Lost World: Tuva. Along the national outskirts: the Valley of the Kings of Tuva Along the mountain road

Half an hour up the hill under the hot July sun. There is no path, but walking is quite easy and even pleasant. It smells like thyme and mountain herbs. A lizard slips out from under your feet. Grasshoppers chirp. The view from above is mesmerizing: there is a huge sky above the foothills of the Sayan Mountains. The Usinsky tract stretches like a thin thread between the hills. People have been walking along the ancient path for four thousand years. The Scythians roamed here, and the troops of Genghis Khan set out to conquer the world. At the beginning of the last century, the White Guards, under pressure from the Bolsheviks, were looking for a way to retreat to Mongolia.

Now on site Krasnoyarsk Territory and neighboring Tuva pass archaeological excavations. One of the largest in Russia and the world. This is related to construction railway Kyzyl - Kuragino, part of which will pass along the ancient path.

Valley of the Kings

Back in the 60-70s of the last century, the Institute of the History of Material Culture of the Russian Academy of Sciences conducted archaeological research on the territory of Tuva and the south of the Krasnoyarsk Territory. At this time they discovered large number historical monuments.

A real sensation, comparable in significance only to the discovery of Schiemann's Troy, happened in 1974. Then a mound with burials was discovered in Tuva (it was named after the neighboring village - Arzhaan), with a huge number of artifacts. This place was immediately nicknamed the Valley of the Kings.

Excavations of another mound - Arzhaan-2 - in the same area in 2001 created a real sensation. Here they found the royal couple, accompanied by many associates. The leaders left for another world with a huge amount of precious things: jewelry, utensils. Even the clothes were completely covered with golden scales.

Nikolai Bokovenko, now the head of the second detachment of the Sayan archaeological expedition working in the construction zone of the Kyzyl-Kuragino railway, was part of the group that conducted excavations at the legendary Arzhaan-2. He says those finds affected him unforgettable experience: There were some really unique things there. For example, just one of the 20-centimeter women's stiletto heels in the shape of a deer is valued at approximately two million dollars. And almost 25 kilograms of similar gold jewelry were discovered!

However, the conclusions that these findings allowed us to draw are completely priceless.

Previously, it was believed that the territory of Tuva and the south of the Krasnoyarsk Territory was the distant periphery of the powerful Scythian empire. But the results of excavations confirm the hypothesis: ancient civilization originated here. By the way, Herodotus also spoke about the Central Asian origin of this legendary people.

Homeland of the Scythians

It must be said that this territory is the south of the Krasnoyarsk Territory and in general Central Asia“a unique region that was a real generator of peoples,” explains Nikolai Bokovenko, associate professor at the St. Petersburg Institute of Culture and Arts. - We study paleoclimate (that is, ancient climate), compare various regions according to weather conditions. For example, it turns out that the most prosperous place in those ancient times was the Sayano-Altai region. Here, in the Minusinsk Basin, there was a real ecumene (a particularly favorable region for life). This is an incredibly interesting area in all respects; its study is very important for science.

About three thousand years ago there was a high population density here. In the south of our region and in Tuva, peoples concentrated, and then moved west - all the way to Central Europe. From here, starting from the first millennium BC, there was a migration of Scythians, Huns, Turks, and Tatar-Mongols. Why they moved west is unclear. Perhaps in search of a better life. Perhaps they were led forward by those who were young, active and energetic (passionaries, according to Lev Gumilyov’s definition). Perhaps they obeyed the instinct of conquerors, as in the case of Genghis Khan.

All these peoples, who long ago disappeared from the face of the earth, moved along the ancient road - now it is called the Usinsky tract. Along this unique path, excavations of ancient sites, burials and a kind of “campsites” are being carried out (three, two thousand, and a hundred years ago, our ancestors, like us, traveled and had picnics on the side of the road). Each such parking lot is “multi-layered”: after all, if the place is really convenient, it will always be used. Therefore, it often happens that archaeologists begin to excavate, for example, a 19th-century cellar, and under it they discover artifacts from the Bronze Age.

Cauldron of Nations

The amount of work ahead is enormous. Therefore, they decided to attract volunteers to help the archaeologists. For the third year now, the international volunteer camp “Valley of the Kings” has been operating in Tuva. Since extensive excavations are being carried out in the south of the Krasnoyarsk Territory, it was decided to create a second volunteer camp here. So, last year, another camp appeared on the territory of the Ermakovsky district - “Ermak”.

- “Valley of the Kings” and “Ermak” were organized because an idea arose with the help of Russian Geographical Society to make the Kyzyl-Kuragino project not only scientific,” explains Denis Gergilev, director of the international volunteer archaeological camp “Ermak”. - Guys from all over Russia and from other countries of the world come to us, to Siberia.

Among the volunteers, the first to be chosen are historians, archaeologists, geologists, and geographers; for them, participation in excavations is a unique practice. However, everyone has a chance to take part in the project. For example, oceanologists and journalists now work at Ermak. Several students from Colombia arrived at once - a friend who came here last year encouraged.

Many of those who have visited here once strive to return again. Because this is an opportunity to see an amazing region and a chance to gain unique knowledge.

The guys work at the excavations in the first half of the day. In the second, they play sports and communicate,” says Denis Gergilev. - For them, leading teachers of the Siberian federal university give lectures on the history, geography and ethnography of our region. The guys go on excursions and go on mountain hikes in Ergaki.

Every day for young people is scheduled by the hour. They are all busy with big, interesting things. It is participation in it that makes many reevaluate their lives. Some people quit their unloved jobs after a trip to the Valley of the Kings and Ermak, others begin to seriously engage in science. After all, one of the goals of archeology is to answer simple, human questions. What color did our distant ancestors have hair and eyes? Did they like to travel or were they homebodies? How did you dress? What were you interested in? Understand what the people who lived here three thousand years ago were like - and all in order to understand yourself.

REFERENCE

In the early 2000s, archaeologists presented the world with a real sensation. On the territory of Tuva, two mounds were excavated - Arzhaan-1 and Arzhaan-2 in the Valley of the Kings, untouched by robbers. Burial Arzhaan-2 dates back to the 6th-5th centuries. BC e. And this is the earliest historical monument Scythian culture.

The Arzhaan-2 mound has become a real Klondike for archaeologists. More than 20 kg of high 990 gold were extracted from it. This collection of gold objects is secretly called the main archaeological discovery of the 21st century.

Tuva is a small republic in the Sayan Mountains.

The Yenisei begins in Tuva. Tuva is the geographical center of Asia. But... The song about “planes don’t fly there today and even trains don’t go there” is specifically about Tuva. Nearest active airport- in Abakan, and the nearest train is in the project.

However, it is worth visiting Tuva. And here's why...

Along the mountain road

Tuva is the edge of geography, lost world. You can only get here by bus. And here we go! The road is mountainous, winding - up and down, passes. However, the beauty outside the window is such that you don’t waste time!

Now the Sleeping Sayan will be visible... - explains the girl who already knows these places. - Look! Here he is.

I don’t yet see anything except gray rocks of the usual shape - mountains and mountains.

Yes, this is the head, these are the hands!

I take a closer look, and sure enough, there’s a head with an aquiline nose and closed eyes, and here are the hands folded on the chest!

Mountains, cliffs, hollows and ridges form the figure of a hero sleeping on a high hill. The uniqueness of the Sleeping Sayan is that a person can be seen in him not from just one point, but from different ones. Materialists believe that this time has weathered the stones. But many people agree with the legend about the hero who was left here to guard countless treasures.

Sleeping Sayan is best seen from observation deck near Polka there is a covered tunnel over the road, protecting it from the avalanches that are frequent here. The shelf itself is an attraction, but here everyone is busy with Sayan.

At his feet is a Hanging Stone, a multi-ton boulder that one cannot understand what is holding it up on the edge of the abyss. Perhaps this is one of those “stone toys” that the gods played with and, according to legend, descended to earth in this very place. They say it looks as if it is about to fall, but when some citizens try (and, as you understand, there are some) to push the block, it does not give way. How many years this stone has been lying like this, and how much longer it will lie - God knows. We can’t see the stone from our distance, so that’s for another time...

Along the road in July, local residents sell strawberries, which are immediately collected in the meadows. Prices are affordable.

Ergaki

This natural park. Mountains and lakes. Peaks and ridges. The local attractions are named after modern times, hence the names Parabola, Youth, Dragon's Tooth, etc. It takes, as experts say, a week to see all the sights. You can get a job at the base, which is called Ergaki. Wooden houses. Since the rocky area cannot be leveled, boardwalks were laid throughout the entire area. The air is such that you can sell it by the glass. It’s so picturesque that artistic types get drunk without alcohol, just from the landscapes. Near the base there is a lake with a reputation for being dead. However, the most persistent ones go there to fish. And even more heroic individuals, they say, even take a bath. Although the temperature is not much above zero.

Kyzyl

Kyzyl – small town. It’s very cozy in the summer, but I don’t know what it’s like in the winter. Locals say that frosts can reach minus fifty, and people try not to go outside unless necessary in winter. Therefore, there are immediate plans to build a sports palace - then it will be possible to hold mass events without risk to health.

Kyzyl is a city of children. There are children, children, children on the streets... The head of the Republic of Kara-ool said that youth and children make up half of the population of the republic. This in itself is encouraging.

From the city you can see a mountain with letters laid out on the slope. These are the first words of the most important Buddhist mantra “Om mane padme him”, laid out so that they can be seen from both earth and sky. In Kyzyl itself, in the center, on the square in front of the government building and the republican theater, there is a prayer drum. According to tradition, you need to spin the drum three times - then your wish will come true. We turn it, the bell mounted at the top rings - our request has been taken into account...

The Yenisei flows through the city - it is, in fact, here, at the confluence of the Big and Small Yenisei, and begins, becoming the very Yenisei, which after almost three and a half thousand kilometers will flow into the Arctic Ocean.

So romantics can leave a message in a bottle. I jump over the rocks away from the shore. In the clear water I suddenly see small fish. I haven’t seen fry in the water since I was a child, since the trees were big and the rivers were clean. In Tuva everything remains as in childhood...

Chief Shaman

Tuva is a unique civilization. It is impossible to say that people live here the same as hundreds of years ago - they live, of course, not like everyone else, they live like everyone else in the 21st century - they drive cars, go to cafes, eat sushi. But in some ways, Tuvans are children of eternity. In the morning, a line forms at the small green house - people came for advice from Mognus Barahovich Kenin-Lopsan, who, on the one hand, is a shaman and seer, on the other, a full member of the New York Academy of Sciences.

Our horses were stolen... - a woman standing in line to see the shaman tells us. – I want to ask if they have somewhere to look approximately.

The woman is well dressed and holding a cell phone. And it’s clear that going to a shaman with such problems is a common thing for her...

Our turn comes, we enter Kenin-Lopsan. He is sitting at the table. There are books, books, books around. There are pebbles on the table, under Kenin-Lopsan’s hands. We already know that he uses them to tell fortunes. We were told that stones for fortune telling are taken from the goiter of wood grouse. But these Kenin-Lapsana were brought from Greece.

The silence is such that you can hear the clock ticking. He is 89 years old. We don’t know whether he sees us - he has cataracts in his eyes. Kenin-Lopsan's voice is quiet, with a slight accent, but he constructs phrases correctly and does not make mistakes in endings.

I am the son of a storyteller, hunter, nomad. When I was little, we had a nomadic life. Mom, dad, brothers, sisters - our family was huge, eleven people.

I graduated from the Oriental Faculty of Leningrad University. I'm an orientalist. My teacher was Stein, Professor Viktor Maksimovich Stein, he was a translator for the Russian embassy in Beijing, he spoke Chinese, Korean, and Japanese. And somehow he knew our shamanic antiquity. Yes... There was a story...

Tuva is a country of shamans. Tuvans have great respect for representatives of Orthodoxy, Islam, and Buddhism, but they turn to shamans. For Tuvans, shamans are the most respected people. They heal. They protect. Until 1990, Tuva was isolated from the outside world. Therefore, shamanism was preserved here miraculously. Our shamans were behind bars, some returned, others died. Class struggle, communist ideology... I had a grandmother who was a shaman. She was imprisoned three times under Soviet rule. The last time I was sitting near Minusinsk. For us it's sad story. She's back. One day I was sitting and a young, energetic Russian man came in. He said hello and said: “I’m with your grandmother.” And he brings her. It turns out that he had a daughter, she was sick, they treated her in Leningrad and Moscow, but it didn’t help. And my grandmother cured me. And as a sign of gratitude, he brought his grandmother to us. Somehow he helped me get released early. My grandmother lived near Mongolia, she didn’t get there - she died.

I am the son of a storyteller, my memory has been working since childhood - I always remember what a person said forever. I work from seven in the morning until two in the afternoon. After two I don't work. I am the son of a nomad, a hunter - they are matinees. For me, happiness is bread, work, health, children, people who respect me, who protect me. That's all...

Lake Tore-Khol. How can I tell you what it is? clear water glows in the sun.

Under your feet, small pebbles, smaller than match heads, that scrape your heels.

Large birds land on the water not far away. You're a city person, you don't know their names. They are not afraid of you - this is a nature reserve. Birds have their own business - they look for fish in the water. Nature lives its life, allowing people to admire it from the shore.

One shore of the lake is Tuvan, the other is Mongolian. So the bird, having chased the fish in Tuva, catches up with it in Mongolia. But the bird doesn't care. But a person, to get here, will need a pass to the border zone. And this is good - there is no selection.

All around is semi-desert, sand and bushes. And here the lake is like an emerald lost by someone. Kara-Khol - memory of the Ice Age. Once upon a time, these places were covered with a multi-meter shell of snow and ice. Then the earth receded, but water remained in this basin. You lie on it, peer into the small pebbles and see small shells in them – millimeters in diameter. When did snails live in them - yesterday or millions of years ago?..

Valley of the Kings

On planet earth less than ten those places where long-vanished peoples buried their kings. The most famous place– Egypt, pyramids of Giza. But the Tuvan Valley of the Kings is perhaps the most mysterious.

The Scythians, the people who inhabited Asia and part of what is now European Russia, buried their leaders here at a time that was ancient for the “father of history” Herodotus. Looking down on the past, we consider ancient civilizations primitive, wild or semi-wild. Meanwhile, there were so many treasures in the Scythian burial mounds that in the 17th-18th centuries in Russia “Siberian grave gold” was counted in centners. And this is only what, for various reasons, came into legal circulation. It turns out that the Scythians had tons of gold from somewhere. What kind of people were they? What kind of world was this?

Scythian gold, found in Tuva in the Arzhaan-2 burial ground, is now stored in a special room of the Republican Museum. Pectoral, akinak, one and a half kilogram gold hryvnia, a golden ladle, about which they say that the same ladle is described by Herodotus, golden “fabric” from which the king’s golden (!) pants (!) were sewn! Two and a half thousand golden cats, each the size of a peanut, adorned the king's clothes. The royal sword (akinak), on the hilt of which tigers tear a ram. Where could the Scythians see tigers - after all, not on TV? Or are these leopards still living in some areas of Tuva? The queen's golden earring is decorated with gold grain of such fine workmanship that modern craftsmen do not dare to repeat it. These findings raise more questions than they answer...

By the way, the international archaeological expedition “Kyzyl-Kuragino”, which includes many volunteers, has been working in the Tuvan Valley of the Kings for several seasons. So if you want to take part in a treasure hunt, go there! Just remember – the gold will have to be handed over. But the real treasures are the memories! – will stay with you!!

How to get there? By plane, train or car to Abakan. Then - along the M-54 highway to Kyzyl. Further - wherever your heart desires.

The national cuisine is the most diverse. Local tea - with milk, salty. The national drink is kumiss (horse and camel milk). Not for everyone, but for something exotic you can try it, there is no particular risk.

The people are hospitable and friendly.

I won’t hide it: we entered Tuva with some apprehension, as we did in Ingushetia and Chechnya in our time. But both in the Caucasus and here, nothing overshadowed our road trip. But still, reputation does not arise out of nowhere. The unfavorable background, or as they would say now, the background is laid down historically.

Tuva, as you know, became part of the USSR in 1944. And not even as a republic, but as an autonomous region. In the dawn of the Great Patriotic War, this was hardly the most noticeable event, but by this time the Tuvans had proven that they were the most loyal allies: they were the first to support the USSR from the first days of aggression, declaring war on Germany. Further - more: they transferred all their gold reserves to the Union, began to form volunteer units that fought on the Soviet fronts, and also sent almost all internal resources to help us. And it was worth a lot.

But there were other periods. Mainly when Russia demonstrated its weakness. Anti-Russian sentiments occurred in Civil War, when Tuva came under the rule of the Kolchakites, as well as in the 90s (the period of the collapse of the USSR). Many Russian-speaking people then left the republic, but there were also those who remained. In particular, my classmate, who, after graduating from Irkutsk State University, received an assignment (there was such a concept before) to Kyzyl and successfully adapted there.

Before my trip to Tuva, I called him. Unfortunately, he was on vacation at the time. Krasnodar region, but the advice helped a lot.

Firstly, he said that there is no need to fear anything if you behave appropriately to the situation.

Secondly, do not pretend to be a Muskvich: do not get into any disputes; do not show fakie to anyone; do not promise sexual adventures to anyone; and we don’t teach anyone how to live...

Thirdly, it is best to stay in the capital in a hotel opposite the local FSB headquarters.

But before getting to the capital of Tuva, we traveled a little around the territory of the republic. Until this moment, I was sure that there was nothing more beautiful in Siberia than Buryatia. Not a fact!

The road was absolutely wonderful, the views were amazing. The roadside trade was also pleasing. There were a lot of strawberries and inexpensive. This year it seems to be especially ugly. But for my taste, the Baikal one is still tastier.

After the Krasnoyarsk Territory, it became clear that he had entered a territory where the Tengri spirits are revered, where Buddhists and shamanists are in favor. But we’re no strangers to leaving a coin or a piece of candy on the passes...

Before reaching the capital, we turned onto a country road indicating the way to the Valley of the Kings of Tuva. Of course, in those ancient times, neither the kings nor the current Tuva were here. But there was a valley, and in it there was a life that was not yet fully understood, but filled with events. Here, as in Khakassia, the high culture, which is called Scythian, left behind hundreds of mounds, under which the local rulers rested. And some of them contain examples of incredible jewelry art.

We found ourselves at the most famous of the uncovered mounds, which has preserved all its riches to this day - this is Arzhan-2.

Here in 2001, a Russian-German expedition discovered the undisturbed burial of a local leader and his wife, whose remains were covered with a layer of gold. And not just any kind, but amazing jewelry. We will see them a little later in a special storage room of the museum, more like a safe or a crypt from which they were taken.

“The completed archaeological season in the Tuvan “Valley of the Kings” brought a sensation: St. Petersburg scientists discovered Scythian burials of the 8th-7th centuries BC. The discovery radically changes the idea of ​​​​the Black Sea origin of the Scythians - the found burials are older than the hitherto known Black Sea nomadic monuments.

Discussions about the origin of the Scythians begin since the time of Herodotus, who proposed a theory about the Asian origin of tribes, whose burial grounds were discovered in the Black Sea region. For many centuries they were skeptical about this - The theory about the “European roots” of the Scythians dominated; its indirect confirmation was the Caucasian, rather than Mongoloid, structure of the skulls found remains. The main identifying mark of Scythian culture is unique animal style of jewelry - could, scientists believed, appear after the return of the Scythians from the Central Asian campaigns, that is no earlier than the 7th century BC. This was confirmed by dated written sources of that time.

The study of the “royal burial” is the result of a long-term Russian-German scientific project. The excavations were carried out by the Central Asian archaeological expedition (created on the basis of the St. Petersburg branch of the Research Institute of Cultural and natural heritage Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation and Russian Academy of Sciences) and the Euro-Asian Department of the Berlin Archaeological Institute of Germany. The steppe in the vicinity of the village of Arzhan (in the Turano-Uyuk basin of the Western Sayan spurs in the north of Tuva) has long attracted the attention of archaeologists - it is here, in the “Valley of the Kings”, that the largest mounds from the era of the early nomads of Eurasia are concentrated. The first scientific excavations were carried out at the beginning of the twentieth century, and in the 70s the finds of the famous Leningrad scientist Mikhail Gryaznov became a sensation. The materials obtained during the excavations of the Arzhan mound made it possible to clarify the origins of the vibrant cultures of the early nomads of Eurasia in the first millennium BC...

Current excavations in Tuva, where monuments from the turn of the 8th-7th centuries BC were discovered, unexpectedly confirmed the correctness of Herodotus’ assumptions. Identification of tribes of the Scythian type occurs by the presence of components of the so-called “Scythian triad”: weapons, horse harness and, of course, objects of art of the animal style. Finds in the so-called “Valley of the Kings,” which unites several mounds, date back to the turn of the 8th-7th centuries BC, that is, a time when there were no Scythians in the Black Sea region, again according to archaeological data.

The head of the Central Asian expedition, a researcher at the Hermitage, Konstantin Chugunov, told Izvestia:

The finds in the Arzhan-2 mound have no analogues in archeology. All examples of the components of the Scythian triad are so highly developed that initially we could not even imagine that they were created earlier than the 6th century BC. A thorough analysis of both the “royal” burials and burial grounds that did not belong to representatives of the Scythian nobility showed that they were created later than the 7th century BC. This turns the idea of ​​Asian nomadic culture upside down: the origin and development of Scythian art, which surpasses in level of development even the contemporary art of Archaic Greece, can be spoken of in a completely different way. The antiquity of the finds suggests that the Scythian tribes came to the Black Sea region from Central Asia.

However, populist “scientific” assumptions that appeared after the publication of the first results of the expedition in Kyzyl that modern Tuvans are descendants of the Scythians are categorically denied by St. Petersburg archaeologists. One of the main arguments is the Caucasoid skull of the Scythians and their belonging to the Iranian language group. And in general, scientists state, the fact of presence of carriers in any territory ancient civilization does not mean that the ethnic groups that appeared there later are “genetic successors” of this civilization. The excavations are completed before next May, which the Central Asian expedition is looking forward to with understandable impatience."

9,300 gold coins were found, not counting "countless gold beads." Photo: Vera Salnitskaya

An unknown warrior was found literally covered in gold along with his woman. Photo: Konstantin Chugunov, Anatoly Naglera and German Parzinger; Vera Salnitskaya

The unknown Scythian warrior was dubbed the Siberian Tutankhamun, because symbols of his wealth were discovered: the bodies of 14 horses were buried in the ancient necropolis. Next to this burial, the burials of another 33 people were discovered, five of whom were children. The found jewelry was made in the "Animal Art" style

The ancient ruler was buried with a heavy necklace of pure gold and a gold quiver decorated with fish scales. Photo: Vera Salnitskaya

This burial was not plundered, like Arzhan 1, so items made of iron, turquoise, amber and wood, as well as gold, fell into the hands of archaeologists.

The find was described by the director of the Hermitage, Dr. M. B. Piotrovsky, as an “encyclopedia of Scythian art”, containing species of many animals that roamed the region, such as panthers, lions, camels, deer...

Reconstruction of costumes made by experts from the Hermitage. Painting: Hermitage

The warrior's outer clothing, probably a type of caftan, was decorated with thousands of small Panther figurines, each 2-3 centimeters in length, attached in vertical rows and forming motifs such as wings on the back.

Gold pectoral in animal style. Photo: Vera Salnitskaya

Thousands of small beads with a diameter of about 1 mm were sewn onto felt or leather boots, making the boots appear to be made of gold

The total weight of his jewelry - including the glass beads on his trousers - was 2 kilograms. This man's weapon consisted of an iron dagger.

The decoration of the woman's dress matches the man's caftan: thousands of golden panthers form different motifs, again in particular the wings on the back. Around her chest, archaeologists found gold earrings and many small balls of gold, amber, garnet, malachite and other precious materials.

Near her foot were thousands of mini beads made of gold that were supposed to be attached to leather boots that were inlaid with gold ribbons and grains.

“It’s hard to imagine that these small pieces were made by nomads living in tents. Photo: Vera Salnitskaya

Other burials that surrounded the prominent couple contained bronze knives, an ax of the type known as the Raven's Beak, arrowheads, bronze mirrors, belts and much jewelry - beads made of glass, stone, amber, and gold earrings. There were also fragments of fabric - felt, fur and cloth.

Bridle sets made of bronze, and ornaments for manes and tails carved from gold sheets were also discovered here.

DNA analysis of the group showed that those buried were from the Iranian ethnolinguistic group. According to the analysis of strontium isotopes in the bones, all those buried were local residents, except for the “Queen,” and this gives reason to think about dynastic marriages.

Weapons: iron dagger and iron arrowheads with gold inlay. Photo: Vera Salnitskaya

The early Scythians were people who knew and appreciated works of art Photo: Vera Salnitskaya

The burial picture corresponds to the description of the Scythian burial ritual described by Herodotus.

Wooden bowl with gold handle. Photo: Vera Salnitskaya

As Parzinger said: "It is difficult to imagine that these small pieces were made by nomads living in tents." Chugunov agrees: “In Arzhan 2, gold jewelry was clearly not made by nomadic artists.”

Some of the decorations were probably made in what is now China; others owe their origins to the craftsmen of the Middle East. Some treasures came from a distance of 4,000 to 5,000 kilometers from this mound, but at this point there was no contact between the Scythians and the ancient Greeks.

However, the treasures indicate the lost civilization of the Scythians. They were culturally more advanced, which was once assumed. Experts suggest that there were also Scythian craftsmen who made the daggers and arrowheads found in the burial. The techniques used in embroidery and earring making are similar to those used close to Aral Sea, about 3600 km from the burial site. The remains of fruits and plant seeds found at Arjan 2 also come from more distant regions.

What do anthropological studies say?

"The majority of the studied groups of the Scythian time, when compared with the combined series representing Caucasoids and Mongoloids, correspond to the frequencies of ZI, ZSS and IPNSH inherent in Caucasians (Fig. 1). A stable shift in the “eastern” direction is demonstrated only by the series from the so-called royal mound Arzhan-2. At the same time, the average value of the frequencies of OI for the combined series, except for those buried in Arzhan-2, the Pazyryk people and the Tagar people (Kuznetsk Basin), exceeds this indicator for modern Mongoloids. Increased, although not as much as in. in this case, OI frequencies are also characteristic of a number of Bronze Age populations from the steppe and forest-steppe zones of Western and Southern Siberia [Gromov, Moiseev, 2004]. Considering this, as well as the absence of a noticeable “eastern” tendency in other characteristics among the Pazyryk and Tagar people of the Kuznetsk Basin, I believe that it is premature to talk about the significant participation of Mongoloid groups in the genesis of these populations. However, this feature can be considered as a consequence of the family ties of these groups with the Caucasians of Southern Siberia of the Bronze Age. The assumption about the participation of Mongoloids in the formation of the group from Arzhan-2 has more grounds, since it, as already noted, demonstrates a stable “eastern” tendency in almost all characteristics significant for the differentiation of modern Caucasian and Mongoloid populations. It should, however, be borne in mind that the extreme frequency values ​​characterizing the series may be due to the small size of the group. It is also necessary to take into account possible family relationships between individuals buried in this burial ground, which was the ancestral tomb of the top of the early Scythian society...

The beginning of a qualitative change in relations between Central Asian groups and the Caucasian population of the steppe zone of Siberia is evidenced by the pronounced “eastern” shift of the group from Arzhan-2. Such a shift for an earlier time was traced only in individual individuals, which means the migration process was not yet massive - we could talk about the infiltration of small Mongoloid groups that were completely assimilated by Caucasian populations. The uniqueness of the cranioscopic characteristics of the series from Arzhan-2 indicates that a fundamental change in the dynamics of interaction between ancient European and Mongoloid populations did not occur in the Scythian period. The process of mass migration of Mongoloid groups of Central Asian origin occurred in the subsequent, Hunnic, period.

In the forest-steppe zone Western Siberia At this time, another direction of interpopulation connections prevailed. Here assimilation took place by the numerically predominant Caucasian populations of the local taiga population, in the cranioscopic characteristics of which there are similarities with modern Ugric and Samoyed groups ."

(modern), called “sacred”. Mention of it occurs in the Koran in the context of the story of the prophet (Moses).

Background

On the way to Egypt, one cold night, Prophet Musa and his family got lost. Musa tried to light a fire with his flint, but nothing worked. At that moment, when the darkness thickened and the cold intensified, he, thinking that there was a fire burning on the right slope of the mountain, headed in this direction. Musa set off with the intention of bringing a brand of fire and finding people who would tell him the right path. He approached the fire, which he saw from afar, and it turned out that in reality it was not fire, but light.

Prophet Musa in the Tuva Valley

In the Tuva valley, the Lord called Musa in a quiet voice. He told Musa that he was the Lord and ordered him to take off his sandals as a sign of respect for this blessed place.

According to some sources, Musa was ordered to take off his shoes because in order to receive the blessings of Allah, a believer, as a sign of the lowest submission, must touch the sacred ground only with bare feet. Other sources cite as an argument the following statement of the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ, which they characterize as trustworthy: “ His shoes were made of donkey skin (that is, they were not clean)» .

In the Tuva Valley, Musa learned that the Lord had chosen him as a messenger who should follow what was suggested to him: Verily, I am your Lord. Take off your shoes. You are in the sacred valley of Tuva. I have chosen you, and therefore listen to what is revealed to you.. Here the prophet Musa received a command from the Lord to meet with the stubborn and despotic ruler, before whom none of the inhabitants of Egypt dared to argue: So the Lord called to him in the sacred valley of Tuva (Tova): “Go to Pharaoh, for he has transgressed the boundaries of what is permitted. [