Arzhan culture

52.071606°N 93.631836°E / 52.071606; 93.631836

Arzhan culture

-1000 Karasuk Irmen Begazy-Dandybai culture Mezhovskaya culture Cimmerians Iranian pastoral people Slab- graves Kuban culture ASSYRIA ELAM Mumun Arameans Painted Grey Ware Swat Kuru Chust Subeshi Upper Xiajiadian Siwa culture Shanma Deer stones ZHOU DYNASTY San- xingdui Ulaan- zuukh KUSH 21st Dynasty of Egypt Location of the early Arzhan culture with the Arzhan burial site (), and contemporary cultures in the 9th century BC
Geographical range	South Siberia
Dates	9th to 8th centuries BC
Preceded by	Karasuk culture
Followed by	Aldy-Bel culture, Pazyryk culture, Tagar culture

Arzhan^{[lower-alpha 1]} is a site of early Saka kurgan burials in the Tuva Republic, Russia, some 60 kilometers (40 mi) northwest of Kyzyl.^[1] It is on a high plateau traversed by the Uyuk River, a minor tributary of the Yenisei River, in the region of Tuva, 20 km to the southwest of the city of Turan.^[2]

The Arzhan culture is considered as forming the initial Scythian period (8th–7th century BC), and precedes the Pazyryk culture.^[3] 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".^[4] It is the first stage of the Saka Uyuk culture.^{[citation needed]}

Arzhan kurgans

Uyuk Valley, with location of Arzhan 2

The excavations showed burials with rich grave goods including horses and gold artifacts. There are several hundred kurgans.^{[citation needed]}

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:^[6] Arzhan-1 was carbon-dated to circa 800 BCE.^[7][8] 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.^[9]

Deer stones, highly decorated anthropomorphic stones dated to 1300 — 700 BCE, are associated with the burials at Arzhan 1 and Arzhan 2.^[10][11] The motif of the curled feline from Arzhan 1 also appears in some of the Deer stones.^[12]

The bronze weapons discovered in the tomb are quite similar to those of the late Karasuk culture.^[13] These early objects suggest a datation to circa 800 BCE (late 9th, early 8th centuries).^[13] They suggest close relations with the Novocherkassk culture north of the Black Sea.^[13] There are also connections with the Bainov phase of the Tagar culture and the early Majemir culture of the Altai.^[13]

"Arzhan 1" is the earliest known example of the "Scythian triad", defined by 1) characteristic horse harnesses 2) Scythian-style weaponry and 3) characteristic Scythian animal art.^[14]

• 
  Arzhan-1, dated to circa 800 BCE, partly looted in Antiquity
• 
  Curled-up feline animal from Arzhan-1, circa 800 BCE.^[15][16] This is the earliest known of a common animal art design.
• 
  Arzhan I bronze artifacts: horsebit with horseshoe shape, decorative pole cover and daggers.^[13] The dagger is close to Tagar culture types.^[17]
• 
  Arzhan 1 (Grave 1 of King and Queen) textile with geometric design.^[18]
• 
  Arzhan 1, Chamber 4, textile with decorative bands.^[18]

Arzhan 2 (650-600 BCE)

See also: Aldy-Bel culture

Arzhan 2 kurgan (7th-6th centuries BC, associated with the Aldy-Bel culture).^[19]

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).^[7] The builders created two central pits that were fake graves to throw off looters, and the main burial was 20 meters off-center.^[20] It was first explored by a joint German and Russian archaeological expedition from 2000 to 2004.^[20] They found the royal couple, sixteen murdered attendants, and 9,300 objects.^[20] 5,700 of these artifacts were made of gold, weighing a Siberian record-breaking twenty kilograms.^[20] The male, who researchers guess was some sort of king, wore a golden torc, 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.^[20] 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.^[20] The couple was buried together, suggesting that the woman was killed to keep the king company in the afterlife.^[20] The tomb also had thousands of beads, including over four hundred made of Baltic amber.^[20]

The Arzhan-2 kurgan was found to be broadly contemporaneous with the Early Saka Shilikti kurgans in eastern Kazakhstan.^[21]

Several petroglyphs with designs similar to those of Deer stones, such as individuals with weapons, horse charriots, deers or shields were discovered at the eastern side of the kurgan.^[22]

Arrowhead with gold inlays, Arzhan-2, 7th century BCE.

Genetic and anthropomorphic analysis was made on the King and the Queen from the central burial of Arzhan-2. They both display typical Saka genetic characteristics, being a fairly balanced combination of Western Steppe ancestry (Sintashta, Srubnaya, Andronovo type), and Eastern Eurasian ancestry (Khövsgöl LBA type, from northern Mongolia), with a small contribution of BMAC-type ancestry.^[23] 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.^[24]

Etched carnelian beads, 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.^[25]

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 culture, as far as the southern Urals in the Late-Sauromatian Filippovka kurgans.^[26]

• 
  "Animal style" deer, (7-6th century BC) Tuva.
• 
  Pectoral plate, from burial mound Arzhan (7-6th century BC) Tuva.
• 
  Akinak (dagger) burial mound Arzhan (7-6th century BC) Tuva.
• 
  Forensic reconstruction of the King and Queen of Arzhan-2, in their burial costumes

Tunnug 1 (Arzhan 0)

Early Saka kurgan Tunnug 1 (9th century BCE)

In 2017, the large royal burial mound Tunnug 1 (Arzhan 0), which dates to the same period as Arzhan-1, was investigated by a Russian-Swiss expedition.^[27] The wood from the burial was dated through AMS carbon-dating to the 9th century BCE.^[27] The Early Saka kurgan itself has yet to be excavated, but a more recent post-Xiongnu Kokel culture (2nd-4th century CE) burial site was discovered and excavated just outside of its southern periphery, and the results were published in 2021.^[28]

The excavation work was interrupted in 2022 because of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.^{[citation needed]}

Significance

Arzhan-2 gold bracelet, Tuva National Museum.

Arzhan-2 gold torque, Tuva National Museum. It weighs 1.5 kilograms.^[29]

Arzhan has been a key element in archaeological evidence that now tends to suggest that the origins of Scythian culture, characterized by its kurgan burial mounds and its Animal style of the 1st millennium BC, are to be found among Eastern Scythians rather than their Western counterparts: eastern kurgans are older than western ones (such as the Altaic kurgan Arzhan 1 in Tuva), and elements of the Animal style are first attested in areas of the Yenisei river and modern-day China in the 10th century BCE.^[30] 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.^[30]

Genetics

In 2019, a genetic study of remains from the Aldy-Bel culture was published in Human Genetics. 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.^[31]

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.^[32]

Significant paternal genetic differences were found between the Eastern Scythians and the Scythians of the Pontic-Caspian steppe. The two groups were of completely different paternal origins, with almost no paternal gene flow between them.^[33][34] On the other hand, there is strong evidence of shared maternal DNA between Scythian cultures, indicating maternal geneflow from East Euraisa to West Eurasia.^[35][36]

Another analysis of population ancestry suggested that Aldy Bel Scythians were of roughly 60% West Eurasian ancestry and 40% East Eurasian ancestry.^[37]

The Scythian king buried in the royal burial mound of Arzhan 2 is an ancestor of 45% of modern Kyrgyz, belonging to the Y-haplogroup R1a-Z2125.^[38] Also from the Arzhan settlement was published a DNA sample S441, belonging to the Scythian culture of the 7th—6th century BC, which are ancestral to the Kyrgyz branch.^[39]

See also

Uyuk Valley with royal Scythian burial mounds. Aerial view of the burial mound Tunnug 1 (looking northeast). The central circular kurgan has yet to be excavated, but a Kokel culture burial site was recently excavated just outside of its southern periphery (here visible with its dark square excavation areas).^[28]

• Aldy-Bel culture
• Srubna culture
• Andronovo culture
• Karasuk culture

Further reading

• Konstantin Čugunov, Hermann Parzinger, Anatoli Nagler: Der skythische Fürstengrabhügel von Aržan 2 in Tuva. Vorbericht der russisch-deutschen Ausgrabungen 2000-2002. In: Eurasia Antiqua 9 (2003), S. 113–162
• А. Д. Грач. "Древние кочевники в центре Азии." Москва 1980.
• M. P. Gryaznov: Der Großkurgan von Aržan in Tuva, Südsibirien. Materialien zur Allgemeinen und Vergleichenden Archäologie 23. München 1984
• А. М. Мандельштам. "Ранние кочевники скифского периода на территории Тувы." В М. Г. Мошкова, "Степная полоса азиатской части СССР в скифо-сарматское время". Археология СССР. Москва 1992
• For object of the Arzhan cultures: Yang, Jianhua; Shao, Huiqiu; Pan, Ling (2020). The Metal Road of the Eastern Eurasian Steppe. pp. 233–243. ISBN 978-981-32-9154-6.

Notes

1. /ɑːrˈʒɑːn/; Russian: Аржа́н, pronounced [ɐrˈʐan]

References

1. Armbruster, Barbara (2009). "Gold technology of the ancient Scythians–gold from the kurgan Arzhan 2, Tuva". ArcheoSciences. Revue d'archéométrie. 33: 187–193.
2. Chugunov, Konstantin; Anatoli, Nagler; Parzinger, Hermann (2001). "The Golden Grave from Arzhan" (PDF). Minerva. 13 (1): 39–42. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2016-08-16.
3. Murphy, Eileen M. (2003). "Iron Age Archaeology and Trauma from Aymyrlyg South Siberia: An examination of the health diet and lifestyles of the two Iron Age populations buried at the cemetery complex of Aymyrlyg". BAR International Series.
4. Murphy, Eileen M. (2003). "Iron Age Archaeology and Trauma from Aymyrlyg South Siberia: An examination of the health diet and lifestyles of the two Iron Age populations buried at the cemetery complex of Aymyrlyg". BAR International Series: 4. Dendrochronology and radiocarbon dating have ascribed the Arzhan Kurgan to the end of the 8th century BC (Bokovenko 1994b, 32). As such, it is considerably older than the generally recognised Scythian remains throughout the rest of the steppe region. The dating of the Arzhan Kurgan has been used to support the argument for an eastern Central Asian origin of the Animal Style of artwork and the entire Scythian World (Askarov et al 1992, 470).
5. Image file with complete data, Amir, Saltanat; Roberts, Rebecca C. (2023). "The Saka 'Animal Style' in Context: Material, Technology, Form and Use". Arts. 12: 23. doi:10.3390/arts12010023.
6. Francfort, Henri-Paul (2002). "Images du combat contre le sanglier en Asie centrale (3 ème au 1 er millénaire av. J.-C.)". Bulletin of the Asia Institute. 16: 118. ISSN 0890-4464. Dans le kourgane plus ancien d'Arzhan-1 (8-10ème s.)...
7. Parzinger, H. (2007). "Chronology of Key Barrows Belonging to Different Stages of the Scythian Period in Tuva (Arzhan-1 and Arzhan-2 Barrows)". Radiocarbon.
8. Impact of the environment on human migration in Eurasia. Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic. 2004. p. 23. doi:10.1007/1-4020-2656-0_1. ISBN 1-4020-2655-2. p.23 "Dendrochronological and radiocarbon dating indicate that Arzhan dates to the end 9th - beginning 8th century BC (Zaitseva, Vasilev, Marsadolov, Sementsov, Dergachev, Lebedeva, 1996)."
9. Impact of the environment on human migration in Eurasia. Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic. 2004. pp. 24–32. doi:10.1007/1-4020-2656-0_1. ISBN 1-4020-2655-2. "We can only note certain elements in the culture of European Scythia which doubtless have an Asiatic origin and are connected with the cultures of Asia." "In many scholars' opinion it is necessary to distinguish the following cultural components of European Scythia genetically tied with the East: daggers with butterfly-shaped guards, arrowheads early forms, helmets of the Kelermes type, spiked battle-axes, horse-bits, cheek-pieces of the Chernogorovo and Zhabotinsk type, bordered mirrors, bronze cauldrons of the Beshtaugor type and "stag-stones". We can follow the development of some animal style images (deer, boar, and panther) from east to west. There are elements of stylization and degradation on the objects from the western part of the Scythian World
10. Jacobson-Tepfer, Esther (2023). "Deer Stones (pp.155–191)". Monumental Archaeology in the Mongolian Altai. Brill. pp. 156, 160 Figure 7.2. ISBN 978-90-04-54130-6. It is certain that the appearance of the deer stone was coincident with the development of an increasing horse dependency, and at a time when several conditions catalyzed a more stratified, aggressive, and expansive social order. We see that in the wealthy furnishings of the early burials with which deer stones are associated (e.g., Arzhan 1 and 2) and in the weaponry with which they are so often decorated.
11. Pankova, Svetlana; Simpson, St John (21 January 2021). Masters of the Steppe: The Impact of the Scythians and Later Nomad Societies of Eurasia: Proceedings of a conference held at the British Museum, 27-29 October 2017. Archaeopress Publishing Ltd. p. 295. ISBN 978-1-78969-648-6.
12. Fitzhugh, William W. (1 March 2017). "Mongolian Deer Stones, European Menhirs, and Canadian Arctic Inuksuit: Collective Memory and the Function of Northern Monument Traditions". Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory. 24 (1): 165, Figure 14. doi:10.1007/s10816-017-9328-0. ISSN 1573-7764.
13. Chugunov, Konstantin; Nagler, Anatoli; Parzinger, Hermann (2004). "Arzhan 2 : la tombe d'un prince scythe en Sibérie du Sud. Rapport préliminaire des fouilles russo-allemandes de 2000-2002". Arts Asiatiques. 59 (1): 5–29. doi:10.3406/arasi.2004.1513.
14. Oleszczak, L.; Pokutta, D.; Chugunov, K.; Götherström, A. (1 October 2023). "The food culture of the Iron Age nomadic elite from the 'Valley of the Kings' in Tuva: radiocarbon dating, stable carbon and nitrogen analysis of the Chinge Tey barrows (Turan-Uyuk Basin, Russia)". Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports. 51: 104186. doi:10.1016/j.jasrep.2023.104186. ISSN 2352-409X. The archaeological assemblages unearthed at Arzhan 1 serve as a benchmark for other monuments from the same period and provide the earliest example of the Scythian triad, comprising 1) characteristic components of horse harnesses; 2) conventional weaponry; and 3) nomadic art commonly associated with the Scythian animal style
15. Impact of the environment on human migration in Eurasia. Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic. 2004. p. 24. doi:10.1007/1-4020-2656-0_1. ISBN 1-4020-2655-2. p.24 "Figure.2. Royal barrow Arzhan 1: funeral artifacts. 36-39"
16. Jacobson, Esther (1988). "BEYOND THE FRONTIER: A Reconsideration of Cultural Interchange Between China and the Early Nomads" (PDF). Early China. 13: 220. ISSN 0362-5028.
17. Pankova, Svetlana; Simpson, St John (1 January 2017). Scythians: warriors of ancient Siberia. British Museum. pp. 126–127, Items 142–146.
18. Pankova, Svetlana; Simpson, St John (1 January 2017). Scythians: warriors of ancient Siberia. pp. 120–122.
19. Chugunov, K. V.; Parzinger, H.; Nagler, A. (2005). "Chronology and Cultural Affinity of the Kurgan Arzhan-2 Complex According to Archaeological Data". Impact of the Environment on Human Migration in Eurasia. NATO Science Series: IV: Earth and Environmental Sciences. 42. Springer Netherlands: 1–7. doi:10.1007/1-4020-2656-0_1. ISBN 1-4020-2655-2.
20. Man, John (2020). Empire of Horses: The First Nomadic Civilization and the Making of China. New York: Pegasus Books. p. 20. ISBN 978-1-64313-327-0.
21. Panyushkina, Irina P; Slyusarenko, Igor Y; Sala, Renato; Deom, Jean-Marc; Toleubayev, Abdesh T (March 2016). "Calendar Age of the Baigetobe Kurgan from the Iron Age Saka Cemetery in Shilikty Valley, Kazakhstan". Radiocarbon. 58 (1): 157–167. doi:10.1017/RDC.2015.15. hdl:10150/628658.
22. Chugunov, Konstantin; Nagler, Anatoli; Parzinger, Hermann (2004). "Arzhan 2 : la tombe d'un prince scythe en Sibérie du Sud. Rapport préliminaire des fouilles russo-allemandes de 2000-2002". Arts Asiatiques. 59 (1): 26. doi:10.3406/arasi.2004.1513.
23. Gnecchi-Ruscone, Guido Alberto; Khussainova, Elmira; Kahbatkyzy, Nurzhibek; Musralina, Lyazzat; Spyrou, Maria A.; Bianco, Raffaela A.; Radzeviciute, Rita; Martins, Nuno Filipe Gomes; Freund, Caecilia; Iksan, Olzhas; Garshin, Alexander; Zhaniyazov, Zhassulan; Bekmanov, Bakhytzhan; Kitov, Egor; Samashev, Zainolla; Beisenov, Arman; Berezina, Natalia; Berezin, Yakov; Bíró, András Zsolt; Évinger, Sándor; Bissembaev, Arman; Akhatov, Gaziz; Mamedov, Aslan; Onggaruly, Akhan; Voyakin, Dmitriy; Chotbayev, Aidos; Kariyev, Yeldos; Buzhilova, Alexandra; Djansugurova, Leyla; Jeong, Choongwon; Krause, Johannes (26 March 2021). "Ancient genomic time transect from the Central Asian Steppe unravels the history of the Scythians". Science Advances. 7 (13): 7. doi:10.1126/sciadv.abe4414. ISSN 2375-2548. PMC 7997506. The two previously published individuals from the Aldy-Bel culture of the Arzhan 2 site in the Tuva region fall within the main eastern Scythian genetic cluster, confirming that it was present also in the same site where the earliest Scythian burials are found (Fig. 2A).
24. Веселовская, Е.В.; Галеев, Р.М. (2020). "АНТРОПОЛОГИЧЕСКАЯ РЕКОНСТРУКЦИЯ ВНЕШНЕГО ОБЛИКА "ЦАРЯ" И "ЦАРИЦЫ" РАННЕСКИФСКОГО ПОГРЕБАЛЬНО-ПОМИНАЛЬНОГО КОМПЛЕКСА АРЖАН-2" (PDF). Вестник археологии, антропологии и этнографии. 2 (49). In anthropological terms, the buried show a peculiar mosaic of Caucasoid and Mongoloid features. They are characterized by brachycephaly and dome-shaped head, with notably developed rugosity of the supercilium in the man and its absence in the woman. For the man, an average width of the face and a narrow forehead of medium height are noted. The woman has broad face and forehead, the height of the forehead is average. Both portraits are characterized by prominent position of eyeballs and large eyes. Man's nose is short, prominent, with convex dorsum. Woman's nose has a wavy dorsum, and is slightly prominent. On the male portrait, the cheekbones are moderate, on the female one — high and prominent. Faces of the «royal» persons are flattened in the upper part, with a certain degree of alveolar prognathism. The lower jaw of the man is medium in size, narrow in the corners. For the woman, some gracility of the lower jaw can be noted.
25. Pankova, Svetlana; Simpson, St John (1 January 2017). Scythians: warriors of ancient Siberia. British Museum. p. 141, item 74.
26. Shemakhanskaya, Marina; Treister, Mikhail; Yablonsky, Leonid (31 December 2009). "The technique of gold inlaid decoration in the 5th-4th centuries BC: silver and iron finds from the early Sarmatian barrows of Filippovka, Southern Urals". ArcheoSciences. Revue d'archéométrie (in French) (33): 211–220. doi:10.4000/archeosciences.2223. ISSN 1960-1360. The use of the technique of decorating iron and bronze objects with gold inlays by the nomads of Eurasia already in the 7th century BC is attested by the decoration of a battle axe (Čugunov et al., 2006: 121, no. 13, pl. 26) and arrowheads (Čugunov et al., 2006: 123-124, no. 16, pls. 31-32) from the princely Arzhan-2 barrow in Southern Siberia (Armbruster, 2007: 99). This technique remained in use in the period between the 6th and the 4th century BC, as indicated by the finds of: a gold-inlaid iron knife handle in the Shibe barrow in Southern Siberia (Popescu et al., 2001: no. 201), a gold-inlaid iron pin in the barrow no. 22 of the cemetery Doge-Bary in Tuva (Čugunov, 1998: 302, Fig. 16, 3), and the plaques in the barrow no. 3 of the Tasmola-V necropolis in Central Kazakhstan (Popescu et al., 1998: nos. 145-150). The locations of the finds span the vast belt stretching from the Altai Mountains in the east to the Southern Urals in the west.
27. Caspari, Gino; Sadykov, Timur; Blochin, Jegor; Hajdas, Irka (2018-09-01). "Tunnug 1 (Arzhan 0) – an early Scythian kurgan in Tuva Republic, Russia". Archaeological Research in Asia. 15: 82–87. doi:10.1016/j.ara.2017.11.001. ISSN 2352-2267. S2CID 135231553.
28. Sadykov, Timur; Caspari, Gino; Blochin, Jegor; Lösch, Sandra; Kapinus, Yulija; Milella, Marco (16 July 2021). "The Kokel of Southern Siberia: New data on a post-Xiongnu material culture". PLOS ONE. 16 (7): e0254545. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0254545. ISSN 1932-6203. PMC 8284818.
29. Chugunov, Konstantin; Nagler, Anatoli; Parzinger, Hermann (2004). "Arzhan 2 : la tombe d'un prince scythe en Sibérie du Sud. Rapport préliminaire des fouilles russo-allemandes de 2000-2002". Arts Asiatiques. 59 (1): 5–29. doi:10.3406/arasi.2004.1513.
30. Unterländer, Martina; Palstra, Friso; Lazaridis, Iosif; Pilipenko, Aleksandr; Hofmanová, Zuzana; Groß, Melanie; Sell, Christian; Blöcher, Jens; Kirsanow, Karola; Rohland, Nadin; Rieger, Benjamin (2017-03-03). "Ancestry and demography and descendants of Iron Age nomads of the Eurasian Steppe". Nature Communications. 8: 14615. Bibcode:2017NatCo...814615U. doi:10.1038/ncomms14615. ISSN 2041-1723. PMC 5337992. PMID 28256537. The origin of the widespread Scythian culture has long been debated in Eurasian archaeology. The northern Black Sea steppe was originally considered the homeland and centre of the Scythians until Terenozhkin formulated the hypothesis of a Central Asian origin. On the other hand, evidence supporting an east Eurasian origin includes the kurgan Arzhan 1 in Tuva, which is considered the earliest Scythian kurgan. Dating of additional burial sites situated in east and west Eurasia confirmed eastern kurgans as older than their western counterparts. Additionally, elements of the characteristic 'Animal Style' dated to the tenth century BCE were found in the region of the Yenisei river and modern-day China, supporting the early presence of Scythian culture in the East.
31. Mary 2019, p. 10/13.
32. Mary 2019, p. 7/13.
33. Mary, Laura (March 28, 2019). "Genetic kinship and admixture in Iron Age Scytho-Siberians". Human Genetics. 138 (4): 411–423. doi:10.1007/s00439-019-02002-y. PMID 30923892. S2CID 85542410.
34. Mary 2019:"The absence of R1b lineages in the Scytho-Siberian individuals tested so far and their presence in the North Pontic Scythians suggest that these 2 groups had a completely different paternal lineage makeup with nearly no gene flow from male carriers between them"
35. Juras, Anna; Krzewińska, Maja; Nikitin, Alexey G.; Ehler, Edvard (7 March 2017). "Diverse origin of mitochondrial lineages in Iron Age Black Sea Scythians". Scientific Reports. 7 (1): 43950. doi:10.1038/srep43950. ISSN 2045-2322. PMC 5339713. PMID 28266657. "Mitochondrial haplogroup analyses of the NPR Scythians from this study and those from Rostov-on-Don and Pazyryks from Altai and Inner Mongolia, reveal that, for the most part, the same lineages are found in all three groups and are often singularly represented in each group...Otherwise, mt lineage composition is comparable in all three groups of the Scythian horizon which supports their shared maternal genetic roots founded on the common east and west Eurasian substrate with an input from neighboring populations. The genetic influx of East Eurasian haplotypes might be the result of establishing relationships between migrants with European ancestry and women of east Eurasian origin as was previously proposed by66 in case of Iron Age south Siberian populations."
36. Unterländer, Martina; Palstra, Friso; Lazaridis, Iosif; Pilipenko, Aleksandr (3 March 2017). "Ancestry and demography and descendants of Iron Age nomads of the Eurasian Steppe". Nature Communications. 8 (1): 14615. doi:10.1038/ncomms14615. ISSN 2041-1723. PMC 5337992. PMID 28256537. "These findings are consistent with the appearance of east Eurasian mitochondrial lineages in the western Scythians during the Iron Age, and imply gene-flow or migration over the Eurasian Steppe belt carrying East Asian/North Siberian ancestry from the East to the West as far as the Don-Volga region in southern Russia."
37. Gnecchi-Ruscone, Guido Alberto; Khussainova, Elmira; Kahbatkyzy, Nurzhibek; Musralina, Lyazzat (26 March 2021). "Ancient genomic time transect from the Central Asian Steppe unravels the history of the Scythians". Science Advances. 7 (13): eabe4414. Bibcode:2021SciA....7.4414G. doi:10.1126/sciadv.abe4414. ISSN 2375-2548. PMC 7997506. PMID 33771866. See Fig. 3A.
38. "Genetics has dispelled many myths in the history of the peoples of Central Asia". kgcode.akipress.org (in Russian). Retrieved 2024-07-22.
39. "Are Kazakhs and Kyrgyz genetic brothers?". vlast.kz (in Russian). 2017-10-13. Retrieved 2024-07-22.

External links

• Arzhan - a Scythian royal necropolis in Tuva, Southern Siberia
• Archaeology in Tuva – Scythian Gold From Siberia Said to Predate the Greeks