The west Asian heritage of the Pazyryk culture: textiles from the “frozen” graves of the middle nobility

The influence of Western Asian art on the art of the Pazyryk culture has been comprehensively studied by S.I. Rudenko. His works and works ofhis followers analyzed the evidence from the Pazyryk, Bashadar, and Tuekty royal burial mounds with most impressive and diverse inventory mainly consisting of objects made of organic materials. Excavations of burial mounds with "frozen” graves which belonged to ordinary members of society and middle nobility were done in the late 20th-early 21st century. They revealed that the objects preserved in them did not differ from those discovered in the royal graves in terms of craftsmanship level, real or fantastic imagery, or compositional solutions. The Pazyryk art was not elitist, but was uniform for all social strata. The influence of the Achaemenid art -the heir of the entire Ancient East was reflected in original way in the textiles intended for horse decoration, which were found in the "frozen” graves of Ukok and Berel. Appliques on saddle coverings from the Ak-Alakha burial mounds represent fantastic animals. Their prototypes were famous Achaemenid lion-griffins. In the royal burial mounds these animals were depicted by those who saw the originals, but on the periphery of the Pazyryk culture, on Ukok, artisans represented the local interpretation of this image, sometimes producing distinctive animal images in which it is difficult to discern the prototypes. Nevertheless, it is easy to recognize the original winged bull standing on its hind legs of the Assyrians and Persians in the embroidered image from the 11th Berel burial mound. Western Asian art was a source of imagery, motifs, and ideas for the Pazyryk people, providing the basis for their own original art.