Scythian gold belt buckle of figures resting under a tree & the wooden headress of Pazyryk barrow #5, 4th-3rd C. BCE
On the Scythian gold belt buckle: "This outstanding and very famous object has been published many many times, as its imagery contains much that is synonymous with what we know about the Scythians. This scene is often referred to in literature as 'resting under the tree', and parallels may be drawn to surviving costume, hairstyles and weaponry of the Scythians. However, it should also be examined within a mythological context, as the presence of anthropomorphic characters in the art of the ancient nomads had a high degree of semantic significance, as did the special status of their owners. This is why the female deity, associated with the earth and flora - the tree in this scene is an allusion to the 'Tree of Life' - may represent the 'Great Mother', who was a giver of life but was also associated with underworld powers. Wedding rituals went hand in hand with ideas of death and funerary rites in archaic communities. The central quiver hanging from the branches of the tree recalls Herodotus' account of the important role the quiver played in the wedding symbolism of the nomads: 'There, when a man desires a woman, he hangs his quiver before her wagon, and has intercourse with her. none hindering' []. It appears that this entire scene may refer to a mythical story where the death of the protagonist parallels his marriage to the 'Great Mother'. This sacred union was seen as a requisite for the renewal of life and the completion of the full cycle of birth, death, and rebirth of all living creatures."
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On the Scythian wooden headdress: "The base of this female headdress is a flat-topped wooden cap. Rectangular grooves on either side originally held thin ear-like plates with a smooth edge along the bottom, of which only the right one survives. The flat top of the cap was covered with leather. Two circular holes measuring 1.5-2cm across were made in the nape and four more in the crown (one in the centre and three around the edges). On either side of these are two short hollow cylinders covered in silk and attached to the wooden base by sinew passed through small holes. A row of small holes was drilled through the back, and three of these still contain scraps of sinew. It appears that the headdress originally had a nape cover made of soft material, either cloth, felt or leather, and the entire headdress may have been covered in cloth. This headdress was attached directly to the dark blonde hair of the woman who wore it. Her hair was largely shaved off but left intact on the crown. This portion was then divided into two braids looped through circular holes in the centre of the wooden cap, and wrapped around a black horsehair cord. Wool thread with thick, light-colored felt strips secured the entire headdress to the top of her head. Another braid, about 37cm long and made from the hair of the same woman with two woolen cords, was tied to the top of the headdress with twine and knotted at the top and the bottom.
Despite some similar features, the wooden base of this mid-third-century BCE headdress-wig from burial mound 5 at Pazyryk is different from earlier wigs. It most closely resembles the female headdress depicted on the belt plaques with the 'under the tree scene' from the Siberian Collection of Peter the Great. It is possible that the woman who wore this was a foreign consort of the chieftain buried in the fifth burial mound at Pazyryk, and this is supported by the fact that her tattoos include designs which are uncommon in Pazyryk imagery, but instead resemble those found to the west."
-Scythians, warriors of ancient Siberia. Edited by St. John Simpson and Svetlana Pankova. The British Museum.
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| Scythian gold belt buckle of figures resting under a tree 4th-3rd C. BCE. H. 12.3, L. 16.1 cm, Wt. 465.04g. Southern Siberia. |
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| Wooden headdress with pigtail. Pazyryk barrow no. 5. 252-238 BCE. Wood, leather, hair, wool, felt, silk. H. c. 40, diam. 17.8 cm. See 'Scythian mummy tomb (fifth Pazyryk kurgan), Pazyryk culture 4th-3rd C. BCE' post on my blog for more info on this burial. |
Source:
https://depts.washington.edu/silkroad/museums/shm/shmpazyryk.html
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/waldemar-januszczak-art-review-scythians-british-museum-6b0r33zlt
https://quirkylenses.com/adornments-by-flora-fauna-face/
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/427701295863559793/
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