Archaeology, Ethnology & Anthropology of Eurasia 46 (4) 2018   DOI: 10.17746/1563-0110.2018.46.4.067-073

Annotation:  Ivory Figurines and the Symbolic Context of a Paleolithic Dwelling at Kovrizhka IV on the Lower Viti On the Interpretation of Stelae in the Cult Complexes of Northern Mesopotamia During the Pre-Pottery A Study of Finds from Excavation I at Suchu Island, the Lower Amur (the 1974 Field Season) Jade Artifacts from Bronze Age Cemeteries in the Cis-Olkhon Area, the Western Coast of Lake Baikal Sherubai-1: An Andronovo (Fedorovka) Cemetery in Central Kazakhstan Technologies Involved in Manufacturing Wooden Horns for the Ceremonial Masks of Horses from the Pazy On the Time and Context of the Earliest Bronze Mirrors in the Northern Pontic Region Procession of Horsemen on a Gold Plaque from the Siberian Collection of Peter I A Mongolian Era Female Headdress from the Upper Ob Basin Ancient Irrigated Soils of the Bozok Archaeological District, Northern Kazakhstan (11th to 12th Cent Chthonic Animals in the Traditional Buryat Culture Reconstruction of Wooden and Earthen Buildings in 17th to 18th-Century Russian Forts in Siberia: The Application of the Blue-Intensity Method for Dating Wooden Buildings in Siberia The Eastern Slavic Population of Central Asia After the Collapse of the USSR: Ethno-Demographic Proc An Unusual Burial of a Xiongnu-Sarmatian Era Warrior in the Western Siberian Forest-Steppe: Results Armed Violence Among the Altai Mountains Pastoralists of the Xiongnu-Sarmatian Age “Abandoned, Tied, Flexed”: An Anthropological Study of an Unusual Late Sarmatian Burial in the South   

Procession of Horsemen on a Gold Plaque
from the Siberian Collection of Peter I

M.A. Ochir-Goryaeva

Khalikov Institute of Archaeology, Tatarstan Academy of Sciences, Butlerova 30, Kazan, 420012, Russia

Kalmyk Research Center, Russian Academy of Sciences, Ilishkina 8, Elista, 358000, Russia

This article describes a group of horsemen depicted on a plaque decorating a rectangular gold casing from the Siberian Collection of Peter I. On the basis of a drawing of the item, published in 1890, the number of characters, their postures, and state are assessed. Four horsemen are evidently alive and three are dead. The absence of stirrups indicates the Scytho-Sarmatian age. Judging by the evidence relating to the transportation of the dead among the Turco-Mongol peoples, the scene may be that of a funeral procession. In certain early nomadic burials, the “straddling” position of the deceased (supine with flexed and widely spread legs) is suggestive of dancing or riding. According to a convincing hypothesis proposed by O.V Obelchenko, who reported such cases in the kurgans of Sogd dating to the 2nd to 1st century BC, the straddling posture of the deceased likely suggests that they had been transported to the grave in the saddle. The funeral procession shown on the gold plaque supports such an interpretation. The scene, however, is hardly mundane. More likely, the characters are those of the Scytho-Sarmatian mythology or folklore.

Keywords: Siberian collection, Peter I, gold plaque, horsemen, Scythians, transportation, deceased, burials, “straddling” position