Kurgan | burial mound

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Such a practice could occur only as the consequence of collective and simultaneous cremation. There must, therefore, have existed a periodic cremation season or date, as for the opening…</p><a class="read-more" href="/topic/Slavic-religion/Communal-banquets-and-related-practices#ref533510">Read More</a></li></ul></li></ul></section><section><h3>history of</h3><ul class="list-unstyled"></ul><ul class="list-unstyled"><li><strong>Scythian art</strong><ul class="list-unstyled"><li><div class="md-assembly-wrapper card-media" data-type="image"><img src="https://cdn.britannica.com/08/4008-004-C978372F/belt-buckle-turquoise-inlay-Siberia-Hermitage-St.jpg?w=300" alt="Scythian gold belt buckle" data-width="371" data-height="250" loading="lazy"></div> <span class="index-xref">In <a href="https://www.britannica.com/art/Scythian-art#ref1216727" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Scythian art</a></span><p class="topic-paragraph">…excavations of a number of kurgans throughout Central Asia and elsewhere have uncovered thousands of gold objects (often in a single kurgan), as well as bronze, iron, silver, and electrum artifacts. Those objects demonstrate Scythian knowledge and mastery of metal casting, plastic shaping, joining, decorative, and finishing techniques.</p><a class="read-more" href="/art/Scythian-art#ref1216727">Read More</a></li></ul></li><li><strong>Scythian people</strong><ul class="list-unstyled"><li><div class="md-assembly-wrapper card-media" data-type="image"><img src="https://cdn.britannica.com/08/4008-004-C978372F/belt-buckle-turquoise-inlay-Siberia-Hermitage-St.jpg?w=300" alt="Scythian gold belt buckle" data-width="371" data-height="250" loading="lazy"></div> <span class="index-xref">In <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Scythian#ref1216724" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Scythian</a></span><p class="topic-paragraph">…Russian and other anthropologists excavating kurgans in such places as Tyva and Kazakhstan.</p><a class="read-more" href="/topic/Scythian#ref1216724">Read More</a></li><li><div class="md-assembly-wrapper card-media" data-type="image"><img src="https://cdn.britannica.com/08/4008-004-C978372F/belt-buckle-turquoise-inlay-Siberia-Hermitage-St.jpg?w=300" alt="Scythian gold belt buckle" data-width="371" data-height="250" loading="lazy"></div> <span class="index-xref">In <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Scythian#ref1216725" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Scythian</a></span><p class="topic-paragraph">…left elaborate graves—such as the kurgans in the Valley of the Tsars (or Kings) near Arzhan, 40 miles (60 km) from Kyzyl, Tyva—filled with richly worked articles of gold, as well as beads of turquoise, carnelian, and amber, and many other valuable objects. This class of chieftains, the Royal Scyths,…</p><a class="read-more" href="/topic/Scythian#ref1216725">Read More</a></li></ul></li><li><strong>Steppe cultures</strong><ul class="list-unstyled"><li><div class="md-assembly-wrapper card-media" data-type="image"><img src="https://cdn.britannica.com/45/4445-050-4DACC152/Extent-Eurasian-steppes.jpg" alt="Eurasian steppes" data-width="2000" data-height="1324" loading="lazy"></div> <span class="index-xref">In <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/the-Steppe/Emergence-of-the-pastoral-way-of-life#ref367570" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">the Steppe: The great dispersal</a></span><p class="topic-paragraph">…a very large number of kurgans—i.e., mounds of earth raised atop chieftains’ graves—exist in the Western Steppe attests to the availability of relatively abundant manpower in ancient times, but, again, such monuments were raised by a chieftain’s followers, who were gathered for the purpose from afar and temporarily.</p><a class="read-more" href="/place/the-Steppe/Emergence-of-the-pastoral-way-of-life#ref367570">Read More</a></li></ul></li><li><strong>Transcaucasia</strong><ul class="list-unstyled"><li> <span class="index-xref">In <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/history-of-Transcaucasia-602396#ref481252" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">history of Transcaucasia</a></span><p class="topic-paragraph">…thousands of burial mounds, or kurgans, on the steppes of Ciscaucasia. This Kuban culture, which lasted through the Late Bronze Age into Early Iron Age times, was undoubtedly stimulated by contact with the higher civilization of Mesopotamia. The grave furniture of the kurgans, as in the famous royal grave at…</p><a class="read-more" href="/topic/history-of-Transcaucasia-602396#ref481252">Read More</a></li></ul></li></ul></section></section></div><div id="chatbot-root"></div> </div> </div> </div> <aside class="col-md-da-320" data-page="1"></aside> </div> </div> </div> </div> </article> </div> </div> </div> </div> </main> <div id="md-footer"></div> <noscript><iframe src="//www.googletagmanager.com/ns.html?id=GTM-5W6NC8" height="0" width="0" style="display:none;visibility:hidden"></iframe></noscript> <script type="text/javascript" id="_informizely_script_tag"> var IzWidget = IzWidget || {}; (function (d) { var scriptElement = d.createElement('script'); scriptElement.type = 'text/javascript'; scriptElement.async = true; scriptElement.src = "https://insitez.blob.core.windows.net/site/f780f33e-a610-4ac2-af81-3eb184037547.js"; var node = d.getElementById('_informizely_script_tag'); node.parentNode.insertBefore(scriptElement, node); } )(document); </script>  <script> window.ap3c = window.ap3c || {}; var ap3c = window.ap3c; ap3c.cmd = ap3c.cmd || []; ap3c.cmd.push(function() { ap3c.init('ZO4siT4cLwnykPnzZWJtd3Byb2Q', 'https://engage.email.britannica.com/'); ap3c.track({v: 0}); }); ap3c.activity = function(act) { ap3c.act = (ap3c.act || []); ap3c.act.push(act); }; var s, t; s = document.createElement('script'); s.type = 'text/javascript'; s.src = "https://engage.email.britannica.com/app.js"; t = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0]; t.parentNode.insertBefore(s, t); </script> <script class="marketing-page-info" type="application/json"> {"pageType":"Topic","templateName":"INDEX","pageNumber":1,"pagesTotal":1,"pageId":1799374,"pageLength":0,"initialLoad":true,"lastPageOfScroll":false} </script> <script class="marketing-content-info" type="application/json"> [] </script> <script src="https://cdn.britannica.com/mendel-resources/3-133/js/libs/jquery-3.5.0.min.js?v=3.133.9"></script> <script type="text/javascript" data-type="Init Mendel Code Splitting"> (function() { $.ajax({ dataType: 'script', cache: true, url: 'https://cdn.britannica.com/mendel-resources/3-133/dist/topic-page.js?v=3.133.9' }); })(); </script> <script class="analytics-metadata" type="application/json"> {"leg":"D","adLeg":"C","userType":"ANONYMOUS","pageType":"Topic","pageSubtype":null,"articleTemplateType":"INDEX","gisted":false,"pageNumber":1,"hasSummarizeButton":false,"hasAskButton":false} </script> <script type="text/javascript"> EBStat={accountId:-1,hostnameOverride:'webstats.eb.com',domain:'www.britannica.com', json:''}; </script> <script type="text/javascript"> ( function() { $.ajax( { dataType: 'script', cache: true, url: '//www.britannica.com/webstats/mendelstats.js?v=1' } ) .done( function() { try {writeStat(null,EBStat);} catch(err){} } ); })(); </script> <div id="bc-fixed-dialogue"></div> </body> </html>

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Kurgan | burial mound | Britannica