Altai Mountains: Crossroads Where People Met and...Woo Woo!

A press release from Eureka Alert:

Public release date: 12-Nov-2012
Maria Jesus Delgado
Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona

Mongolia and the Altai Mountains: Origins of genetic blending between Europeans and Asians

A group of researchers led by the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB) has discovered the first scientific evidence of genetic blending between Europeans and Asians in the remains of ancient Scythian warriors living over 2,000 years ago in the Altai region of Mongolia. Contrary to what was believed until now, the results published in PLoS ONE indicate that this blending was not due to an eastward migration of Europeans, but to a demographic expansion of local Central Asian populations, thanks to the technological improvements the Scythian culture brought with them.

The Altai is a mountain range in Central Asia occupying territories of Russia and Kazakhstan to the west and of Mongolia and China to the east. Historically, the Central Asian steppes have been a corridor for Asian and European populations, resulting in the region's large diversity in population today. In ancient times however the Altai Mountains, located in the middle of the steppes, represented an important barrier for the coexistence and mixture of the populations living on each side. And so they lived isolated during millennia: Europeans on the western side and Asians on the eastern side.

The research conducted by researchers from the UAB, the Institut Català de Paleontologia Miquel Crusafont and the Institute of Evolutionary Biology (UPF-CSIC) sheds new light on when and how this Eurasian genetic blending took place.

At the UAB palaeogenetic laboratory researchers analysed mitochondrial DNA (inherited from the mother, it allows us to trace our ancestors) extracted from the bones and teeth of 19 skeletons from the Bronze Age (7th to 10th century BCE) and from the Iron Age (2nd to 7th century BCE) from the Mongolian Altai Mountains. The remains were extracted from the tombs discovered seven years ago, in which the skeletons of Scythian warriors were discovered and which represented the first scientific evidence of this culture in East Asia.

The results obtained demonstrate that the population from the Iron Age, corresponding to the time when the Scythian culture resided in the Altai Mountains, had a perfect blend (50%) of European and Asian mitochondrial DNA lineages or sequences. The discovery is relevant, taking into account that previous populations showed no signs of lineage mixture: the DNA analysed in the tombs located in Russia and Kazakhstan belong to European lineages, whereas DNA from the eastern part, in Mongolia, contain Asian lineages.

"The results provide exceptionally valuable information about how and when the population diversity found today in Central Asian steppes appeared. They point to the possibility that this occurred in Altai over 2,000 years ago between the local population on both sides of the mountain range, coinciding with the expansion of the Scythian culture, which came from the west", explains Assumpció Malgosa, professor of Biological Anthropology at UAB and coordinator of the research.

One of the Scythian tombs discovered in the Altai Mountains on the Mongolian side.  Source.

Studies conducted until now on ancient DNA samples from the Altai region already indicated that the Scythians were the first large population to be a mixture between Europeans and Asians. However, the only populations to be studied were those on the western part of the Eurasian steppes, suggesting that this mixture was due to population migrations from Europe to the east.

The current research is the first to offer scientific evidence of this population mixture on the eastern side of the Altai and indicates that the contact between European and Asian lineages occurred before the Iron Age when populations were present on both sides of the mountain. The study suggests that the Asian population adopted the Scythian culture, technologically and socially more advanced, and this made them improve demographically by favouring their expansion and contact with Europeans.

The idea poses a new hypothesis on the origin of today's population diversity in Central Asia and allows for a better understanding of the demographic processes which took place.

Frozen Scythian Warrior Tombs

From 2005 to 2007, UAB researchers worked jointly with French and Mongolian researchers in a European project to excavate Scythian tombs in Mongolia's Altai Mountains. In the three excavation campaigns carried out over twenty tombs were excavated. Many of them were frozen and contained mummified human remains of warriors buried with their possessions and horses. This was the first time Scythian warrior tombs had been discovered in Mongolia, since all other tombs previously found had been located on the western side of Altai.

The Scythians were an Indo-European people dedicated to nomadic pasturing and horse breeding. They crossed the Eurasian steppes from the Caspian Sea until reaching the Altai Mountains during the 2nd and 7th century BCE. The Scythians are known most of all thanks to ancient texts written by the Greek historian Herodotus.

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The photograph above accompanied the press release, and I find it particularly poignant because it contains what looks like the remains of a woman, a man, a horse, and an infant.  Was it a family?  Were the woman and infant sacrificed to accompany the man?  Were the man and infant sacrificed to accompany the woman?  Did the family die of some dread disease?  What is the story behind this burial?  If one family member died, was the entire family sacrificed accompany the deceased to the Land of No Return, including the horse? 

Woman Buried with Six Horses, Gold, Bronze, and Cannabis

From news.com.au

Amazing tattoos covered ancient Siberian princess

August 15, 20121:31PM

The elaborate tattoo of a deer with a griffons beak and Capricorn antlers found on the body of a Polosmak 'princess'. Picture: Siberian Times

TATTOOS as complex and abstract as any modern design have been found on the body of Siberian princess buried in the permafrost for more than 2500 years. 

  

A reconstruction of the female "Princess Ukok" who died and was buried in c. 400 BCE.

Natalia Polosmak, the scientist who found the remains of Princess Ukok high in mountains close to Russia's border with Mongolia and China, said she was struck by how little has changed in the past two millennia.

Tattoos of mythological creatures and complex patterns are believed to have been status symbols for the ancient nomadic Pazyryk people first described by the Greek historian Herodotus in the 5th century BC.

A striking tattoo of a deer with a griffon's beak and Capricorn antlers was found on the left shoulder of the ancient 'princess', who died about age 25. The antlers are decorated with the heads of griffons. And the same griffon's head is shown on the back of the animal. She also has a dear's head on her wrist, with big antlers.

"Our young woman - the 'princess' - has only her two arms tattooed," Dr Polosmak told the Siberian Times. "So they signified both age and status."

Buried with the 'princess' were six saddled-and-bridled horses, bronze and gold ornaments - and a small canister of cannabis.  She is not known to be a 'princess', as her name implies. Experts are divided over whether she was a poet, healer or holy woman.

Two warriors recovered from the same burial site in the permafrost of the Ukok Plateau were similar fantastical creatures. One had an image reaching across his right shoulder from his chest to his back.

The reconstructed tattoos were released to mark the moving of the remains of the princess to a permanent display in the National Museum in Gorno-Altaisk where she will be put on display.

"Tattoos were used as a mean of personal identification - like a passport now, if you like," said Dr Polosmak. "I think we have not moved far from Pazyryks in how the tattoos are made.

"We can say that most likely there was - and is - one place on the body for everyone to start putting the tattoos on, and it was a left shoulder. I can assume so because all the mummies we found with just one tattoo had it on their left shoulders.

"And nowadays this is the same place where people try to put the tattoos on, thousands of years on. I think its linked to the body composition - as the left shoulder is the place where it is noticeable most, where it looks the most beautiful."

Another similarity is how the number of tattoos is linked to age. Dr Polosmak related the analogy of Greek tourist operators assessing the age of British tourists by the number of tattoos on their body.
But there the similarities end.

The tattoos used by the Pazyryk nomads were intended to help members of the tribe identify each other in the afterlife.

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Unfortunately, the article above neglected to mention that the "princess'" body was discovered 19 years ago!  The two males excavated near her burial are thought to be guards.  Were they sacrificed to accompany her?  You can find more details, and several interesting photographs and drawings, incluidng a reconstruction of whart the "princess" may have looked like, in this article at The Mail Online. 

Horse and Chariot Burial in Luoyang, China

Only this photo with this rather uninformative article, but it's a good photo.

Tariq Tahir
September 1, 2011

Remains of horses and chariots found in 3,000-year-old tomb in China

Lying side by side, these horses have drawn a chariot in an ancient tomb for the past 3,000 years, which was recently discovered

The equine bones, found in the Chinese city of Luoyang, have remained undisturbed since the early Western Zhou dynasty.

Archaeologists believe the 12 horses lying on their sides show the animals were slaughtered before burial, not buried alive.

As well as the horses and five chariots, bronzes and ceramics have escaped the clutches of history’s grave robbers.
Archaeologists are convinced that the perfectly preserved tomb belongs to an official or a scholar of standing, given the pottery, metal weaponry and inscriptions.

The tomb, a vertical earthen pit, has excited historians since it was discovered during the construction of a hospital. It gives an unprecedented insight into the funeral customs in the early Western Zhou dynasty.
It was the time of the great Chinese philosophers of ancient times, including Confucius.
The latest find is reminiscent of the famous terracotta army of thousands of preserved soldiers, which was discovered in 1974 in the Lintong district. It had also remained undisturbed for thousands of years.

[Can't help but wonder how much has been looted out of it since its discovery?]

Bronze Age Horse Burial Uncovered in Gohar Tappeh, Iran

News from CAIS (Circle of Ancient Iranian Studies)

Oldest remains of Caspian Horse discovered in North of Iran
Friday, 29 April 2011 03:17 [Excerpted]



Caspian horses depicted in relief at Persepolis.

 LONDON, (CAIS) -- During the eighth season of archaeological research in Gohar Tappeh, in the northern Iranian province of Mazandaran, archaeologists have discovered the remains of a horse identified as the Caspian also known as the Māzandarān Horse, the oldest breed of horse in the world still in existence.

The remains were discovered in a cemetery dating back to the late Bronze and early Iron age, around 3400 BCE.

“Due to the form, figure and size of the discovered remains of the horse, we now have the oldest evidence for Caspian horse ancestry at hand”, said Ali Mahforuzi, the director of the archaeological team in Gohar Tappeh.

The Caspian Horse

The Caspian horse or the ‘Kings’ Horse’, was celebrated in ancient Iran as a chariot horse for racing and in battle, and presented to kings and queens as a valuable gift and is known to be favoured by Darius the Great.

The Caspian horse was thought to have disappeared into antiquity, until 1965 when the American wife of an Iranian aristocrat called Louise Firouz went on an expedition on horseback and discovered small horses in the Iranian mountainous regions south of the Caspian Sea.

The number of surviving Caspian horses in Iran is still quite small. In addition, there are only 1300 registered Persian Caspians world-wide, mainly in the US, UK, Germany and Australia. The last export of Caspian horses out of Iran occurred in the early '90s, with a small shipment arriving in Great Britain.

The Caspians are smaller than modern horses at around 11.3 hands compared with a modern racehorse at 16. They have light frames, thin bones, short, fine head with a pronounced forehead, large eyes, short ears and small muzzles. They are very fast, and incredibly strong and spirited, but also have good temperaments, and described by Louise Firouz as “kind, intelligent and willing.”

Interesting Horse Burials Uncovered in Hungary

Excerpted from digitaljournal.com, this article explains some of the ritual involved in Magyar horse burials.

Rich Old Hungarian grave could have belonged to prince
April 15, 2011
By Christopher Szabo.

Budapest - Rich grave finds from the Conquest Era of the Magyars or Hungarians have been uncovered by archaeologists in Pest Country, including ninth Century horse furniture and a belt, with a particularly rich sabretache, or pouch.

The “Gravediggers’ Journal” blog (in Hungarian, with good photos) says the initial dig took place April 5 to 8 after agricultural work overturned one of the graves. The “rescue dig”, followed when citizens called in the archaeologists of the Pest County Museums Management. Analysis of the finds and publication in archaeological journals will follow in due course.

The find is also covered by the English-language Medieval Hungary blog. This is the first significant archaeological find in Hungary since Old Magyar (700 A.D. – 1,000 A.D.) or Conquest Era graves, and a large number of Roman, Sarmatian and Bronze Age graves were found in February.

The Sarmatians were a semi-nomadic people who ruled the Ukrainian steppes and the Great Hungarian Plain from around the Fifth Century B.C. to A.D. 460. They were formidable enemies of the Romans and some formed part of the empire of Attila the Hun. They have also been linked to the Arthurian Legends because they invented heavy cavalry, using a lance called kontus.
(The “Conquest Era” refers to the time the Seven Magyar tribes entered and took the Carpathian Basin from 895-900 A.D. (some systems date it differently, including the first century of settlement, up to 1,000 A.D.)

Of the three newly-discovered graves, one had nothing with the remains; one was a “horse burial” of the type where only horse tack was buried with the body. In this case, the bit and stirrups were easily made out as well as other elements of horse furniture. The occupant of the grave was likely a warrior or hunter, as a quiver was found with the body.

The third grave contained typical materials of a mounted archer, including horse bones, the remains of horse tack and remains of archery equipment. These are typical of Magyar so-called “partial horse burials” which include the head and hooves of the horse. The reason for this is the meat of the horse was consumed during a wake or “tor”; the skin (including the head and hooves) would be placed over the grave mounted on a pole for a while and then buried, usually on a shelf or “padmaly”.

Ancient Iceland Ship Burial Reconstructed at National Museum

Very interesting - note the presence of the faithful dog and horse.

From Iceland Review Online
02.12.2010 | 17:30

Heathen Buried in Iceland, 1,100 Years Post-Mortem
A burial took place in Reykjanesbaer municipality in southwest Iceland yesterday. The news wouldn’t have had any special significance if not for the fact that the person buried, an ancient heathen, passed away 1,100 years ago and the ceremony took place inside the Viking World museum.

The heathen in question is on loan from the National Museum of Iceland. The skeleton was unearthed from a pagan grave at the farm site Hafurbjarnarstadir in 1868 along with the bones of a dog and a horse, a sword and various other objects, Morgunbladid reports.

The burial ceremony is part of an exhibition at Viking World, which will continue for the next two years.

According to museum director Elisabeth Ward, research has shown that most Icelandic settlers were pagan and that paganism was practiced among the first generations of Icelanders.

“We are reconstructing the pagan grave from Hafurbjarnarstadir,” Ward explained. “The skeletons are placed in a wooden boat, which is a replica of a Viking boat, and sand from Hafurbjarnarstadir has been put inside. Some people believe the man was buried inside a boat but it is not quite clear.”

Ward said chieftains were often buried inside their boats and the size of the boat depended on the material wealth of the deceased. Such burial practices are also known among other pagan cultures. “Maybe it has to do with the person having a means of transport to another world.”

Among objects on display at Viking World is the ship Íslendingur, which is a replica of the Gokstad ship, a Viking ship excavated in Norway. It was found inside a grave containing bones from a human, dog and horse.

The timing of yesterday’s ceremony, December 1, was considered particularly suitable because that is when Ásatrúarfélagid, the pagan society in Iceland, holds a ceremony in honor of the four land wights of Iceland.

The archeological discovery at Hafurbjarnarstadir is among the first in the country. A local farmer found bones in the sand in 1868. He called for a priest who contacted the National Museum, which had just been founded.
They were advised to begin the excavation before the area was damaged and they found bones of a man, dog and horse and one of the most decorated swords from the Viking Era which has ever been found in Iceland. The point of a spear, an ax, a sharpener and various other objects were also uncovered in the excavation.

When the farmer and priest had removed all the objects they found iron nails and noticed that the grave had the shape of a ship. Few of these nails reached the National Museum and therefore doubt has been cast upon the grave having been a boat grave.

However, a few other such graves have been found in Iceland.

Roman Era Horse Sacrifice?

Some interesting finds are being uncovered during excavations for roadwork in Great Britain.

From the Times of Malta.
Thursday, 26th August 2010

Ice Age and Roman remains surface in Nottinghamshire
Archaeological remains dating back to the last Ice Age together with Iron Age and Roman settlements have been uncovered as part of a Highways Agency scheme to upgrade the A46 between Newark and Widmerpool in Nottinghamshire.

The finds included flint tools and flint knapping debris that date back to about 11,000 BC – around the end of the last Ice Age, when Stone Age hunter-gatherers returned as the climate began to warm up.

Geoff Bethel, A46 Highways Agency project manager, said that as the A46 follows the route of the old Roman road, they expected to uncover a number of artefacts from Roman Britain but finding such rare flint tools dating back to the end of the Ice Age was very exciting.

Mr Bethel added, “We worked very closely with English Heritage, our contractor and the archaeology teams to make sure the road route design avoided the important areas of archaeology during construction.”

The design for the A46 route ensured that the majority of the site of the Roman town of Margi­dunum, near Bingham, was avoided by the new road scheme.

The excavations also provided valuable insight into the Iron Age and Roman communities that used to live in the area. Evidence of an Iron Age settlement at Owthorpe Junction, just east of Cotgrave, was uncovered. Further north at Stragglethorpe junction, a 4,000 year old Neolithic circular monument was located, with eight Bronze Age burials.

Remains of a horse recovered from the site of the newly discovered Roman industrial area.
The horse may have been a ritual sacrifice to bring good luck to the building built over the top,
a practice known from the Roman world. Photo: Highways Agency/PA Wire

The archaeological team uncovered part of the settlement that lined the road leading into the town. Finds included Roman timber buildings, rubbish pits, wells and track ways, as well as a number of burials, all dating back around two thousand years.

Phil Harding, Stone Age expert and presenter of Channel 4’s Time Team, worked on the excavations as a field archaeologist for Cotswold Wessex Archaeology. He said:

“Among the findings was a piece from a Neolithic axe made of greenstone, a type of stone from the Lake District. It was very distinctive, only a chip the size of a stamp, but exciting nonetheless. The stone was very good quality and very distinctive – you could tell a person’s wealth or status by the number of axes he owned, or the flint it was made from.

“Overall, there were enough bits and pieces to suggest we have evidence of hunting people, gathering, camping, and visiting the confluence of two rivers right through to the time of the first farmers.”

Neil Macnab, of Scott Wilson Ltd, principal archaeologist for the contractor Balfour Beatty, said:

“The exciting discovery was of the flint tools and tiny fragments of flint knapping debris, which show very primitive activity occurring in an open area by hunter gathers. To find this in an open area, rather than in a cave is what is unusual, and could mean that they stopped to make something while out on the move.”

Eastern Zhou Horse/Chariot Burial

From cctv.com Chariot and horse burial chamber excavated in Henan Source: CRI 02-19-2009 08:52 The excavation of some Eastern Zhou period tombs that had ancient chariots and horses buried underground has been completed, an official from Luoyang's cultural relics office told Dahe Daily on Tuesday. This is another latest uncover of ancient tombs following similar discoveries in surrounding areas in 2002. The excavation site contains 29 tombs, including two imperial wooden chariots and two dead horses. Field work for this excavation began in August 2008 and took archaeologists three months to finish. Many artifacts such as pottery, bronze weapons and jade were found despite the fact that most of the tombs had already been plundered by grave robbers. The horses, laying back to back in an orderly arrangement, were evidently killed before the burial. The two wooden chariots had rotted away, leaving only dusts. According to local archaeologists, this is also the first time a burial chamber with two horses and two chariots has been discovered in the Luoyang region. The chamber is located beneath a restaurant undergoing renovation. The restaurant, Luoyang Jujia, plans to encase the burial chamber in an underground culinary museum.

Stunning Horse and Chariot Burial Uncovered in Greece

Sixteen horses? Story from The Herald Sun (Australia): From correspondents in Athens June 12, 2008 04:33am ARCHAEOLOGISTS have dug up the skeletons of 16 horses and a two-wheeled chariot in a grave dating back to the Roman Empire in north-east Greece, the culture ministry announced today. Half of the horses were buried in pairs, whilst two human skeletons were also discovered in a dig near Lithohori, in the Kavala region. Near to the remains of six of the horses archaeologists found a shield, weapons and various other accessories. Ten of the horse skeletons were complete, and in addition to the horses, diggers found a grave and four tombs covered with a ceramic lid, which contained four bronze coins dating back to the fourth century AD. The chariot, dating from the first or second century AD, was "undoubtedly designed to be used in war or hunting", the ministry said. The chariot was decorated with a frieze relief in bronze, depicting three of Hercules' labours: namely, the Cerberus dog, the wild boar of Erymanthian, and the Stymphalian birds. The ministry said that in 2007 archaeologists discovered a chariot wheel placed underneath two horse skeletons in the same area. These excavations were begun to mark the beginning of work on a new motorway linking the Ionian Sea in the west with the Greek-Turkish border.

Lombard Warrior Buried with Horse

From the Telegraphco.uk Thousand-year-old Lombard warrior skeleton discovered buried with horse in Italy By Malcolm Moore in Rome Last Updated: 11:44AM BST 28/05/2008 Italian archaeologists have discovered a perfectly preserved skeleton of a 1400-year-old Lombard warrior, buried with his horse. The skeleton, which was found in a park at Testona, near Turin, is of a 25-year-old Lombard who died of a fever. Unusually, his horse was buried alongside him. "This is a very rare find," said Gabriella Pantò, the archaeologist leading the dig. "We have not seen many precedents in Italy. We have seen horses' heads buried with warriors, but this find shows the area is vitally important," she added. The Lombards were a nomadic tribe of Germans who settled near the Danube and launched an attack on Italy in the sixth century. Under the leadership of King Alboin, the Lombards stormed across the Alps in the spring of AD568 with an army of around 500,000. Vicenza, Verona and Brescia were quickly conquered from the Byzantines, who were still suffering from battling the Goths. Lombardy was established across the whole of the north of the country, an empire which lasted for around 100 years. The dig revealed a Lombard camp had settled at Testona, and the skeleton of a dog was also found nearby. The invaders had built an aqueduct and irrigation system and a series of small wooden huts, without any foundations. The warrior was also buried with a treasure chest being x-rayed by archaeologists. In addition, a small bag held a pair of pincers, a bronze belt buckle and some armour. He wore a ring on his left index finger and also had both a knife and a "scramasax", a short sword designed for close combat.