Arzhan is a site of early

Saka The Saka, Old Chinese, old , Pinyin, mod. , ), Shaka (Sanskrit (Brāhmī): , , ; Sanskrit (Devanāgarī): , ), or Sacae (Ancient Greek: ; Latin: were a group of nomadic Iranian peoples, Eastern Iranian peoples who lived in the Eurasian ...

kurgan A kurgan is a type of tumulus (burial mound) constructed over a grave, often characterized by containing a single human body along with grave vessels, weapons, and horses. Originally in use on the Pontic–Caspian steppe, kurgans spread into mu ...

burials in the

Tuva Republic Tuva (; ) or Tyva (; ), officially the Republic of Tyva,; , is a republic of Russia. Tuva lies at the geographical center of Asia, in southern Siberia. The republic borders the federal subjects of the Altai Republic, Buryatia, Irkutsk ...

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

, some northwest of

Kyzyl Kyzyl ( ) is the capital city of the Republic of Tuva within the Russian Federation. Kyzyl's population is approximately History The city was founded in 1914 as Belotsarsk. It was renamed Hem-Beldir from 1918 to 1926. When the city was the ca ...

. It is on a high plateau traversed by the Uyuk River, a minor tributary of the

Yenisei River The Yenisey or Yenisei ( ; , ) is the list of rivers by length, fifth-longest river system in the world, and the largest to drain into the Arctic Ocean. Rising in Mungaragiyn-gol in Mongolia, it follows a northerly course through Lake Baikal a ...

, in the region of

Tuva Tuva (; ) or Tyva (; ), officially the Republic of Tyva,; , is a Republics of Russia, republic of Russia. Tuva lies at the geographical center of Asia, in southern Siberia. The republic borders the Federal subjects of Russia, federal sub ...

, 20 km to the southwest of the city of

Turan Turan (; ; , , ) is a historical region in Central Asia. The term is of Iranian origin and may refer to a particular prehistoric human settlement, a historic geographical region, or a culture. The original Turanians were an Iranian tribe of th ...

. The Arzhan culture is considered as forming the initial Scythian period (8th–7th century BC), and precedes the

Pazyryk culture The Pazyryk culture ( ''Pazyrykskaya'' kul'tura) is a Saka (Central Asian Scythian cultures, Scythian) nomadic Iron Age archaeological culture (6th to 3rd centuries BC) identified by excavated artifacts and mummified humans found in the Siberian ...

. The remains of Arzhan are among the earliest of all known Scythian cultures, which has led to suggestions that it is the origin of the Scythian "

Animal Style Animal style art is an approach to decoration found from Ordos culture to Northern Europe in the early Iron Age, and the barbarian art of the Migration Period, characterized by its emphasis on animal motifs. The zoomorphic style of decoration ...

". It is the first stage of the Saka

Uyuk culture The Uyuk culture refers to the Saka culture of the Turan-Uyuk depression around the Uyuk river, in modern-day Tuva Republic. Cultures This period of Scythian culture covers a period from the 8th century BCE to the 2nd century BCE. The successiv ...

Arzhan kurgans

The excavations showed burials with rich

grave good Grave goods, in archaeology and anthropology, are items buried along with a corpse, body. They are usually personal possessions, supplies to smooth the deceased's journey into an afterlife, or offerings to gods. Grave goods may be classed by re ...

s including horses and gold artifacts. There are several hundred

Tunnug 1 (Arzhan 0) 9th century BCE

In 2017, the large royal burial mound Tunnug 1 (Arzhan 0), which dates to the same period as Arzhan-1 or slightly earlier (9th century BCE), was investigated by a Russian-Swiss expedition. The wood from the burial was dated through

AMS AMS or Ams may refer to: Organizations Companies * Alenia Marconi Systems * American Management Systems * AMS (Advanced Music Systems) * ams AG, semiconductor manufacturer * AMS Pictures * Auxiliary Medical Services Educational institutions ...

carbon-dating to the 9th century BCE. The Early Saka kurgan itself has yet to be excavated, but a more recent post-

Xiongnu The Xiongnu (, ) were a tribal confederation of Nomad, nomadic peoples who, according to ancient Chinese historiography, Chinese sources, inhabited the eastern Eurasian Steppe from the 3rd century BC to the late 1st century AD. Modu Chanyu, t ...

Kokel culture The Kokel Culture (1st-5th centuries CE) is a post-Xiongnu culture, from Southern Siberia, in what is now the modern-day Tuva Republic. This culture is located temporally in the interval between the fall of the Xiongnu Empire (2nd century CE) and ...

(2nd-4th century CE) burial site was discovered and excavated just outside of its southern periphery, and the results were published in 2021. The excavation work was interrupted in 2022 because of the

Russian invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, , starting the largest and deadliest war in Europe since World War II, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, conflict between the two countries which began in 2014. The fighting has caused hundreds of thou ...

Arzhan 1 (c.800 BCE)

Arzhan-1 was excavated by M. P. Gryaznov in the 1970s, establishing the origins of Scythian culture in the region in the 10th to 8th centuries BCE: Arzhan-1 was carbon-dated to circa 800 BCE. Further excavations were conducted in 1997 and in 1998-2003 (Arzhan-2). Many of the styles of the artifacts found in Arzhan 1 (such as the animal style images of deer, boar, and panther) soon propagated to the west, probably following a migration mouvement from the east to the west in the 9th-7th centuries BCE, and ultimately reaching European Scythia and influencing artistic styles there.

Deer stones Deer stones (), sometimes called the Deer stone-khirigsuur complex (DSKC), in reference to neighbouring khirigsuur tombs, are ancient megaliths carved with symbols found mainly in Mongolia and, to a lesser extent, in the adjacent areas in Siber ...

, highly decorated anthropomorphic stones dated to 1300 — 700 BCE, are associated with the burials at Arzhan 1 and Arzhan 2. The motif of the curled feline from Arzhan 1 also appears in some of the Deer stones. The bronze weapons discovered in the tomb are quite similar to those of the late

Karasuk culture The Karasuk culture () describes a group of late Bronze Age societies who ranged from the Aral Sea to the upper Yenisei in the east and south to the Altai Mountains and the Tian Shan in ca. 1500–800 BC. Overview The distribution of the Kara ...

. These early objects suggest a datation to circa 800 BCE (late 9th, early 8th centuries). They suggest close relations with the

Novocherkassk culture The Chernogorovka-Novocherkassk complex, sometimes conventionally called the Cimmerian culture, is an archaeological complex associated with the first steppe nomads of ancient eastern and central Europe, especially with the Cimmerians. Phases The ...

north of the

Black Sea The Black Sea is a marginal sea, marginal Mediterranean sea (oceanography), mediterranean sea lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bound ...

. There are also connections with the Bainov phase of the

Tagar culture The Tagar culture was a Bronze Age Saka archeological culture which flourished between the 8th and 1st centuries BC in South Siberia (Republic of Khakassia, southern part of Krasnoyarsk Territory, eastern part of Kemerovo Province). The cultur ...

and the early Majemir culture of the Altai. "Arzhan 1" is the earliest known example of the "

Scythian triad The Scythian cultures was an archaeological horizon that flourished across the Eurasian Steppe during the Iron Age, from approximately the 9th century BC to the 2nd century AD. It included the Scythian, Sauromatian and Sarmat ...

", defined by 1) characteristic horse harnesses 2) Scythian-style weaponry and 3) characteristic Scythian

animal art An animal painter is an artist who specialises in (or is known for their skill in) the portrayal of animals. The '' OED'' dates the first express use of the term "animal painter" to the mid-18th century: by English physician, naturalist and wri ...

. File:Аржаан-1.JPG, Arzhan-1, dated to circa 800 BCE, partly looted in Antiquity File:Arzhan animal ring.jpg, Curled-up feline animal from Arzhan-1, circa 800 BCE. This is the earliest known of a common animal art design. File:Arzhan I artifacts.png, Arzhan I bronze artifacts: horsebit with horseshoe shape, decorative pole cover and daggers. The dagger is close to

types. File:Arzhan 1, Grave 1 textile with geometric design.jpg, Arzhan 1 (Grave 1 of King and Queen) textile with geometric design. File:Arzhan deerstone 8th century BCE.jpg, 8th century BCE deerstone, Arzhan-1. State Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg, 2830/23.

Arzhan 2 (650-600 BCE)

Arzhan-2 turned out to be an undisturbed burial. It has been carbon-dated to circa 650-600 BCE (middle to end of the 7th century BCE). The builders created two central pits that were fake graves to throw off looters, and the main burial was 20 meters off-center. It was first explored by a joint German and Russian archaeological expedition from 2000 to 2004. They found the royal couple, sixteen murdered attendants, and 9,300 objects. 5,700 of these artifacts were made of gold, weighing a Siberian record-breaking twenty kilograms. The male, who researchers guess was some sort of king, wore a golden

torc A torc, also spelled torq or torque, is a large rigid or stiff neck ring in metal, made either as a single piece or from strands twisted together. The great majority are open at the front, although some have hook and ring closures and a few hav ...

, a jacket decorated with 2,500 golden panther figurines, a gold-encrusted dagger on a belt, trousers sewn with golden beads, and gold-cuffed boots. The woman wore a red cloak that was also covered in 2,500 golden panther figurines, as well as a golden-hilted iron dagger, a gold comb, and a wooden ladle with a golden handle. The couple was buried together, suggesting that the woman was killed to keep the king company in the afterlife. The tomb also had thousands of beads, including over four hundred made of

Baltic amber Baltic amber or succinite is amber from the Baltic region, home of its largest known deposits. It was produced sometime during the Eocene epoch, but exactly when is controversial. It has been estimated that this forested region provided the re ...

. The Arzhan-2 kurgan was found to be broadly contemporaneous with the Early Saka Shilikti kurgans in eastern

Kazakhstan Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a landlocked country primarily in Central Asia, with a European Kazakhstan, small portion in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the Kazakhstan–Russia border, north and west, China to th ...

. Several petroglyphs with designs similar to those of

, such as individuals with weapons, horse charriots, deers or shields were discovered at the eastern side of the kurgan. Arzhan-2 arrowhead design

Genetic and anthropomorphic analysis was made on the King and the Queen from the central burial of Arzhan-2. They both display typical

genetic characteristics, being a fairly balanced combination of Western Steppe ancestry (

Sintashta Sintashta is an archaeological site in Chelyabinsk Oblast, Russia. It is the remains of a fortified settlement dating to the Bronze Age, –1800 BC, and is the type site of the Sintashta culture. The site has been characterised as a "fortified met ...

Srubnaya The Srubnaya culture (, ), also known as Timber-grave culture, was a Late Bronze Age 1900–1200 BC culture in the eastern part of the Pontic–Caspian steppe. It is a successor of the Yamna culture, the Catacomb culture and the Poltavka culture ...

Andronovo The Andronovo culture is a collection of similar local Late Bronze Age cultures that flourished 2000–1150 BC,Grigoriev, Stanislav, (2021)"Andronovo Problem: Studies of Cultural Genesis in the Eurasian Bronze Age" in Open Archaeology 202 ...

type), and Eastern Eurasian ancestry (

Khövsgöl LBA In archaeogenetics, the term Ancient Northeast Asian (ANA), also known as Amur ancestry, is the name given to an ancestral component that represents the lineage of the hunter-gatherer people of the 7th–4th millennia before present, in far easte ...

type, from northern Mongolia), with a small contribution of BMAC-type ancestry. Forensic reconstructions were made at the Laboratory of Anthropological Reconstruction of the Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology of the Russian Academy of Sciences by anthropologists Drs E.V. Veselovskaya and R.M. Galeev. They displayed a combination of "Caucasoid" and "Mongoloid" features, the Queen having especially high and prominent cheekbones.

Etched carnelian beads Etched carnelian beads, or sometimes bleached carnelian beads, are a type of ancient decorative bead made from carnelian with an etched design in white, which were probably manufactured by the Indus Valley civilization during the 3rd millennium ...

, a technology originally developed in India in the 3rd millennium BCE, and probably manufactured in Iran or Central Asia where found in the tomb of Arzhan-2, suggesting trade exchanges with the south. Gold inlays to decorate iron and bronze objects were used by the nomads of Eurasia from the 7th century BCE, starting with the battle axe and the arrowheads found at Arzhan-2. This technique continued to be in use from the 6th to the 4th century CE in a much wider area, as with the gold-inlaid knife handle of the of Shibe barrow in Southern Siberia, or the gold-inlaid plates of the

Tasmola The Tasmola culture was an early Iron Age culture during the Saka period (9th to 4th centuries BC) in central Kazakhstan. The Tasmola culture was replaced by the Korgantas culture. They may correspond to the Issedones of ancient Greek sources. B ...

culture, as far as the southern

Urals The Ural Mountains ( ),; , ; , or simply the Urals, are a mountain range in Eurasia that runs north–south mostly through Russia, from the coast of the Arctic Ocean to the river Ural (river), Ural and northwestern Kazakhstan.

in the Late-

Sauromatian The Sauromatian culture () was an Iron Age culture of horse nomads in the area of the lower Volga, Volga River to the southern Ural Mountain, in southern Russia, dated to the 6th to 4th centuries BCE. Archaeologically, the Sauromatian period its ...

Filippovka kurgans The Filippovka kurgans (Ru: Филипповский курганный) are Late-Sauromatian to Early-Sarmatian culture kurgans, forming "a transition site between the Sauromation and the Sarmatian epochs", just north of the Caspian Sea in the O ...

. File:Arzhan deer.jpg, "Animal style" deer, (7-6th century BC) Tuva. File:6. Pectorale burial mound Arzhan (VIII. - VII. B. C.) Tuva.JPG, Pectoral plate, from burial mound Arzhan (7-6th century BC) Tuva. File:Arzhan_2_daggers_and_knives_(Prince_and_Princess).jpg, Princely ''akinak'' (daggers). Burial mound Arzhan (7-6th century BC) Tuva. File:Arzhan-2 forensic reconstruction of the King and Queen.jpg, Forensic reconstruction of the King and Queen of Arzhan-2, in their burial costumes

Chinge-Tey I

Chinge-Tey I represents the burial of an 'elite' individual of the Arzhan Aldy-Bel culture (7th − 6th centuries BC) of the early Scythian period. The remains belonged to a 20 to 25 year- old male. The Chinge-Tey I site is located at a distance of twenty kilometers to the Arzhan 2 site. The burial also included gold jewelry, weapons, horse gear, and burial garments. The 'elite' individual was buried with an unusual long robe as well as with a unique glass bowl, which was likely of

Assyria Assyria (Neo-Assyrian cuneiform: , ''māt Aššur'') was a major ancient Mesopotamian civilization that existed as a city-state from the 21st century BC to the 14th century BC and eventually expanded into an empire from the 14th century BC t ...

n origin. Some of the used decorative images (animal style) seem to have originated in the artistic tradition of

Okunevo culture Okunev culture (), also known as Okunevo culture, was a south Siberian archaeological culture of pastoralism, pastoralists from the early Bronze Age dated from the end of the 3rd millennium BC to the early 2nd millennium BC in the Minusinsk Hol ...

. Eight graves of warriors were found at the periphery of the complex, surrounding the 'elite' burial.

Significance

Arzhan has been a key element in archaeological evidence that now tends to suggest that the origins of

Scythian culture The Scythian culture was an Iron Age archaeological culture which flourished on the Pontic-Caspian steppe in Eastern Europe from about 700 BC to 200 AD. It is associated with the Scythians, Cimmerians, and other peoples inhabiting the region of ...

, characterized by its

burial mounds and its ''

Animal style Animal style art is an approach to decoration found from Ordos culture to Northern Europe in the early Iron Age, and the barbarian art of the Migration Period, characterized by its emphasis on animal motifs. The zoomorphic style of decoration ...

'' of the 1st millennium BC, are to be found among Eastern Scythians rather than their Western counterparts: eastern

kurgans A kurgan is a type of tumulus (burial mound) constructed over a grave, often characterized by containing a single human body along with grave vessels, weapons, and horses. Originally in use on the Pontic–Caspian steppe, kurgans spread into mu ...

are older than western ones (such as the Altaic kurgan Arzhan 1 in

), and elements of the ''

'' are first attested in areas of the

Yenisei river The Yenisey or Yenisei ( ; , ) is the list of rivers by length, fifth-longest river system in the world, and the largest to drain into the Arctic Ocean. Rising in Mungaragiyn-gol in Mongolia, it follows a northerly course through Lake Baikal a ...

and modern-day China in the 10th century BCE. The rapid spread of Scythian culture, from the Eastern Scythians to the Western Scythians, is also confirmed by significant east-to-west gene flow across the steppes during the 1st millennium BC.

Genetics

In 2019, a genetic study of remains from the

Aldy-Bel culture The Aldy-Bel culture ( ''Aldy-Bel'skaya'' kul'tura) was part of Uyuk culture ( ''Uyukskaya'' kul'tura), and is an Iron Age culture of Scytho-Siberian horse nomads in the area of Tuva in southern Siberia, dated to the 8th to 6th centuries BCE. ...

was published in

Human Genetics Human genetics is the study of inheritance as it occurs in Human, human beings. Human genetics encompasses a variety of overlapping fields including: classical genetics, cytogenetics, molecular genetics, biochemical genetics, genomics, populatio ...

. The authors determined the paternal haplogroups of 16 Aldy Bel males. 9 out of 16 samples (56.25%) were found to be carriers of the West Eurasian haplogroup R1a, while 7 samples (43.75%) belonged to the East Eurasian haplogroups Q-L54 and N-M231. The authors also analyzed the maternal haplogroups of 26 Siberian Scythian remains from Arzhan. 50% of the remains carried an East Eurasian haplogroup including C, D, F and G, while 50% carried West Eurasian haplogroups H, U, or T. In contrast to the paternal lineages, the maternal lineages were extremely diverse. The most common lineages were variants of haplogroup C4. Significant paternal genetic differences were found between the Eastern Scythians and the

Scythians The Scythians ( or ) or Scyths (, but note Scytho- () in composition) and sometimes also referred to as the Pontic Scythians, were an Ancient Iranian peoples, ancient Eastern Iranian languages, Eastern Iranian peoples, Iranian Eurasian noma ...

of the Pontic-Caspian steppe. The two groups were of completely different paternal origins, with almost no paternal gene flow between them. On the other hand, there is strong evidence of shared maternal DNA between Scythian cultures, indicating maternal geneflow from East Euraisa to West Eurasia. Another analysis of population ancestry suggested that Aldy Bel Scythians were of roughly 60% West Eurasian ancestry and 40% East Eurasian ancestry. See Fig. 3A. In 2025, the genome of an 'elite' burial in the Chinge-Tey I site was analyzed for the first time. The individual was found to be closely related to the

Tasmola culture The Tasmola culture was an early Iron Age culture during the Saka period (9th to 4th centuries BC) in central Kazakhstan. The Tasmola culture was replaced by the Korgantas culture. They may correspond to the Issedones of ancient Greek sources. ...

in Eastern and Central

, as well as to the earlier

. The newly sequenced Chinge-Tey I individual belonged to the Y-haplogroup Q1b1 (Q-L476) and the mt-haplogroup

G2a G2A.COM Limited (commonly referred to as G2A) is a digital marketplace headquartered in the Netherlands, with offices in Poland and Hong Kong. The site operates in the resale of gaming offers and others digital items by the use of redemption k ...

Notes

References

External links

Arzhan - a Scythian royal necropolis in Tuva, Southern Siberia
{{Rulers of Ancient Central Asia Archaeological sites in Russia Archaeological sites in Siberia Kurgans Iron Age sites in Asia Geography of Tuva Saka Cultural heritage monuments in Tuva Objects of cultural heritage of Russia of federal significance