Early Iron Age Pyramidal Kurgans in Western Siberia

Early Iron Age Pyramidal Kurgans in Western Siberia

DOI: 10.17746/1563-0110.2019.47.1.073-082

N.P. Matveeva
Tyumen State University, Volodarskogo 6, Tyumen, 625003, Russia

Ditches encircling the Early Iron Age Sargatka kurgans in the Western Siberian forest-steppe are described. Most of these are nonagonal, decagonal, or dodecagonal; but hexagonal, heptagonal, octagonal, and those with 14 angles occur as well. The kurgans’shapes are not correlated with size, platform diameter, or number of graves. The analysis of data regarding the microrelief of kurgans’ surfaces, as well as of sources relevant to early nomadic religion, enables us to interpret various types of ditches. The hexa- or heptagonal type encircled a wooden and earthen pyramid, presumably symbolizing the World Mountain. Those with 9, 12, and 14 angles result from a proportionally larger size of elite kurgan. Indeed, inside such kurgans, hexa- or heptagonal wooden platforms are found. Unclosed ditches likely indicate unfinished kurgans, and 11-angled and 13-angled fences are interpreted as distortions of the initial layout by secondary burials. Ditches are associated only with male burials, and were apparently meant to protect against evil forces and against the possible intrusion of potentially hostile ancestors, whose cult was reconstructed on the basis of the offerings in elite burials. The architecture of the Sargatka kurgans evidences remnants of Indo-European myths transformed by inter-ethnic contacts and cultural innovations on the periphery of the Scytho-Siberian world.

Keywords: Early Iron Age, Sargatka culture, Scytho-Siberian nomads, kurgan architecture, polygonal ditches, semantics