Kurgan

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Russia. A dig led by Russian Academy of Sciences Archeology Institute Prof. L. Yablonsky excavated this kurgan in 2006. It is the first kurgan known to have been completely destroyed and then rebuilt to its original appearance.

A kurgan is a type of tumulus 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 much of Central Asia and Eastern, Southeast, Western and Northern Europe during the 3rd millennium BC.[1]

The earliest kurgans date to the 4th millennium BC in the

Middle Ages, with ancient traditions still active in Southern Siberia
and Central Asia.

Etymology

According to the Etymological dictionary of the Ukrainian language the word "kurhan" is borrowed directly from the "Polovtsian" language (Kipchak, part of the Turkic languages) and means: fortress, embankment, high grave.[4] The word has two possible etymologies, either from the Old Turkic root qori- "to close, to block, to guard, to protect", or qur- "to build, to erect, furnish or stur". According to Vasily Radlov it may be a cognate to qorγan, meaning "fortification, fortress or a castle".[5]

The Russian noun, already attested in

tumuli in the context of Eastern European and Central Asian archaeology.[citation needed
]

Origins and spread

Some sceptre graves could have been covered with a tumulus, placing the first kurgans as early as the 5th millennium BC in eastern Europe. However, this hypothesis is not unanimous.[7] Kurgans were used in Ukrainian and Russian steppes, their use spreading with migration into southern, central, and northern Europe in the 3rd millennium BC.[8][9] Later, Kurgan barrows became characteristic of

Altay Mountains.[citation needed
]

Kurgan hypothesis

The

Kurgan culture of the Black Sea and the Caucasus and west of the Urals. Introduced by Marija Gimbutas in 1956, it combines kurgan archaeology with linguistics to locate the origins of the peoples who spoke the Proto-Indo-European language. She tentatively named the culture "Kurgan" after its distinctive burial mounds and traced its diffusion into Europe. The hypothesis has had a significant impact on Indo-European studies
.

Scholars who follow Gimbutas identify a "Kurgan culture" as reflecting an early Proto-Indo-European ethnicity that existed in the steppes and in southeastern Europe from the 5th millennium to the 3rd millennium BC. In Kurgan cultures, most burials were in kurgans, either clan or individual. Most prominent leaders were buried in individual kurgans, now called "royal kurgans". More elaborate than clan kurgans and containing grave goods, royal kurgans have attracted the most attention and publicity.

Scytho-Siberian monuments

The monuments of these cultures coincide with the

Scytho-Siberian classification includes monuments from the 8th to the 3rd century BC. This period is called the Early or Ancient

Nomads epoch. "Hunnic" monuments date from the 3rd century BC to the 6th century AD, and Turkic ones from the 6th century AD to the 13th century AD, leading up to the Mongolian epoch.[citation needed
]

Usage

Architecture

Burial mounds are complex structures with internal chambers. Within the burial chamber at the heart of the kurgan, elite individuals were buried with grave goods and sacrificial offerings, sometimes including horses and

mythological
ideas.

Common components

Inside view of the Thracian mound tomb at Sveshtari, Bulgaria

In all periods, the development of the kurgan structure tradition in the various ethnocultural zones is revealed by common components or typical features in the construction of the monuments. They include:

  • funeral chambers
  • tombs
  • surface and underground constructions of different configurations
  • a mound of earth or stone, with or without an entrance
  • funeral, ritual, and other traits
  • the presence of an altar in the chamber
  • stone fence
  • moat
  • bulwark
  • the presence of an entryway into the chamber, into the tomb, into the fence, or into the kurgan
  • the location of a sacrificial site on the embankments, inside the mound, inside the moat, inside the embankments, and in their links, entryways, and around the kurgan
  • the location of a fire pit in the chamber
  • a wooden roof over or under the kurgan, at the top of the kurgan, or around the kurgan
  • the location of stone statues, columns, poles and other objects; bypass passages inside the kurgan, inside tombs, or around the kurgan
  • funeral paths from the moat or bulwark.

Depending on the combination of these elements, each historical and cultural nomadic zone has certain architectural distinctions.

Pre-Scytho-Sibirian kurgans (Bronze Age)

In the Bronze Age, kurgans were built with stone reinforcements. Some of them are believed to be Scythian burials with built-up soil, and embankments reinforced with stone (Olhovsky, 1991).

Pre-Scytho-Sibirian kurgans were surface kurgans. Wooden or stone tombs were constructed on the surface or underground and then covered with a kurgan. The kurgans of Bronze culture across Europe and Asia were similar to housing; the methods of house construction were applied to the construction of the tombs.[13] Kurgan Ak-su - Aüly (12th–11th centuries BC) with a tomb covered by a pyramidal timber roof under a kurgan has space surrounded by double walls serving as a bypass corridor. This design has analogies with Begazy, Sanguyr, Begasar, and Dandybay kurgans.[13] These building traditions survived into the early Middle Ages, to the 8th–10th centuries AD.

The Bronze Pre-Scytho-Sibirian culture developed in close similarity with the cultures of

Altai, Kazakhstan, southern, and southeast Amur
regions.

Some kurgans had facing or tiling. One tomb in Ukraine has 29 large limestone slabs set on end in a circle underground. They were decorated with carved geometrical ornamentation of rhombuses, triangles, crosses, and on one slab, figures of people. Another example has an earthen kurgan under a wooden cone of thick logs topped by an ornamented cornice up to 2 m in height.

Scytho-Siberian kurgans (Early Iron Age)

kurgan near Kerch

The Scytho-Siberian kurgans in the Early Iron Age have grandiose mounds throughout the Eurasian continent.[15]

Gender

Females were buried in about 20% of graves of the lower and middle Volga river region during the

Volga contained females dressed for battle as if they were men, a phenomenon that probably inspired the Greek tales about the Amazons."[16]
A near-equal ratio of male-to-female graves was found in the eastern
Manych steppes and KubanAzov steppes during the Yamna culture.[16] In Ukraine, the ratio was intermediate between the other two regions.[16]

Archaeological remains

The most obvious archeological remains associated with the Scythians are the great burial mounds, some over 20 m high, which dot the Ukrainian and Russian steppe belts and extend in great chains for many kilometers along ridges and watersheds. From them much has been learnt about Scythian life and art.[17]

Excavated kurgans

Some excavated kurgans include:

Kurgans in Poland

Memorial of the Battle of Varna, which took place on 10 November 1444 near Varna, Bulgaria. The facade of the mausoleum is built into the side of an ancient Thracian tomb.

Kurgan building has a long history in Poland. The Polish word for kurgan is kopiec or kurhan. Some excavated kurgans in Poland:

  • Burial mounds of the Unetice culture include fourteen kurgans dated to 2000–1800 BC[24]
  • Kraśnik Neolithic (Stone Age) kurhans
  • Tombs at Pleśnik[25]
  • Trawiasta Buczyna — hundreds of stone kurhans dated to 1200–1000 BC
  • Skalbmierz has kurgans dated 4000 BC.[26]
  • Zambrow[27]
  • Mounds at Jawczyce were described by Bishop Nankerus in 1322. Kurgan mounds dated to the Neolithic or Bronze Age included a burial of an elderly person, probably male. Some weapons and pottery fragments were also found in the tomb.[28]
  • Near Sieradz a tomb dated to the Trzciniec culture of c. 1500 BC contains a man and woman buried together.
  • A kurgan burial site at Łubna-Jakusy and a kurgan cremation near Guciów are examples of Trzciniec culture of c. 1500 BC.
  • The Krakus Mound is located in Kraków. Legend says it is the burial place of Krakus, founder of the city.
  • Wanda Mound, burial place of the daughter of Krakus, is located in Kraków.
  • Piłakno near Mrągowo, excavated in 1988, is an example of west Baltic kurhan culture.[29]
  • In
    Bełchatow there is a pagan temple built upon a kurgan. Dating of this structure awaited results of carbon 14 tests in 2001.[30]
  • The mound called Kopiec Tatarski at Przemyśl is triangular in shape, 10 meters in length, and pointing east. In 1869, T. Żebrawski found bones and ancient coins. In 1958, A. Kunysz found skulls and bones and medieval ceramics. a structure called Templum S. Leonardi was constructed around 1534 on top of the mound; it was destroyed in World War II.
  • Kopiec Esterki was erected in the 14th century by
    Casimir III of Poland
    for his deceased wife.
  • Burial tomb of
    burial mound
    ).
  • Kościuszko Mound in Kraków was completed in November 1823 as a memorial to Tadeusz Kościuszko
  • The Union of Lublin Mound was completed in Lviv in 1980. Artificial mound in modern-day Ukraine.
  • A Mound of Immortality was constructed to honor poet Adam Mickiewicz in 1898.
  • Kopiec Wyzwolenia (Mound of Liberation) commemorates the 250th anniversary of the passage of the Polish Hussars through the city of Piekary Śląskie under John III Sobieski. It was completed in 1937.[31]
  • Piłsudski's Mound in Kraków honors Polish general and politician Józef Piłsudski.

See also

References

  1. ^ Random House Unabridged Dictionary (2019). "Kurgan". Dictionary.com. Random House.
  2. ^ Kipfer 2000, p. 291.
  3. ^ Mallory & Adams 1997, p. 339.
  4. ^ Етимологічний словник української мови: В 7 т. / АН УРСР. Ін-т мовознавства ім. О. О. Потебні; Редкол. О. С. Мельничук (головний ред.) та ін. — К.: Наук. думка, 1983. Т. 3: Кора — М / Укл.: Р. В. Болдирєв та ін. — 1989. — 552 с. стр. 152
  5. ^ Acta philologica. Vol. 5. University of Warsaw. 1972. p. 175.
  6. ^ Vasmer, Max (1953–1958). Russisches etymologisches Wörterbuch. Heidelberg: Winter. p. 2424. Retrieved 27 July 2015.
  7. ^ Govedarica 2016, p. 85.
  8. ^ "Kazakhstan will provide tourists with an access to Saka kurgans". www.advantour.com. Retrieved 2019-09-13.
  9. ^ Turbat, Tsagaan. "First Excavation of Pazyryk Kurgans in Mongolian Altai". {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  10. ^ Akishev K.A., Kushaev G.A., Ancient culture of Sakas and Usuns in the valley of river Ili, Alma-Ata, Kazakh SSR Academy of Sciences publication, 1963, pp. 121–36
  11. ^ "Ice Mummies: Siberian Ice Maiden". PBS – NOVA. Retrieved 2007-07-31.
  12. ^ "Golden Mountains of Altai". UNESCO. Retrieved 2007-07-31.
  13. ^ a b Margulan A.N., "Architecture of the ancient period" in the Architecture of Kazakhstan, 1956, Alma-Ata, (pp 9-95)
  14. ^ British Museum
  15. ^ "Salbyksky mound". unknownsiberia. Retrieved 2014-05-09.
  16. ^ .
  17. ^ John Boardman, I.E.S. Edwards, E. Sollberger, N.G.L. Hammond. It The Cambridge Ancient History. Cambridge University Press. (1992), p. 550[ISBN missing]
  18. ^ Rose, M., Cudgel Culture Archaeology, March/April, 2002[dead link]
  19. ^ Honour and Fleming, 124
  20. ^ Honour and Fleming, 123
  21. ^ Piotrovsky, 29
  22. ^ "Hsiung-Nu", Siberia, Hostkingdom, archived from the original on 2007-01-27, retrieved 2018-12-12.
  23. ^ "Мелитопольский городской краеведческий музей - MGK Мелитополь". www.mgk.zp.ua. Archived from the original on 2022-12-04. Retrieved 2022-03-10.
  24. ^ Polish Wikipedia
  25. ^ Mogily, PL: GDA, archived from the original on 2006-11-08, retrieved 2007-04-11
  26. ^ Skalbmierz, PL: Krakow.
  27. ^ Cieciorkami, PL: Ugzambrow, archived from the original (JPEG) on 2007-02-22, retrieved 2007-04-11.
  28. ^ Mounds in Jawczycach, Odyssei, archived from the original on 2016-03-03, retrieved 2007-04-11.
  29. ^ Historycy.
  30. ^ Odkrywca. nr1(25), 01.2001, Historycy, archived from the original on May 14, 2013.
  31. ^ Polish Wikipedia

Sources

Further reading

External links

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