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ABSTRACT
The Beiram Kurgan in western Mongolia was surveyed in 1996 and again in spring
1999. It is an isolated mound at the top of a mountain pass (ca. 9,000 feet),
between two near identical ridges named Beiram and Beiram East. The architectural
configuration of the unexcavated mound is similar to Saka burial mounds in
southern and eastern Kazakstan and many be dated to between 500-300 B.C. Although
no other archaeological excavations have been done in the Mongolian Altai
Mountains, we assumed that the mound probably contained a burial and that
quite possibly the remains would be frozen as the mound is located in permafrost.
The excavation was begun in early June 1999 and completed in early August
of the same year. Excavations indicated that the mound was especially constructed
as a cultic site. The artifacts found above Level 6 indicate there could have
been a hiatus in the occupation of the area between ca. 200 B.C., until the
arrival of the Turkish peoples, probably ca. A.D. 600 and there is some textual
evidence to support this theory. Thousands of offering found in the Beiram
mound, such as astragal and sheep scapula, are undated but probably have been
cultic offerings for millennia. Less numerous artifacts are dated by analogy
and come from the Mongol period (ca. 1400) to present times.
This appears to be the first cultic
site of this period that has been excavated. Dr. Liu Engoe from the Urumchi
Institute of Archaeology in Xinjiang, China he had found three Saka cultic
spots in the Tien Shan Mountains, but they were not excavated (personal communication).
Unfortunately, I do not know their configuration. The people who constructed
the Beiram Mound devoted a tremendous amount of energy in excavating a pit
which was then covered within the delineation of the circular mound. The mound
was covered with four distinct layers of stone interspersed with soil and
elaborated with logs radiating from the outer edge to the center. Just gathering
the building materialsÐhuge quantities of fields stones and tons upon tons
of river stones brought from 15-20 kilometers away on the other side of the
west ridge, and trees from the groves that lie kilometers downhillÐtook tremendous
energy and planning. Whatever offerings they madeÐand they probably included
liquid libations (milk and/or koumiss,fermented maresÕ milk) to the gods for
rain, baby animals, and baby people, as well as offerings of wood, bone, stone,
glass, iron, copper, bronze and possibly brassÐthe rituals must have been
performed in a similar fashion as they still are today. The ancient nomads
obviously had a specific plan in mind for the mound construction, basing the
architectural plan on that used for burials. Although we have little knowledge
about the actual people who nomadized in these high Altai valleys during the
summer, it is quite apparent that they were well organized and that their
chieftain (or a powerful priestess) had sufficient power and influence to
inspire a construction systematically carried through.
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Excavated from Pokrovka, the small wood-carved
animal (to the right), possibly represents a deer. It is the single artifact
excavated from the Beiram Kurgan, that on stylistic grounds, relates the construction
of the mound to the Saka period (500-300 B.C.). The carving has strong analogies
with artifacts from the Sailygeme Kurgans located to the northwest in the
Russian Altai Mountains (V.D. Kubarev. Kurgans of Sailygema. Novosibersk:,
Nauka,Siberskoi Otdelemie, 1992. Kurgan 30 Barburgazy I, Ill. page 183 #17,
text, pp. 132-133.)
The information from the excavation
of Beiram cultic site has immensely augmented our knowledge of the Saka belief
system., The excavation report with photographs and a schematic of the mound
follows.
Continue to the next
page for the complete report with illustrations.
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