Frozen Scythian Tombs

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Frozen Scythian Tombs, built in the Iron Age of the Ancient Nomads period (approximately 6^th to 3^rdcenturies BCE) and situated in the south of Russian Altai Mountains where the borders of Russia, Mongolia, China, and Kazakhstan meet, are endangered by climate change–global warming, which will lead to the melting of the area’s permafrost and ice lenses accumulated inside of the tombs. Permafrost has kept the materials inside of the Scythian tombs frozen and organically intact, including mummified human bodies, sacrificed animals, and other accompanying burial objects. The thawing of permafrost will make those Scythian tombs vulnerable and eventually lose their natural protection, jeopardizing the organic materials preserved inside the tombs. Once those irreplaceable materials are lost, which could provide remarkable insights on the study of Scythian people who throve in the Eurasian Steppe during the 1^st millennium BCE and its connections with neighboring civilizations, little of Scythian history would be known to us.

Based on NASA reports, largely due to human activities that increase carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, the global temperature on average has risen about 1.4 degrees Celsius since the end of the 19^th century. Concrete scientific evidence shows that sea levels are rising, oceans warming up, ice sheets shrinking, snow covers decreasing, and glaciers retreating. The Altai Mountains are not exempt from the influence of global warming. Scientific research shows that Mongolian and Russian Altai has an increase of temperature ranging from 0.19 to .053˚C/10 years during the time period of 1940-2008. The most significant increases were observed during winter seasons. The average summer air temperature has increased about 0.2-1.1˚C and the glacier has decreased by 9-27% in various regions of Russian Altai from 1952 to 2008. Frozen Scythian tombs in the Altai Mountains are likely to be under immediate threat if summer air temperature’s rising and glaciers’ retreating continues, which will cause significant reduction of permafrost and even its possible disappearance. In particular, those frozen Scythian tombs located near the lower boundary of the alpine permafrost area in the Altai Mountains will receive significant impact immediately. Frozen ground in this area is extremely responsive to climate change and a slight increase of temperature will cause the thawing of permafrost. It would be a sheer mistake if these valuable cultural and burial objects, which are the utmost important sources of information, shedding light on ancient nomadic cultures, are left with little caring and attention.

The Scythians, also known as Scyths, Saka, or Sai, were an Iranian nomadic people who originated from Central Asia in the late 9^th and early 8^th centuries BCE and primarily lived on animal breeding and herding through seasonal migration. As nomadic horsemen and warriors, they dominated the Eurasian grasslands from the Black Sea to the Mongolian plains for centuries. Around 200BCE, the Scythians were replaced by other nomadic peoples and eventually disappeared from history. The Scythians left neither structural heritages of their own behind, nor written records. Prior to the discoveries of Scythians burial sites in the 19^th century, only three sources could provide us with pieces of information about this nomadic civilization: the earliest mention in Assyrian sources, important description in the Histories (Book IV) by Greek historian Herodotus (484–425 BCE), and their interactions documented in the historical records by neighboring empires, such as China, India, and Iran. Due to the scarcity of historical accounts, archaeology becomes a crucially important instrument to understand Scythian people and its culture and history. Therefore, how to prevent the frozen Scythian tombs, scattered in the permafrost zones of the Altai Mountains and containing well-preserved bodies, metals, weaponry, fabrics, and wood, as well as other burial artifacts, from the consequences of global warming is such an urgent and vital task that calls for international attention and effort.

The frozen Scythian tombs in the Altai Mountains were first discovered in 1865 by the German-Russian academician V. V. Radloff. However it was not until the middle of 20^th century that a series of tombs were excavated and modern scientific research started. These Scythian tombs belong to the Pazyryk Culture, a Scythian Iron Age culture that existed between 1,000BCE to 200BCE. Tombs situated in the Karakol River Valley in the Russian Altai mostly represent members of Pazyryk elite society, namely kings and chiefs; tombs located in the Ukok Plateau at the conjunction of Russia, Kazakhstan, Mongolia and China largely belong to the modest non-elite Pazyryk society. All the tombs are mounded with stone or pebble pyramids, which are commonly known as “kurgans” and vary in size. Collected by Kurgans, rain seeped into the tombs beneath and was turned into ice by local climate. Funerary chambers froze and never thawed over the millennia, which kept intact the embalmed human bodies that had interior guts removed and were stuffed with herbs and then sewn up with horsehair. The most famous embalmed body would be the “Ice Maiden,” a woman corpse with beautiful tattoos and nice clothes (Han, 2008). In addition to Scythian materials, imported silk clothes and Chinese bronze mirrors were also discovered in excavated frozen tombs, which provide marvelous evidence that the ancient human communication between East and West had existed long before the emergence of “The Silk Road.”

In 2005, UNESCO’s World Heritage Centre launched a project titled “Preservation of the Frozen Tombs of the Altai Mountains” under the joint effort of international archaeologists, climatologists, geographers, and geocryologists, as well as concerned students and volunteers. This project has three goals: create an accurate inventory of frozen tombs in the Altai Mountains; monitor and evaluate the permafrost conditions; and search for solutions for preserving tombs that are likely to defrost and excavate tombs that are thawing and cannot be saved. At present, the first goal has been largely accomplished through conducting fieldwork and utilizing advanced satellite imagery system. A program that monitors how fast the permafrost is melting in the Russian Altai has been started. The project is ongoing. Therefore, it is hoped that international scientists will develop the most effective and efficient methods that will enable the invaluable materials in the frozen Scythian tombs to be preserved for posterity. Considering the uniqueness of geographical situations, cooperation among and regulations from these four countries— Russian Federation, Kazakhstan, Mongolia and China is also essentially important and desirable. The Altai Mountains region is a fast-growing destination of both tourism and investment, due to cultural exploration and economic benefits. An increasing infusion of visitors and tourists and a gradual rise of the implementation of economically-profitable projects could also cause the damage or loss of archaeological properties.

References

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