The Pazyryk burials are a group of Scythian (Saka) Iron Age tombs discovered in the Pazyryk Valley and the Ukok Plateau in the Altai Mountains, Siberia, located south of the modern city of Novosibirsk, Russia. This site is near the borders of China, Kazakhstan, and Mongolia.

Similar burials have been found in nearby western Mongolia.

The tombs are Scythian-type kurgans, which are mound-like tombs with wooden chambers covered by large piles of rocks and stones. These tombs date back to the 4th–3rd centuries BCE. The Pazyryk burials are famous for introducing the term "kurgan," a Russian word, into general use to describe these types of tombs. The area of the Pazyryk kurgans is considered the type site of the larger Pazyryk culture. The site is part of the Golden Mountains of Altai UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The people of the Pazyryk culture were horse-riding pastoral nomads who lived in the steppe. Some may have gained wealth by trading horses with merchants in Persia, India, and China. Evidence of their wealth is seen in the many items found in the tombs, including rare organic materials like felt hangings, Chinese silk, the earliest known pile carpet, horses with detailed decorations, wooden furniture, and other household items. These items were preserved because water entered the tombs in ancient times, froze, and encased the burial goods in ice. This ice remained frozen in the permafrost until the tombs were excavated.

Because of a cold climate, some Altai-Sayan burials, including those from the 5th century BCE at Pazyryk and nearby sites like Katanda, Shibe, and Tuekta, were protected by a layer of ice. This ice helped preserve the organic materials buried there. Geometric shapes and sun symbols, such as circles and rosettes, appear at Pazyryk but are less common than animal designs. Features typical of Scythian art, such as zoomorphic junctures (where parts of one animal are added to another), are less frequent in the Altai-Sayan region than in southern Russia. However, deer and related animals are as prominent in Altai-Sayan art as they are in Scythian art.

At Pazyryk, bearded mascarons (masks) of Greco-Roman style were found. These masks were likely inspired by the Hellenistic kingdoms of the Cimmerian Bosporus.

Pazyryk culture

Rudenko first named these nomads the Pazyryk culture and said they lived around 500 BCE; however, the dates for barrows 1–5 at Pazyryk have been updated to 400–300 BCE. The Pazyryk culture is now linked to the Scythians, as similar tombs have been found across the steppes. The Siberian animal-themed tattoos are typical of the Scythians. Artifacts show that these ancient Altai nomads had cultural and trade connections with Central Asia, China, and the Near East. Evidence suggests that Pazyryk trade routes were extensive and reached many parts of Asia, possibly including India, with Pazyryk merchants likely trading high-quality horses.

Discoveries

The first tomb at Pazyryk, called barrow 1, was uncovered by archaeologist M. P. Griaznov in 1929. Barrows 2–5 were excavated by Sergei Ivanovich Rudenko between 1947 and 1949. Many tombs had been looted earlier, but the excavators found buried horses, along with well-preserved cloth saddles, felt and woven rugs, a 3-meter-high four-wheel funeral chariot from the 5th century BCE, and other items that had survived damage from time. These items are now displayed at the Hermitage Museum in Saint Petersburg.

In the 1960s, scientists measured the skulls of people buried at Pazyryk. They found that most had European ancestry, with some Northeast Asian ancestry. Later genetic studies showed that the Pazyryk people had a mix of western and eastern Eurasian ancestry. Their DNA was estimated to be about 50% from the Khövsgöl LBA source, 36% from Western Steppe Herders (Steppe_MLBA), and 14% from a BMAC-like source. One individual, Pazyryk_Berel_50BCE, had about 18% Pazyryk_IA ancestry and 82% Northeast Asian ancestry, suggesting they were a migrant from the east.

Tomb number 1 at Pazyryk had many artifacts, including horses wearing deer antler masks or harnesses with human figures. The tomb dates to the 4th century BCE. Its main contents were looted, but the area with horse sacrifices remained intact. It was excavated by Griaznov in the 1930s.

Rudenko’s most important discovery in 1947 was the body of a tattooed Pazyryk chief in burial mound 2. The man was tall (176 cm) and died between the ages of 55 and 60. His tomb was large and filled with valuable items. He died violently, was scalped, and killed with a Scythian-style battle axe. His body was embalmed and covered in tattoos, but not his face. Some tattoos were still visible, and later studies using special photography showed that all five bodies found in Pazyryk tombs were tattooed. No tattooing tools were found, but fine needles used for embroidery were likely used for tattoos.

The chief’s tattoos included images of a donkey, a mountain ram, two deer with long antlers, and a mythical carnivore on his right arm. Griffins (mythical creatures) decorated his chest, and his left arm had images of deer and a mountain goat. A fish was tattooed on his right leg, and a monster crawled over his foot. Four running rams formed a pattern on his shin. His left leg had unclear designs, and his back had small circles lined up with his spine. His head, now in the Hermitage Museum, showed a "Mongoloïd type" appearance. He wore a gilded copper crown with six winged, horned, and hoofed lions ("lion griffins"). A false beard made of hair, sinew, and leather was found near him, though its purpose is unknown. A carved wooden crest shaped like a bird of prey with a deer head in its beak was also discovered, likely part of his headgear.

Pazyryk barrow 5 contained the remains of a Saka chief, uncovered by S.I. Rudenko in 1949. The tomb had an inner and outer log sarcophagus, covered with logs and boulders. Though looted, it still had the embalmed remains of a man and a woman, along with artifacts, nine horses, a disassembled wagon with four large wheels, and carpets.

The most famous undisturbed Pazyryk burial is the "Ice Maiden" or "Altai Lady," discovered by Natalia Polosmak in 1993 near the Chinese border. She was buried in the 5th century BCE in a wooden chamber tomb with six horses. Her body was preserved in a casket made from a Siberian larch tree. Stylized deer and snow leopards were carved on the casket’s outside. After burial, freezing rain flooded the tomb, freezing everything in permafrost. The horses, wearing elaborate harnesses, were sacrificed and placed near the chamber.

The Ice Maiden’s body was carefully embalmed with peat and bark, lying on her side as if sleeping. She was young, had shaved hair, and wore a wig and tall hat. She was 167 cm tall. Her tattoos, showing horned creatures with flower-like shapes, were preserved on her pale skin. Her coffin was large enough to fit her high felt headdress, decorated with swans and gold-covered cats. She wore a long red and white woolen skirt and white felt stockings. Her yellow blouse was made of wild silk, possibly from India. Near her coffin was a yak horn vessel and dishes with coriander seeds, suggesting trade routes extended across Iran. Other tombs had similar dishes that once held Cannabis sativa, as noted by Herodotus.

Two years after finding the Ice Maiden, Dr. Polosmak’s husband, Vyacheslav Molodin, discovered a frozen man with tattoos of an elk and long braids, buried with his weapons.

Dr. Anicua noted that the Ice Maiden’s blouse was slightly stained, indicating it was not a new garment made for the burial.

One of the most famous finds at Pazyryk is the Pazyryk rug, possibly the oldest surviving pile carpet. Some sources say it was made in Ancient Armenia using Armenian double knots and red dye from cochineal. A German art historian, Ulrich Schurmann, believed it was a funeral accessory and a masterpiece of Armenian craftsmanship. Another historian, Volkmar Gantzhorn, agreed. However, others thought it was a Persian work due to its decoration and the horse design, which resembled Nisean horses. The rug’s design also matched a relief showing an Armenian delegation at Persepolis, Iran. It measures 183 cm × 200 cm and has 360,000 knots per square meter, more than most modern carpets. The center of the rug features a ribbon motif.