1st millennium BC are described. Most of them were found in unlooted Early Iron Age burials on the lower Katun River (Chultukov Log-1, Barangol-1 and 2). The decoration of triquestrums refl ects all the diversity of Scythian-Siberian animal style. The fact that these ornaments are distributed in the northern Altai suggests that they were a distinct element of the northern local variant of the Pazyryk culture.

Keywords: Altai, Early Iron Age, Scythian period, headgear, Scythian-Siberian style, Pazyryk culture.