2 101 X Rich warrior burials dating from 700 BC and later. The physical contrast between the individuals for whom the mounds were built and their sacrificed followers strongly supports the idea that the mounted warriors were often an alien elite who had taken control of a local group.
#Nagorno-Karabakh
3 101 X An intact burial of a woman aged about 25, laid in a wooden chamber with her sacrificed, richly caparisoned horses. Tattoos decorated her well-preserved body and on her head was a head-dress adorned with wooden swans. Food offerings of mutton and horsemeat not only survived but even retained their smell.
#Pastures of Heaven, burial in coffin and details of tattoo
4 1 2 9
#Cimmerians
5 9 2 1
#RD Pazyryk valley showing barrows
6 0 2 6
#Scythian art
7 21 2 1
#FM Scythian Harp
8 19 2 1
#EW Herodotus
9 101 X A vast Scythian defended site, containing two substantially sized forts and areas of craft activities, settlement and storage. The site may have served as a seasonal meeting place for nomadic groups where they could conduct exchanges of animals and other commodities and take part in various social interactions including marriages.
#Belsk, optional - plan of Belsk
10 102 A The capital of the Scythians from the 3rd century BC, centre for their increasingly settled existence. The stone royal mausoleum continued the burial tradition of surrounding the deceased king with the sacrificed bodies of horses and retainers.
#Neapolis, drawing of tomb
11 101 X References in Greek writings to female warriors among the Scythians are borne out by the excavation of female burials furnished with weapons and military equipment at Chertomlyk and other burial sites. The position of woman among the Scythians seems likely to have been better than it was among the Greeks and their settled neighbours.
#Chertomlyk
12 102 G A defended Scythian settlement of log-built houses which may have been a specialized centre producing metalwork such as these tools, judging by the finds of slag, furnaces and workshops. A citadel area enclosed a number of houses different from those in the rest of the settlement, presumably belonging to the elite.
#Kamenskoe, optional - plan of site
13 102 H A cemetery of burial mounds containing the remains of sacrificed horses and servants, like those described by Herodotus. One excavated mound had contained a wooden chamber with a conical roof: this had been fired before the mound was built over it.
#PW Kostromoskaya, recumbent stag
14 103 I An important 4th and 3rd century trading and political centre, probably the home of Scythian chiefs. Many mound burials were excavated around the settlement, often containing the bones of sacrificed horses and servants, particularly women, grouped around the stone burial chamber (unfortunately all of these had been looted).
#PW Elizavetinskaya, optional - ornamental plaque in form of winged running beast
15 102 F An extremely wealthy Scythian burial mound of the 4th century BC. The chamber containing the skeletons of a (probably royal) man and a woman, along with an attendant and the remains of at least one horse. Grave goods included gold objects made by Greek craftsmen showing Scythian subjects.
#PW Kul Oba, Mounted Scythian horseman chasing hare
