The Disguise of Horses as Mythological Beasts in Pazyryk Culture of the Gornyi Altai

Abstract

Thanks to permafrost the equine headdress masks made of organic materials have been well preserved in the burial mounds of the Pazyryk culture in Gornyi Altai dating back to the end of the 6th-3rd centuries B.C. The author has investigated the 17 equine headdress masks. They were divided into two types. Type 1: the equine headgear masks with full size horns of wild animals such as a mountain sheep argali or a deer. Type 2: the equine headgear masks with small finials in the form of heads of wild or imaginary animals and birds (head of a deer, a horned tiger or various birds). In the first Pazyryk barrow there was a burial of two humans accompanied by ten horses which were arranged in two rows of four animals. Two of the horses had headgear masks, one was decorated with life size deer antlers (Type 1) and the second had a finial looking like a head of a horned tiger with wings (Type 2).The horse wearing a headdress mask made of felt and deer antlers was the best on the exterior and was put in the first row. Its horns were made of leather; its tail and mane were in cases. The second Bashadarsky kurgan contained the remains of a 60-65-year-old male and a 40-year-old female accompanied by a burial of fourteen horses. One of the horses had the luxurious harness, it was also provided with a leather headdress which had horns of a mountain sheep argali. The horns, which were 46 sm long, were made of several pieces of wood glued together; their inside was covered with solid plates of silver and their outside with semicircular projections simulating annual bumps was covered with several sheets of gold. The horns had two holes at their base to use for attaching them to the horse headgear. The horse headdress masks were made of various materials and were richly decorated. Due to their superior artistic quality and craftsmanship, they serve as excellent samples of the Scythian-Siberian animal style.