Features of Tillya-tepe site
Tillya-tepe is the word from the Uzbek language, which means "Hill of Gold." This site is present in Afghanistan near Sheberghan, an area bordering China, founded by archeologists in the 1970s. This culture was famous for the jewelry art which dates back to around the 1st century B.C. As a Scythian tribe, Tillya-tepe were a magnificent impulse of eclecticism. Their style of imagery was more of Nomadic, Chinese, Indian and Greco-Bectrian tradition (Jacobson). Some Archeologists discovered pottery comparable to the ones found in Turkmenistan. They uncovered remnants of a mud-brick monument along with a terrace and a columned hall, surrounded by thick walls. The people of Tillya-tepe were nomads. It was found that by the ways of their living and burial sites. The Tillya-tepe moved from the Black Sea to Mongolia and as they moved they adapted to the local traditions of the new areas but modified them to suit themselves. After reaching Bactria, the artist of Tillya-tepe were greatly influenced by the diversity of objects they found in the Silk Road (Museo). This can be seen in the art of their jewelry, weapons and adornments designs.
Features of Pazyryk site
The Pazyryk Kurgan is situated in the Altai Mountains of Southern Siberia. It is yielded with artifacts including the belongings of well preserved bodies and their clothing. This culture flourished between the 3rd and the 7th century BC in the area of Sacae and is famous for the burial mounds. The burial mounds that were found by archeologists were explored in the year 1925 to 1949. Some ordinary graves only consisted of utensils and some had their famous Pazyryk Carpet mounded over them (Scott, Alekseev and Zaitseva). Some mounds even had objects like knives, daggers, mirrors and various bone articles. The embalmed bodies found under these mounds are still considered a world sensation (Altai Discovery Team). The people of the Pazyryk area held more respect for their horses than their people. The horses were viewed as functional objects and the people treated them more humanly than actual humans. Special outfits were designed for their horses. This site was defined by common geographical and ecological conditions. Hunting, fishing, gathering and horse breeding was the main part of the economy (Cosmo).
The Kurgan Burials
Nomadic tradition of burial is to bury the dead within a mound, as a mark of respect. The The female burials of the Scythian traditions consisted of objects of purely feminine nature to be buried along with. Weapons like bronze arrows and spearheads, pottery and jewelry were dominant in the burials of female (Guliaev). They were dressed with conical caps of gold. The burials of females were of principle nature in the kurgan traditions. In cases of males, they were encircled with a special ritual moat and in some cases funeral food was placed near the graves.
Tillya-tepe lie in close margin to the Indo-Iranian tradition. Gold was of symbolic value in the burials. The burials as like many kurgan traditions, went hastily at night without the knowledge of the people of neighboring cities (Schiltz). The grave was covered with a mound of objects like beautiful stone to even objects like daggers, bones and textiles. They found it important that the dead were buried under the traditions of their forefathers even though they didn't have access to their ancestral burial grounds. The position was slightly elevated of the coffin. The manner of burial was hierarchical, with five females surrounding one solitary male. Their garments were sewn by a gold thread. Gold was pretty much abundant in this area as the entire gold of the deceased was buried with that individual. Male bodies were dressed in layers and layers of clothing. A kaftan coupled with a short jacket along with a pair of trousers. A four dagger sheath was wrapped around the thigh. A long sword, numerous daggers and knives and two bows were present too. These men were classified as warlords or knights, because this is real fighting equipment not something to represent power. The female bodies were dressed with what is still the dress of the Afghani women, shalwar qameez. The value of the female costumes and its style was dependant on their status. Head ornaments like rings, bracelets, earrings and necklaces were abundant, showing the superiority and power of the individual. Every dagger, sword, ornament and sheath had the embossed form of a heart on it. The significance of it is still yet unknown (Schiltz).
For the people of Pazyryk the bodies of the dead had been properly preserved with permafrost and not decayed like that of Tillya-tepe. When a man died, ten of his horses were buried with him. The best of his horses were dressed up in costumes. Each horse was dressed differently according to each horse's rank to his master. Each was dressed as a special tribute, to its master. The skeletons of the horses showed that the best horses were chosen (Argent). They also depicted the social importance of humans with whom they were buried.
Although the Scythian traditions of burials have lot of similarities with the nomads but they do differ in terms of the objects they were laid under and the traditional dresses. In case of Tillya-tepe, the dead were hastily buried. No proper funeral was seen in the remains. The Kurgans not only contained weapon adorned males, but warrior females were also buried there. The female warriors are said to be Sauromatians. Kurgan burials are princely. A large deep pit with proper coffin beds has been excavated. The females and males were buried alike, both adorned with wealth and weapons. For Pazyryk, the female skeleton was uncovered and was adorned with bronze and silver earrings and bracelets. Peace offerings were present in the form of female objects like bronze mirrors, wooden vessels, glass bead necklaces, twenty bronze arrow heads and two spear heads. The cups represented the social status of the people. More the jewels on the cup the higher will be the rank and vice versa (Guliaev).
Animal Style Art of Pazyryk & Gold Objects of Tillya-tepe
The nomads of Pazyryk kept animals in high regard, as already discussed regarding horses ad burials (Argent). Their livelihood depended on the pasturing of their animals, cattle e.t.c. Their art was also accustomed to animals, thus called animal-art style. They painted horses or drew cows and goats.
However, the nomads of the Tillya-tepe area were much wealthier. The society status of a person was measured by the amount of gold he had. The gold contained the embossed forms of the shape of heart and many Greek goddesses. These people held the goddesses in high esteem. They had a belief that goddesses gave their land beauty and made them prosper and having their figures on ornaments and daggers was lucky as they would bring them luck in battle (Stewart).
Cultural Ecology
Jacobson has explained the shifts in a very logical manner. The nomads are still said to be barbaric and illiterate. We cannot expect such people to preserve and store their history. The sites of Kushan, Tillya-tepe and Pazyryk were nomadic. When they moved from one area to the other, they didn't document or preserve their history, due to which we have no idea where have they in reality originated from. After some work, it has been said that they were Indo-Iranians. However, many disagree when they see the Indo-Iranian model, as it does not fully match the traits of the nomads. However, it can be compared to the later stages of the nomadic cultural ecology. The cultural ecology of the nomads reveals a psychological and political transition from their Siberian origins. The three symbols described by Jacobson, the deer image, the horse image and the gold, can be used to trace back the early nomadic culture and its manifestation. These were widely connected to the early nomadic traditions and were associated to their kingships and sacrifices. However, carefully analyzing them it is to be noted that no symbol occurs more frequently than the other and moving back to the 5th century these images were not found at all. The regions to which these cultures belong to are so disrupted now that the images are not recognizable. And with the passage of time many of the archaic images have been changed. So the shifts to the indo-Iranian structures have been unresolved.
Work Cited
Altai Discovery Team. "Archeology". 2010. Web. 3rd March. 2011 < http://www.altaidt.com/pages/archaeology>
Argent Gale. "Do Clothes Make Horses: Relationality, Roles and Statuses in the Inner Iron Age in Central Asia". World Archeology . Humans and Animals 42.2 (2010): 157-174. Print.
Bernard Paul. "The Greek Colony at Ai Khanum and Hellenism in Central Asia". Scientific American 246.1 (1982):148-159. Print.
Cosmo Di Nicola. Ancient China and Its Enemies: The Rise of Nomadic Power in East Asian History. Cambridge University Press, 2002. Print.
Guliaev I. V. "Amazons in Scythia: New Finds at the Middle Don, Southern Russia". World Archeology. The Social Commemoration of Warfare 35.1 (2003): 112-125. Print.
Jacobson Esther. Symbolic Structures' as Indicators of the Cultural Ecology of the Early Nomads. Foundations of Empire. 1992. Print.
Museo, "Tillya-tepe", 2005. Web. 3rd March 2011 < http://www.museo-on.com/go/museoon/home/db/events/_page_id_558/_page_id_588/_page_id_235/_page_id_921.xhtml>
Schiltz Veronique. Tillya-tepe, The Hill of Gold: A Nomad Necropolis. In Hiebert, Fredrick T., Cambon, P. National Geographic Society (U.S.), Kabul, Muzah-I. Afghanisatan: hidden treasures from the National Museum, Kabul. Washington D.C., 2008. Print.
Scott Marian, Alekseev Yu Andrey, and Zaitseva I. Ganna. "Impact of the environment on human migration in Euroasia". Earth and Environmental Sciences 42 (2004):114-116.
Stewart Andrew. "Imagining the Other: Amazons and Ethnicity in Fifth Century Athens". Poetics Today 16.4(1995). Print.
