Archaeologists in Siberia have unearthed a 2,500-year-old tomb holding the remains of four people of ancient Tagar culture, including two warriors, a male and a female – and a mound of their metal weapons.
The Iron Age funerals included the skeletal remains of a Tagarian man, woman, infant and old woman, as well as a group of weapons and artifacts, including a bronze dagger, a knife, an ax, a bronze mirror, and a small comb made of an animal horn. Was involved. According to the Siberian branch of the Russian Academy.
The Tagar culture, a part of the Scythian civilization (nomadic warriors who now lived in southern Siberia), often bury their dead with miniature versions of real-life objects, likely to symbolize the wealth, which in this life Was necessary. In this case, however, the dead were laid to rest with full-size objects, archaeologists said.
related: Image Gallery: Ancient treasure discovered in Russia
It is not yet clear how these individuals died, but they probably died due to a disease, archaeologists said.
A team from the institute Archeology And ethnography found burials in the southern part of Khaksia, a region in Siberia, that preceded construction work on a railroad. The discovery is remarkable, given that the tomb robbers looted the most famous Tagarian tombs, Yuri Vitalievich Teterin, head of excavations, Said in a statement. (Note, this culture differs from the TV drama in the fictional “Targyren” dynasty)game of Thrones. “)
The remains of the man and woman, who likely died in their 30s or 40s, were placed on their backs, each with large ceramic utensils next to them. According to the statement, the man had two sets of weapons (two bronze daggers and two axes), and the woman had one set. The woman’s weapon, a long-handled instrument, perhaps including a handcuff or battle ax, was an unusual discovery; Tagarians often buried their women with weapons, but they were usually long-range weapons, such as archery, Oleg Andreevich Mitko, a leader of excavation and head of archeology at Novosibirsk State University in Russia.
Archaeologists found that the infant’s remains were in bad shape.
“The remains of a newborn baby, no more than a month old, were also found for burial, but fragments of its skeletons were scattered throughout the grave, possibly as a result of rodent activity,” Olga Betanina, anthropologist at Archeology The Pelodata Laboratory of Natural Scientific Methods, the statement said.
In the feet of man and woman, lay the remains of a large woman, about 60 years of age; His body was positioned on his right side, his knees bent. Beside him, archaeologists found a small porcelain pot and a comb with broken teeth.
It is not clear how these people related to each other, but are forthcoming DNA Analysis may reveal whether they had family ties.
The Tagar culture lasted for about 500 years, about the eighth to the third century BCE; According to the statement, its people were spread across the Minusinsk basin, a landscape that is a mixture of steppe, forest-steppe and foothills.
Archaeologists have a busy schedule ahead of them. Survey work in 2019 revealed more than 10 archaeological sites, of which nine were directly in the railroad development area. This excavation is one of those sites.
Originally published on Live Science.