Scythian Culture - Preservation of The Frozen Tombs of The Altai Mountains (UNESCO)

Fig. 6 The Ukok
Plateau beyond the
Ak-Alakha River.
© V. Molodin.
long from the Karakol river-head to its confluence
with the Ursul River. The entire left bank of
the river features Pazyryk Culture burial sites
from the village of Boochi to Kulada, and the
Valley contains a concentration of complexes
composed of huge kurgans made of piled stones
several dozen metres in diameter. Kurgans of
such dimensions can be found in other Altai
areas, but only as rare and isolated specimens.
Their dimensions are comparable to those of the
widely known Pazyryk burial complex studied by
S. I. Rudenko and M. P. Gryaznov. 19
These burial complexes most certainly
belonged to the highest rank of Pazyryk society
(chiefs or kings). This assumption is confirmed by
the results of excavations at two large kurgans of
the Bashadar necropolis (Fig. 5) situated in the
Valley near the village of Kudala and studied in
the past by Professor S. I. Rudenko. 20 All these
kurgans have traces of looting from ancient times,
but it is certain that some of them contain ice
lenses, which have preserved a variety of objects.
This, at least, is what happened at the Bashadar
and Pazyryk kurgans. In addition, it is important
to note that all the large kurgans of the Pazyryk
Culture that probably belonged to the highest
rank of Pazyryk society (including the kurgans of
the Pazyryk and Bashadar complexes) were surveyed
in the first half of the last century according
to field methods that were accurate at the time
but that have now become outdated. The use of
geophysical methods, as well as a comprehensive
study of the over-burial monuments, would certainly
provide further very valuable scientific
information.
There is a need to document and map these
sites, as well as to delimit them physically from
economic activities and to monitor them geophysically,
in order to determine anomalies in the
permafrost. The methodology of such surveys
was developed by Russian geophysicists during
studies of Pazyryk Culture complexes in the
Mongolian Altai. 21 After conducting surveys of
this sort, it should be possible to consider excavations
at one or two sites and the subsequent
conservation of any finds in museums. However,
in order to meet present scientific and methodological
standards, costly activities of this sort
can only be carried out by large academic expeditions.
It is also important to note that any
such surveys should be preceded by awarenessraising
activities among the local Altai people.
The second area of concentration of archaeological
sites in general, and of Pazyryk sites in
particular, is the Ukok Plateau situated in the
south of the Russian Altai Mountains at the juncture
of Russia, Mongolia, China and Kazakhstan
(Fig. 6). In the early 1990s, the Institute of
Archaeology and Ethnography of the Siberian
Branch of the Russian Academy of Science executed
large-scale surveys in this region, resulting
in the mapping of more than 400 archaeological
sites situated on the Plateau. 22 Two groups of
archaeologists, led by Prof. N. Polosmak and academician
V. I. Molodin, surveyed 22 complexes of
the Pazyryk Culture, including seven monuments
with permafrost (Fig. 7). 23 Unlike the central part
of the Altai Mountains, this section represents the
periphery of the Pazyryk Culture, and findings
made in it do not include burial complexes of the
elite of Pazyryk society. The largest kurgans, excavated
by N.V. Polosmak (first, the Kuturguntas
kurgan), 24 belonged to the middle level of
Pazyryk society at best.
However, thanks to the specific situation of
the Plateau, including its difficulty of access and
severe weather conditions, a significant number
of the archaeological sites have remained in their
primordial state. It is also more likely that the ice
lenses they contain will survive global warming,
given the severe climatic conditions on the
Plateau. It should also be noted that pilot activities
have been undertaken on the Ukok Plateau,
with the aim of developing methods of geophysical
monitoring for the identification of frozen
zones in the Pazyryk kurgans. 25 These methods
were subsequently successfully applied in the
survey carried out under the Russia-Germany-
Mongolia project, which aimed to identify and
excavate frozen tombs in the Mongolian Altai. 26
These considerations all go to show that the
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