Posted by Victor Mair

https://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=72314&utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=iron-age-vehicle-burials-of-tattooed-saka-eastern-iranian-pazyryk-culture-in-the-altai-mountains

https://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=72314

Sino-Platonic Papers is pleased to announce the publication of its three-hundred-and-sixty-ninth issue:

“The Pazyryk Vehicles: New Data and Reconstructions, a Preliminary Report,” by Victor A. Novozhenov, Kyrym Altynbekov, and Elena V. Stepanova. (free pdf)

ABSTRACT (English-Russian bilingual)

The article proposes new reconstructions of vehicles from the Pazyryk burial mounds, based on the finds of the joint State Hermitage and Altai University archaeological expedition in 2019–2021 at the excavation site and an analysis of all the material stored in the museum’s reserves that was not included in the existing reconstructions. Two types of wheeled vehicles are distinguished – two-wheeled A-framed carts and a prestigious four-wheeled carriage with a superstructure in the form of a removable frame covered with felt and decorated with bird figures. It was established that the vehicles were actively used in antiquity, their design was demountable and universal, their parts were interchangeable, and they could be adapted according to the specific needs of the mobile pastoralists. They were made by local craftworkers, based on developed woodworking technologies, as evidenced by the active use of wheeled transport by the local population in previous historical periods. The proposed reconstructions have analogies in archaeological finds and pictorial evidence.

В статье предложены новые реконструкции повозок из Пазырыкских курганов, выполненные на основании находок археологической экспедиции Государственного Эрмитажа и Алтайского университета в 2019–2021 гг на месте раскопок курганов и анализа всех материалов, хранящихся в фондах музея, не задействованных в существующей реконструкции. Выделены два типа колесных средств – грузовые А-образные двуколки и парадная четырехколесная представительская повозка с надстройкой в виде каркасной съемной конструкции, покрытой войлоком и украшенной фигурками птиц. Установлено, что повозки активно эксплуатировались в древности, конструкция их была сборно-разборной, универсальной, детали взаимозаменяемыми, они могли трансформироваться в соответствии с конкретными потребностями кочевников. Предложенные реконструкции имеют аналогии в археологических и изобразительных памятниках, изготовлены местными мастерами, на основе развитых технологий деревообработки, о чем свидетельствуют факты активного использования местным населением колесного транспорта в разные исторические периоды.

Keywords: Two-wheeled A-framed cart; prestigious four-wheeled carriage; triangular frame design; frame superstructure; chassis; wheel pair; side poles

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Selected readings

• "Tattoos as a means of communication" (9/1/12) — must read, especially the fifth paragraph about wén 文 ("tattoo") on the oracle bones, which later acquired the meanings of "culture, civilization, writing"; tattoo was a precursor to writing; N.B.: some of the Pazyryk bodies were completely covered with tattoos
• "From Chariot to Carriage" (5/5/24)
• Barbieri-Low, A.J. Wheeled vehicles in the Chinese Bronze Age (c. 2000–741 BC ). Sino-Platonic Papers, 99 (February, 2000). i-v, 1-98, 9 computer-generated color plates (free pdf)
• "Archeological and linguistic evidence for the wheel in East Asia" (3/11/20)
• "Horses, soma, riddles, magi, and animal style art in southern China" (11/11/19)
• "Horse culture comes east" (11/15/20)
• "Of chariots, chess, and Chinese borrowings" (6/27/24)
• "Parsing of a fated kin tattoo" (11/29/25)
• Caplan, Jane, ed., Written on the Body:  The Tattoo in European and American History (Princeton:  Princeton University Press, 2000).  My emphasis added to the first word of the title.
• Gilbert, Steve, ed. and intro.  Tattoo history:  a source book (New York:  Juno Books, 2000.  An anthology of historical records of tattooing throughout the world.
• Hesselt van Dinter, Maarten, Tribal Tattoo Designs (Amsterdam:  The Pepin Press, 2000).  This is a beautiful little book of drawings and paintings (many of historical vintage).  See also the author's The World of Tattoo (hesseltvandinter.com).
• Mayor, Adrienne, "People Illustrated: Tattooing in Antiquity," Archaeology (March-April 1999), 54-57.
• Phoenix & Arabeth http://www.tattooheaven.com/
• Reed, Carrie E., "Early Chinese Tattoo," Sino-Platonic Papers, 103 (June, 2000), 52 pages.
• "Des tatouages sophistiqués retrouvés sur une momie de glace sibérienne vieille de 2000 ans",
  Sciences-Tech, RTS (8/7/25)
• Gino Caspari, Aaron Deter-Wolf, Daniel Riday, Mikhail Vavulin et Svetlana Pankova (2025), "High-resolution near-infrared data reveal Pazyryk tattooing methods", Antiquity,  99 (407).
• "Altaic languages" — Wikipedia

AFTERWORD

The Pazyryk culture was an Iron Age culture, flourishing from the 6th to the 3rd centuries BC in the high steppes of the Altai Mountains of Northern Central Asia. They were nomadic, Saka (East Iranian) peoples, known for their rich burial sites with mummified bodies and artifacts preserved in the permafrost. Their genetic makeup was a mix of Western Steppe Herders and local East Eurasian groups.

The Pazyryk people, who were part of the Eastern Scythian horizon (associated with the Iranian-speaking Saka peoples), were later absorbed by subsequent populations. The region eventually came under the influence of Turkic peoples, but this occurred centuries after the Pazyryk culture declined. 

The Pazyryk people were succeeded by expanding Xiongnu (Hunnic influence, an empire that dominated the eastern steppes from the 3rd century BC onwards.

Turkic presence exerted itself from the post-6th century AD onward: The emergence and major migrations of Turkic peoples into the broader Altai region occurred much later, with significant movements beginning in the 6th century CE, long after the Pazyryk culture had disappeared. Modern genetic studies show some continuity from the eastern Scythians to contemporary Turkic-speaking populations of the Altai, suggesting mixing and assimilation over time rather than a direct, immediate succession in the Pazyryk period itself. 

In summary, Pazyryk was not immediately occupied by Turkic peoples after the Scythians; the Xiongnu expansion intervened, and Turkic groups became prominent in the region centuries later.  (AIO assist.)

https://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=72314&utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=iron-age-vehicle-burials-of-tattooed-saka-eastern-iranian-pazyryk-culture-in-the-altai-mountains

https://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=72314