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

CHAPTER II • UNESCO PROJECT PRESERVATION OF FROZEN TOMBS OF THE ALTAI MOUNTAINS
Background to UNESCO Preservation of the
Frozen Tombs of the Altai Mountains Project
and Perspectives for Transboundary Protection
through the World Heritage Convention
Junhi Han
World Heritage Centre, Culture, UNESCO
Background to UNESCO Preservation of the
Frozen Tombs of the Altai Mountains Project
The towering, jagged Altai Mountains stretch
some 2,100 km across China, Mongolia, Russia
and Kazakhstan, the Russian section of this
mountain range having been inscribed as a
natural site on the World Heritage List in 1998.
The area inscribed includes Altaisky Zapovednik
and a buffer zone around Lake Teletskoye, as
well as Katunsky Zapovednik and a buffer zone
around Mount Belukha. It also includes the Ukok
Quiet Zone on the Ukok Plateau.
The region represents the most complete
sequence of altitudinal vegetation zones in central
Siberia, ranging from steppe to forest-steppe and
mixed forest and sub-alpine vegetation to alpine
vegetation. It is also an important habitat for
endangered animal species, such as the snow leopard.
However, although the Altai Mountains were
inscribed for their outstanding natural value on
the World Heritage List, their cultural value should
also by no means be underestimated (Fig. 1).
This is so because the Altai Mountains bear
unique witness to the ancient Scythian culture
that flourished in the Eurasian steppe during the
1 st millennium bce. The Scythians and other
contemporary tribes in the Eurasian Steppe
developed a distinct nomadic way of life that
was homogenous throughout the Eurasian
steppe from the Black Sea area to the Mongolian
plains, and they interacted with neighbouring
civilizations in China, India, Iran, Mesopotamia
and Greece.
As the Scythians left little built heritage
behind them and no written records, there are
only two sources of information that can provide
us with information about this nomadic civilization
today. The first is the description left by the
Ancient Greek historian Herodotus, who devoted
the fourth book of his Histories to the Scythians.
The second is the archaeological sites, namely
the Scythian burial mounds, or kurgans, that still
dot the landscape and the artefacts that these
contain (Fig. 2).
Often very well conserved, the kurgans found
in the Altai Mountains are of the utmost importance
as a source of information on ancient
Scythian civilization. The local climate, together
with the particular way the kurgans were constructed,
created ideal conditions for their preservation.
When rain seeped into the tombs it froze
and never thawed. As a result, all the materials
buried in the tombs – metal objects, gold and pottery,
and organic materials such as wood, leather,
textiles and even the mummified bodies of
humans and sacrificed horses along with their
gears such as harness and saddles – have been
preserved intact over the millennia. To this day,
the only frozen tombs discovered anywhere in the
world are those found in the Altai Mountains.
Many 19 th -century scholars were sceptical
of the description of the Scythians given by
Herodotus, in spite of numerous archaeological
discoveries showing that as a witness he was
conscientious and trustworthy. Now the organic
Fig.1.The highest
peaks of the Altai
Mountains: Tavan
Bogd in the
Mongolian section
of the Altai.
Fig. 2. Kurgans lying
north to south in the
Mongolian section of
the Altai.
Photos: © Gary Tepfer.
Left Terminal: Griffin
Holding a Stag’s Head
in its Beak. Wood and
leather; carved.
H. 23 cm Pazyryk
Culture. 5 th century bc.
Inv.no. 1684/169.
© The State Hermitage
Museum, St. Petersburg.
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