Archaeology, Ethnology & Anthropology of Eurasia 40 (4) 2012

Annotation:  The Paleolithic of Dzungaria (Xinjiang, Northwest China) Based on Materials from the Luotuoshi Site Excavations at the Bairaki Lower Paleolithic Site, Trans-Dniesteria, in 2011 Upper Paleolithic Rock Crystal Artifacts from the Southeastern Shore of Lake Bolshiye Allaki, the So The Use of Animal Hair in Ceramic Manufacturing at the Tytkesken-2 Neolithic Site, Western Siberia Kyordyughen Site, Ymyiakhtakh Culture, Yakutia: An Interpretation of Burial Rite An Analysis of Mitochondrial DNA from the Pakhomovskaya Population of the Late Bronze Age, Western S Kozlov Mys-2 Burial Ground and Issues of Chronology for the Early to Late Iron Age Transition in the New Early Iron Age Statue from Sary-Arka “Horse-Headed” Staffs and the Cult of the Horse Head in Northwestern Asia in the 2nd Millennium BC Ceramics of the Ulakhan-Segelennyakh Culture, Early Bronze Age, Yakutia Scythian Burial Mound of the 4th Century BC at Kremenevka, Northeastern Azov Region A Carnelian Cabochon from Tashara-Karier-2, the Upper Ob Basin: Technological Issues Soils of an Early Medieval (4th–6th Centuries) Settlement in the Middle Tobol Region and their Paleo Folklore Parallels Between Siberia and South Asia and the Mythology of the Eurasian Steppes   

“Horse-Headed” Staffs and the Cult of the Horse Head in Northwestern Asia in the 2nd Millennium BC

I.V. Kovtun.

This article analyzes the semantics of staffs with the sculptural representations of horse heads. Such staffs were discovered in the steppe and forest-steppe Ob-Irtysh region; they date back to the beginning or the fi rst half of the 2nd millennium BC. Stylistically early and later objects are identifi ed. The study provides some parallels with Siberian ethnographic data and the mythology of the Indo-European peoples. The Indo-Aryan semantic content of the Vedic mythological tradition is used for interpreting the meaning of the staffs. The article suggests that the semantic range of the “horse-headed” stone staffs and the Seima-Turbino pommel belongs to the worldview of the carriers of the Indo-Aryan dialects.

Keywords: Staff, Ob-Irtysh region, Indo-Aryans, Rig Veda, horse-headed, mythology.