Kurgan
193918
221255022
2008-06-23T18:57:27Z
William Avery
1398
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[[Image:LYablonskyFilipovkaKurganR1.jpg|thumb|right|300px| [[Sarmatian]] Kurgan 4th c. BC, Fillipovka, S.Urals, [[Russian Federation]]. This kurgan was excavated in a dig led by [[Russian Academy of Sciences]] Archeology Institute Prof. L.Yablonsky, Summer of 2006. It is the first known kurgan to be completely destroyed and then rebuilt to its original appearance.]]
'''Kurgan''' ({{lang-ru|курга́н}}) is the [[Russian language|Russian]] word (of [[Turkic languages|Turkic]] origin<ref>specifically of [[Tatar language|Tatar]] original according to the [[OED]]. [[Turkish Language Association|TDK]] Dictionary: [http://www.tdk.gov.tr/TR/SozBul.aspx?F6E10F8892433CFFAAF6AA849816B2EF05A79F75456518CA&Kelime=kurgan Kurgan]; The word kurgan ‘funerary mound’, is not only diffused in Russia, but throughout South-Eastern Europe (Ru. kurgán, ORu. kurganu, Ukr. kurhán, BRu. kurhan, Pol. kurhan, kurchan, kuran ‘mound’; Rumanian gurgan, dial. Hung. korhány), from Tatar, Tat., Osm., Kum. ''kurgan'', [[Old Turkic]] ''kurgan'' "fortification", , Kirg. and Jagat. ''korgan'', Karakirg. ''korgon'', all from Turkotat. ''kurgamak'' "fortify", ''kurmak'' "erect".{{Fact|date=June 2007}}</ref>) for a [[tumulus]], a type of [[burial mound]] or barrow, heaped over a [[burial chamber]], often of wood.<ref>"kurgan." Webster's Third New International Dictionary, Unabridged. Merriam-Webster, 2002. http://unabridged.merriam-webster.com (14 October 2006). </ref>
The distribution of such tumuli in [[Eastern Europe]] corresponds closely to the area of the [[Pit Grave]] or [[Kurgan culture]] in [[South-Eastern Europe]].<ref>[[Mario Alinei]] 'Interdisciplinary and linguistic evidence for Paleolithic continuity of Indo-European, Uralic and Altaic populations in Eurasia', 2003</ref>
Kurgans were built in the [[Eneolithic]], [[Bronze Age|Bronze]], [[Iron Age|Iron]], [[classical antiquity|Antiquity]] and [[Middle Age]], with old traditions still smoldering in Southern [[Siberia]] and [[Central Asia]]. In time and space Kurgan Cultures are divided into a multitude of archeological cultures, most famous among them are [[Srubna culture|Timber Grave]], [[Pit Grave]], [[Scythian]], [[Sarmatian]], [[Hunnish]] and [[Kuman]]-[[Kipchak]] cultures.
A plethora of placenames that include the word "kurgan" spread from [[Lake Baikal]] to the [[Black Sea]].
==Archaeology==
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Kurgan type barrows were characteristic of [[Bronze Age]] peoples, from the [[Altay Mountains]] to the [[Caucasus]], [[Romania]], and [[Bulgaria]]. Sometimes, burial mounds are quite complex structures with internal chambers. Within the burial chamber at the heart of the kurgan, members of the elite were buried with grave goods and sacrificial offerings, sometimes including horses and chariots. Kurgans were originally in use in the Russian Steppes but later spreading into eastern, central, and northern [[Europe]] in the third millennium BC.
Frequently the monuments of these cultures are grouped territorially and coincide with the zone of [[Scythian]]-[[Saka]]-[[Siberian]] [[monuments]]. For Scythian-Saka-Siberian monuments they are preceding cultures, have a number of the common features, and sometimes common genetic roots.<ref>Akishev K.A., Kushaev G.A., 'Ancient culture of Sakas and Usuns in the valley of river Ili', Alma-Ata, Kazakh SSR Academy of Sciences publication, 1963 (pp 121 - 136)</ref> The [[Pazyryk]], an ancient people who lived in the [[Altai Mountains]] lying in Siberian [[Russia]] on the [[Ukok Plateau]], near the borders with [[China]], [[Kazakhstan]] and [[Mongolia]] have also be associated with these spectacular burial mounds.<ref name="nova">{{cite web
|url=http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/transcripts/2517siberian.html
|title=Ice Mummies: Siberian Ice Maiden
|publisher=PBS - NOVA
|accessdate=2007-07-31
}}
</ref> The archaeological site on the Ukok Plateau associated with the [[Pazyryk culture]] is included in the [[Golden Mountains of Altai]] [[UNESCO World Heritage Site]].<ref>{{cite web
|url=http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/768
|title=Golden Mountains of Altai
|publisher=UNESCO
|accessdate=2007-07-31
}}
</ref>
Scythian-Saka-Siberian classification include monuments from 8th c. BC to the 3rd c. BC. This period is called Early or Ancient [[Nomads]] epoch.
"[[Hunnic]]" monuments are dated from the 3rd c. BC to the 6th century AD, and [[Turkic peoples|Turkic]] ones from the 6th century AD to the 13th century AD, leading up to the [[Mongols|Mongolian]] epoch.
In all periods, the development of the kurgan structure tradition in the various ethnocultural zones can be distinguished by the presence of common components or typical features in the construction of the monuments. They include:
*funeral chambers
*tombs
*surface and underground constructions of different configurations
*a mound of earth or stone, with entrance or without
*funeral, ritual, and other traits
*the presence of an altar in the chamber
*stone fence
*moat
*bulwark
*the location of a sacrificial site on the embankments, inside the mound, inside the moat, inside the embankments, and in their links, entryways, and around the kurgan
*the presence of an entryway into the chamber, into the tomb, into the fence, or into the kurgan
*the location of a fire pit in the chamber
*a wooden roof over or under the kurgan, at the top of the kurgan, or around the kurgan
*the location of stone statues, columns, poles and other objects; bypass passages inside the kurgan, inside tombs, or around the kurgan
*funeral paths from the moat or bulwark.
Depending on combination of elements between the common components, each historical and cultural nomadic zone has its architectural peculiarities. The structures of the earlier Neolithic period from 4th - 3rd millenniums BC, and Bronze Epoch until the 1st millennium BC in comparison with the Early Iron Age from the 8th c. BC to the 3rd c. BC display continuity of the archaic forming methods driven by the common ritually-mythological ideas.
[[Image:Sveshtari Thracian tomb Bulgaria IFB.JPG|right|thumb|300px|Inside view of the [[Thracian Tomb of Sveshtari|Thracian mound tomb at Sveshtari]], Bulgaria]]
Pre-Scythian-Saka-Sibirian kurgans are of the following types: kurgans with surface and underground wooden or stone tombs constructed on the surface or underground and then covered with kurgan. The kurgans of Bronze culture, practically across all the Europe and Asia had to be analogous with the housing. The methods of house construction applied in the construction of the tombs.<ref>Margulan A.N., "Architecture of the ancient period" in the "Architecture of Kazakhstan", 1956, Alma-Ata, (pp 9-95)</ref> Kurgan ''Ak-su - Aüly'' (12th - 11th cc. BC) with a tomb covered by a pyramidal timber roof under kurgan has space surrounded by double walls serving as a bypass corridor. This design has analogies with the following kurgans: Begazy; Sanguyr, Begasar, Dandybay, under-kurgan cysts construction.<ref>Margulan A.N., "Architecture of the ancient period" in the "Architecture of Kazakhstan", 1956, Alma-Ata, (pp 9-95)</ref> These building traditions survived into the early Middle Ages, to the 8th-10th cc. AD. The Bronze Pre-Scythian-Saka-Sibirian culture developed in close similarity with the cultures of [[Yenisei]], [[Altai]], [[Kazakhstan]], southern and southeast [[Amur]] regions. In the 2nd millennium BC appeared so-called "kurgans-maidans". On a prepared platform were made earthen images of a swan, a turtle, a snake, etc., with and without burials. Similar structures were found in Ukraine, in [[South America]], and in [[India]].
Some kurgans had facing or tiling. Kurgan Recruitment in Ukraine under soil filling has 29 big limestone slabs set on the end in a circle. Externally they were decorated with carved geometrical ornament of rhombuses, triangles, crosses, and on one slab are schematical figures of peopled. Kurgan is dated by the 3rd millennium BC. Its reconstruction showed that over an ornamented cornice up to 2м in height rested a wooden cone of thick logs, and the earthen kurgan was not above, as usually, but on the inside, under the cornice and logs.
<!-- Kurgans with fencing of a moat, bulwark, mengirs (megalithic staella), small rocks, large blocks, slabs.
Kurgans with statues and other objects.
Earthen kurgans with underground structures: pits, chambers, stone boxes and others, and also with megalithic structures (mengirs, dolmens, cysts). The cysts spread to other parts of the world (Europe, SE Siberia, Kazakhstan, Korea, etc.).-->
The Scythian-Saka-Sibirian kurgans in the Early Iron Age are notable for their grandiose mounds throughout all Euroasian continent. The base diameters of the kurgans reach 500 m in Siberia (Great Salbyk kurgan of the settled Tagar culture), in the neighboring China they reach 5000 m (kurgan of the first emperor of China in the 3rd c. BC near city Sian) (Mason, 1997: 71). The height of the kurgans reached astronomical marks: Great Salbyk kurgan is 22 - 27 m, ''i.e.'' the height of the 7-story building; the kurgan of the Chinese emperor is over 100 m. The presence of such structures in Siberia testifies to a high standard of living and construction culture of the nomads.
In the Bronze Age were found kurgans with stone reinforcements. Frequently some of them are believed to be Scythian burials with built-up soil, and embankments reinforced with stone (Olhovsky, 1991).
The most obvious archeological remains associated with the [[Scythians]] are the great burial mound (kurgans), some over 20 m high, which dot the Ukrainian and Russian steppe belts and extend in many great chains for many kilometers along ridges and watershed. It is from them that most has been learnt about Scythian life and art.<ref>John Boardman, I.E.S. Edwards, E. Sollberger, N.G.L. Hammond. The Cambridge Ancient History. Cambridge University Press. (January 16, 1992), p.550</ref>
==Cultural influences==
[[Image:trizna 1899.jpg|thumb|300px|''[[Oleg of Novgorod|Oleg]] being mourned by his warriors'', an 1899 painting by [[Viktor Vasnetsov]]. This burial rite, with the funerary tumulus, is typical of both [[Scandinavia]]n, and [[Eurasian nomad]]ic customs.]]
The tradition of kurgan burials touched not only the peoples who buried most of all of their deceased in kurgan structures, but also neighboring peoples who are known as not having a kurgan burial tradition among general population. Various Thracian kings and chieftains were buried in elaborate mound tombs found in modern Bulgaria, Phillip II, the father of Alexander of Macedon, was buried in a magnificent kurgan in present Greece, and legendary Midas, a king of ancient Phrygians, was buried in a kurgan near his ancient capital of Gordion<ref>[http://www.museum.upenn.edu/new/research/Exp_Rese_Disc/Mediterranean/Midas/intro.shtml The Funerary Feast of King Midas @ UPM<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>
==Kurgan hypothesis==
The [[Kurgan hypothesis]] postulates that the [[Proto-Indo-Europeans]] were the bearers of the [[Kurgan culture|"Kurgan" (Yamna) culture]] of the [[Black Sea]] and the [[Caucasus]] and west of the [[Urals]].
[[Marija Gimbutas]] introduced her '''Kurgan hypothesis''' in 1956, combining ''kurgan archaeology'' with ''linguistics'' to locate the origins of the [[Proto-Indo-European language|Proto-Indo-European]] (PIE) speaking peoples. She tentatively named the culture "''Kurgan''" after their distinctive burial mounds and traced its diffusion into Europe. This hypothesis has had a significant impact on [[Indo-European studies|Indo-European research]]. Those scholars who follow Gimbutas identify a "''Kurgan culture''" as reflecting an early [[Indo-European people|Indo-European]] [[ethnic]]ity which existed in the steppes and southeastern Europe from the fifth to third millennia BC. Marija Gimbutas ''Kurgan hypothesis'' is opposed by [[Paleolithic Continuity Theory]], which associates [[Pit Grave]] and [[Sredny Stog]] Kurgan cultures with [[Turkic peoples]], and [[Anatolian hypothesis]] which denies Indo-European origin advocated by M. Gimbutas Baltic version of Chalcolithic Invasion Kurgan hypothesis, and is also opposed by [[Black Sea deluge theory]]. In Kurgan Cultures, most of the burials were in kurgans, either clan kurgans or individual. Most prominent leaders were buried in individual kurgans, now called "Royal kurgans", which attract highest attention and publicity.
==Some excavated kurgans==
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*The ''[[Ipatovo kurgan|Ipatovo]]'' kurgan revealed a long sequence of burials from the [[Maykop culture]] ca. 4000 BC down to the burial of a [[Sarmatian]] princess of the 3rd century BC, excavated 1998–1999.
*Kurgan 4 at ''Kutuluk'' near [[Samara, Russia|Samara]], [[Russia]], dated to ca. 24th century BC, containing the skeleton of a man, estimated to have been 35 to 40 years old and about 152 cm tall. Rose, M., "[http://www.archaeology.org/0203/newabriefs/cudgel.html Cudgel Culture]", , ''Archaeology'' , March/April, 2002. Resting on the skeleton's bent left elbow was a copper object of a length of ca. 65 cm with a blade of a diamond-shaped cross-section and sharp edges, but no point, and a handle, originally probably wrapped in leather. No similar object is known from Bronze Age Eurasian steppe cultures, and the object has been compared to the [[vajra]] thunderbolt of Indian [[Indra]].
*[[Maikop kurgan]], 3rd millennium BC.
*''Novovelichkovskaya'' kurgan of ca. 2000 BC on the [[Ponura River]], [[Krasnodar]] region, southern Russia, containing the remains of 11 people, including an embracing couple, buried with bronze tools, stone carvings, jewelry, and ceramic vessels decorated with red ocher. The tomb is associated with the [[Novotitorovka culture]] nomads.
*''[[Issyk kurgan]]'', in southern [[Kazakhstan]], containing a skeleton, possibly female, ca. 4th century BC, with inscription on a silver cup, with 4.000 gold ornaments, with Scythian animal art objects and headdress reminiscent of Kazakh bridal hats, discovered in 1969.
*Kurgan 11 of the ''Berel'' cemetery, in the [[Bukhtarma River]] valley of Kazakhstan, containing a tomb of ca. 300 BC, with a dozen sacrificed horses, preserved with their skin, hair, harnesses, and saddles intact, buried side by side on a bed of birch bark next to a funeral chamber containing the pillaged burial of two Scythian nobles, excavated in 1998.
*''Ryzhanovka'' kurgan, a 10 metres high kurgan 125 km south of [[Kiev]], containing the tomb of a [[Scythian]] chieftain, 3rd century BC, excavated in 1996.
*''[[Solokha kurgan]]'', Scythian, early 4th century BC.
*''[[Thracian Tomb of Kazanlak]]'', a [[Thracia]]n kurgan of ca. the 4th century BC.
*''[[Aleksandrovo kurgan]]'', a [[Thracia]]n kurgan of ca. the 4th century BC.
*''[[Thracian Tomb of Sveshtari]]'', a [[Thracia]]n kurgan of ca. the 3rd century BC.
*''[[Håga Kurgan]]'', a large [[Nordic Bronze Age]] kurgan from ca 1000 BC.
*''[[Pereschepino Kurgan]]'', burial memorial of Great Bulgaria Khan [[Kubrat]] (Kurbat) from ca 660 AD.
*''[[Noin-Ula]] kurgan'', a tomb of Uchjulü-Chanuy (8 BC - 13 AD), head of the [[Hun]] confederation.<ref>http://www.hostkingdom.net/siberia.html#Hsiung-Nu</ref>
===Gallery===
<gallery>
Image:SalbykKurgan221201683.jpg|Salbyk kurgan before excavation, 5th-4th c.BC, upper Enisey-Irtysh interfluvial. Salbyk kurgan is surrounded by [[balbal]]s, and topped with [[Kurgan stelae|kurgan obelisk]]
Image:AlexandropolKurganBeforeExcavation1852-6.gif|Scythian royal Alexandropol (Gümri in Armenia) kurgan C14 dated 394-366 BC, before excavation in 1852-6
Image:PerepyatichaKurganGroup.gif|Engraving of Ukraine Perepyat kurgan cemetery group before its excavation
Image:SamaraKurganR2.jpg|Undated unattributed unexplored kurgan on west side of Samara Bend, [[Russian Federation]], with visible tunnel of grave robbers.
</gallery>
===Kurgans in Poland===
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Kurgan building tradition is alive in Poland. The Polish word for kurgan is ''kopiec'' or ''kurhan''. The next one for [[Pope John Paul II]] is hotly [http://www.google.com/search?as_q=Kopiec+Jana+Paw%C5%82a+II&hl=en&num=100&btnG=Google+Search&as_epq=&as_oq=&as_eq=&lr=&as_ft=i&as_filetype=&as_qdr=all&as_nlo=&as_nhi=&as_occt=any&as_dt=i&as_sitesearch=&as_rights=&safe=images debated].
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Some excavated kurgans in Poland:
* [[Unetice culture#Burials]] 14 kurgans form 2000 - 1800 BC ([http://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wielkopolskie_piramidy more PL]}
* Trzcinica http://teams.karpaty.edu.pl/trzcinica/ogolnie.htm
* Krasnik Neolitic(stone age) kurhans http://www.krasnik.lubelskie.pl/pliki/hist_mogila2.htm
* 'Na Plesniku' http://monika.univ.gda.pl/~literat/grafika/mogily.htm
* Trawiasta Buczyna hundreds of stone kurhans 1200-1000 bc
* Skalbmierz 4000bc http://www.kwiatek.krakow.pl/skalbmierz/main2.htm
* Zambrow http://www.ugzambrow.pl/zdjecia/kurhan_z_xi_w_pod_cieciorkami.jpg
* more http://forum.gazeta.pl/forum/72,2.html?f=12217&w=22873085&v=2&s=0
* Jawczyce Described by Bishop Nankerus 1322 ad. Late kurgan from XI c ad. Old man with arm. Excavated by Sikora from UJ. [http://www.odyssei.com/pl/travel-tips/19625.html]
* Łubno, pow. Sieradz "Trzciniec Culture" ~1500 BC contains man and woman buried at the same time. "she follow him to the grave"
* kurgans inhumation Łubna-Jakusy (51,59035;18,49461), kurgan cremation Guciów (50,57859°;23,08208° of [[Trzciniec culture]] ~1500 bc
* [[Krakus Mound]]
* 'kopiec Wandy' daughter of [[Krakus]] [http://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kopiec_Wandy]
* Piłakno near Mrągowo digout in 1988 "west balltic kurhan culture" [http://www.historycy.org/index.php?showtopic=1548&pid=27266&mode=threaded&show=&st=&#entry27266]
* Bełchatow pagan Polish "church" on top of kurgan [http://www.historycy.org/index.php?showtopic=151 ''Odkrywca'' nr1(25) 01.2001]
* 'Kopiec Tatarski' Przemyśl [http://www.kki.com.pl/pioinf/przemysl/zabytki/kopiec/kopiec.html]. Triangle shaped, 10 m mound, narowest angle facing east. Dig in 1869 by T.Żebrawski found bones and late coins. Digs in 1958 by A. Kunysz found on northern side skulls and bones and medieval ceramic. On the top was erected around 1534 'Templum s. Leonardi' destroy in WW2.
* Kopiec Esterki XIV c erected by [[Casimir III of Poland]] for his decesed love.
* Kopiec [[Władysław III of Poland]] after 1444 in [[Varna]] [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:VarnaMemorial.jpg]
* Kopiec [[Tadeusz Kościuszko|Kościuszki]] build 09/15/1820 [http://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kopiec_Ko%C5%9Bciuszki] another 2 in Olkusz for 44 anniversary in 1861. Destroy in 1964 and rebuild in 1917. 3 in Busko.
* [[Union of Lublin Mound]]
* Kopiec [[Adam Mickiewicz]] 1898 [http://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kopiec_Adama_Mickiewicza_%28Sanok%29]
* Kopiec Wyzwolenia 07/20/1930 [http://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kopiec_Wyzwolenia]
* [[Piłsudski's Mound|Piłsudski Mound]]
===Non-archaeological usage===
In Russia, the memorial connotation of the word "kurgan" has survived through the centuries, and in the post-[[WWII]] period was resuscitated as an architectural device in building WWII memorials, such as [[Glory Kurgan]] (commonly translated as [[Mound of Glory]]), [[Mound of Immortality]], or "[[Mamayev Kurgan]] Memorial Complex".
==See also==
*[[Animal sacrifice]], [[Ashvamedha]]
*[[Mamayev Kurgan]], used during the [[Battle of Stalingrad]].
*[[Scythia]]
*[[Tarpan]]
*[[Ukrainian stone stela]]
*[[Yamna culture]]
==References and notes==
{{reflist}}
==Literature==
<div class="references-small">
*"Proto-Türkic rune-like inscription on silver cup (Issyk Inscription)" by [[A. S. Amanzholov|A.S. Amanjolov]], in "History Of Ancient Türkic Script", Almaty 2003
*"In Search of the Indo-Europeans: Language, Archaeology and Myth" by J. P. Mallory, ISBN 0-500-27616-1
*"The Kurgan Culture and the Indo-Europeanization of Europe: Selected Articles Form 1952 to 1993" von Marija Gimbutas u.a., ISBN 0-941694-56-9
*"[[Encyclopedia of Indo-European Culture]]" ed. James Mallory, D. Q. Adams, ISBN 1-884964-98-2
*D. Ya. Telegin et al., ''Srednestogovskaya i Novodanilovskaya Kul'tury Eneolita Azovo-Chernomorskogo Regiona''. Kiev: Shlyakh, 2001. Reviewed by J.P. Mallory, JIES vol. 32, 3/4, p. 363–366.
*"Reconstruction Of The Genofond Peculiarities Of The Ancient Pazyryk Population (I-II Millennium BC) From Gorny Altai According To The mtDNA Structure" Voevoda M.I., Sitnikova V.V., Romashchenko A.G., Chikisheva T.A., Polosmak N.V., Molodin V. I http://www.bionet.nsc.ru/bgrs/thesis/99/.
*[[Orazak Ismagulov|O.Ismagulov]] 'Population of Kazakhstan from Bronze Epoch to Present (Paleoanthropological research)', Science, Alma-Ata, 1970
</div>
==External links==
*[http://www.iras.ucalgary.ca/~volk/sylvia/Kurgans.htm Kurgan Culture]
*[http://www.rdg.ac.uk/archaeology/Research/Klin_Yar/Ipatovo.htm the Ipatovo kurgan]
*[http://www.archaeology.org/cgi-bin/perlfect/search/search.pl?mode=all&q=Kurgan excavated kurgans] (archaeology.org).
*[http://www.csen.org/BAR%20Book/BAR.%20Part%2001.TofC.htmlKurgans, Ritual Sites, and Settlements: Eurasian Bronze and Iron Age] book for download (www.csen.org)
*[http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/kurgan Definitions from Dictionary.com]
[[Category:Kurgans| ]]
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