Body Postures of Buried Horsemen: Archaeological and Ethnographic Evidence

The article analyzes and interprets two specific body postures typical for mound Scytho-Sarmatian burials of Eurasian steppes. The postures were traced among ones buried face up in a horizontal position, being distinguished by straddled legs (‘dancing pose’) or one leg placed aside (‘pose of attack’). Materials. The specific postures are not a mass phenomenon, and tend to characterize burials of nomadic nobility. Some earlier works provide different hypotheses interpreting the mentioned fact. The study is based on V. Obelchenko’s assumption — regarding 2nd-1st century BC Sogdian mounds — the straddled legs posture resulted from that dead individuals used to be delivered to their graves mounted on horsebacks. The ritual of delivering the dead mounted on horsebacks in Eurasian steppes is evidenced by a gold plaque from the Siberian Collection of Peter I depicting three corpses mounted onto saddles: one sitting supported up and two others with their heads lying on the horses’ shoulders. The ‘pose of attack’ is evidenced by the 2nd-3rd century Bakhchysarai Stela believed to be a Sarmatian trace in the Crimean peninsula. The width of the bottom of the Siberian Ice Maiden’s skirt might also attest to that as a noble woman she could have mounted sideward on solemn occasions, and is likely to have been delivered to the burial site in a similar position. Additional arguments have been borrowed from funeral rites of the Turko-Mongols directly and indirectly indicating horse mounted transportation of the dead. The one side legs seat is illustrated by present-day women’s donkey mounting in southern regions (Uzbekistan, Turkey) and a 17th-cenury European artist’s canvas depicting a peasant woman on a donkey. Conclusions. So, the paper concludes the ‘dancing’ and ‘attacking’ poses of the buried are associated with horse (saddle) mounted transportation of the dead pursuant to the ancient tradition of Eurasian nomads that survived till historical times.

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