TWH – In late 2024, the journal Antiquity published an article titled “A spectral cavalcade,” detailing new discoveries from the Tunnug 1 burial mound in eastern Russia. Led by Timur Sadykov of the Institute for the History of Material Culture in St. Petersburg, the international research team unearthed findings that echo ancient texts and visual traditions from the Scythian world.
The burial practices described in the article bear a striking resemblance to those recorded by Herodotus (484–425 B.C.E.), often called the “Father of History.” His accounts of Scythian customs—though filtered through a Greek lens—remain among the few ancient textual sources describing the nomadic peoples of the steppe.
Map of the range of Scythian culture. [Image Credit: Krakkos. CCA-SA 4.0]
The researchers wrote that “the term Scythian has come to refer to a broader cultural and archaeological phenomenon.” This loosely defined term, “Scythian,” associates horse gear, weapons, and items decorated with a particular animal style. As the Scythians lived north of the Black Sea, they would have interacted with the ancient Greeks.
Archaeologists have labeled the burial mounds found in the Eurasian Steppe “kurgans.” That steppe consists of flat grassland with a few mountain ranges. It runs from present-day northeastern China to Hungary. Sadykov’s team argued that cultural contact occurred between peoples of the eastern and western Eurasian steppe. In the modern world, the Eurasian state, Russia, rules over much of the Eurasian steppe.
Horse domestication
Between 2500 and 2000 B.C.E., evidence of domesticated horses began to appear on the Eurasian steppe. Evidence of bridles began to appear in the Ural region from 2000 to 1750 B.C.E., but Humans could have begun riding earlier. The ability to ride allowed people of the steppe to travel and to expand. The Wild Hunt has previously reported on horse domestication and horse sacrifice.
Herodotus’s description
Herodotus recorded that the Scythians would strangle 50 of the king’s most trusted servants. They would also strangle 50 of their best horses. In English versions of ancient texts, the term “servant” may be a euphemism. Emily Wilson, who translated “The Odyssey,” has questioned it. She argued that the term “servant” may hide the reality of slavery in the ancient world.
Herodotus continued. The Scythians used poles to impale the bodies of both humans and horses. They would then use these impaled bodies to create a tableau of riders on horseback. The impaling poles provided a skeletal structure for this macabre statue. Those statutes would ring the kurgan. The Scythians would then ride away from the kurgan.
However gruesome that image would appear to moderns, it would have been visually striking. As the bodies began to decompose, the image would have become even more macabre.
In 2024, the journal Arts published James A. Johnson’s article “The Spacetimes of the Scythian Dead. ” In that article, Johnson argued against exclusively focusing on grave goods or status displays. He argued for examining the relationships among the kurgans in the funerary complex and for understanding funerary complexes as visual displays. As an example, Johnson cited the funerary complex alongside the Appian Way.
Johnson reported another example of a kurgan as a visual display. The Aleksandropol kurgan had a “commanding view of the Black Sea region.” It stood 22 to 25 meters (72.2 to 82 feet) high. As that burial mound faced the Black Sea, Herodotus may have seen it. It might even be the source of the story about the macabre funerary statues.
On the top of Tunnig 1, archaeologists found wood, human, and equine remains. Sadykov’s team argued that these remains resemble what Herodotus described. The poor condition of the remains precludes understanding how it would have appeared.
Scythian Warrior with Axe, Bow, and Spear Possibly Greek Sculptor 4th-2nd century BCE (Archaic) marble with red paint and gold leaf [Image Credit: Walters Art Museum CCA-SA 4.0
Tunnug 1
The Uyuk Valley lies in present-day Russia, near the Mongolian border. In that valley, archaeologists have excavated several kurgans. This article will discuss only Tunnig 1 and Arzhan 1. Both share similar designs.
Successive cultures used the Uyuk Valley funerary complex for millennia. From 900 to 601 B.C.E, ancient eastern Eurasians built hundreds of mounds in the Uyuk Valley. Later cultures continued to build burial mounds in this valley up to 799 C.E.
The kurgan, Tunnig 1, had an internal wooden structure made of larch. Adapted to colder climates, larch trees are conifers. Inside that structure, archaeologists found trapezoidal chambers. A layer of clay over the larch structure had sealed the burial. After the entombment, people covered the clay with stones.
For the larch structure, radiocarbon and tree-ring analysis gave a date range of 833 to 800 B.C.E. Radiocarbon analysis gave a date range of 830 to 780 B.C.E. for the skeletal remains.
Between the clay layer and the stone covering, researchers found bones. Those bones were of horses and humans. They found fragments of horse tack (equipment for riding horses). Ancient Eurasians made that tack from the tusks of boars. They also used antlers to make imitation boar tusks for that tack. Archaeologists found bronze arrowheads, beads, belt fittings, clips, and a knife. Those belt fittings show an early version of the Scythian decorative animal style.
It was unclear how much time passed between sealing the tomb with clay and the placing of the remains. The internal larch log structure showed minimal decay. The bones had weathered. They had become brittle and broken. Many bones, however, had been found in the correct anatomical order. Researchers found horse tack near the crania and teeth.
The placement of the bones matched trapezoidal compartments within the mound. The clay layer bore the impression of some of the bones. As the clay layer sealed the tomb, the placing of the horse and human remains had to occur post-burial.
The horse bones belonged to at least 18 distinct horses. Researchers could not determine the sex of eight horse skeletons. They classified ten horse skeletons as male. Most of the horses had been mature males.
Arzhan 1
Johnson reported that a wooden structure gave the kurgan, Arzhan 1, its shape. It had a height of 3 to 5 meters (9.8 to 16.4 feet). It had a diameter of 100 meters (329 feet). Within that structure, archaeologists found multiple chambers. Tree-ring analysis gave a date range of 825 to 775 B.C.E. for Arzhan 1.
In the 1970s, researchers excavated Arzhan 1. They found bridles and bits made of bronze and organic material. They found at least 160 sacrificed horses. Most horses were mature males. In nine of those chambers, they found horse bones. In two chambers, they found mixed horse and human remains.
Comparisons between Tunnug 1 and Arzhan 1
While horse sacrifices in funeral rites are relatively common, variability does exist. Some sacrifices would be part of the burial inside the kurgan. Others, however, would part of the post-burial outside the tomb.
In Arzhan 1, the bodies of horses had been interred inside the mound. In Tunnug 1, the bodies of horses had been placed on top of the clay covering after the burial.
To estimate its visual impact, Johnson calculated visibility for the Uyuk Valley funerary complex. People on the steppe could see that complex from 80 to 120 kilometers (49.7 to 74.6 miles) away.
From the findings at Tunnig 1 and Arzhan 1, it is not possible to infer either the burial ritual or the post-burial ritual. Horses did play a key role in both. Though millennia separate us from the builders of Tunnug 1 and Arzhan 1, their devotion to ceremony and memory still echoes across the steppe. The archaeological glimpses offer both inspiration and caution—a reminder of how complex and layered the human relationship with death has always been.
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