Scythian m-thing, part deux -- for essayel, of no interest to oth

[yakalskovich]

About the mummy itself:

• "Upper middle class" -- small chieftain, no simple warrior
• 2,500 years old
• This chieftain was over 60 years old, had short hair and a beard - dark blond
• Coat with long tail at the back
• Tails of coat for sitting on on cold ground
• Coat made from different furs, dyed red and dark blue
• Tall hat dyed red
• Dyes: indigo from India, and red dye made from lice from the Mediterranean or Persian
• Suffered from chronic sinusitis -- attributed to rough climate
• 1,67 m tall, dark blond and over 60 years old
• Fell off his horse and had complicated fracture on his arm
• Also, abscess from a rotting tooth, and bad gums from eating mainly meat; inferring bad breath
• In old age, his teeth were bad, he had osteoporosis and bad arthritis
• More Scythian mummies in Hermitage in St. Petersburg; tattoos everywhere, even on thumbs
• Panther head on shoulder
• Animal pictures on arms and legs -- protective magic?
• Scythians may have cut open their dead, taken out the entrails, and filled the bodies with grass and sewed them shut with horsehair
• Similar to Egyptian customs?
• Scythians could treat arrow wounds in the head; they'd operate on the skulls to get out the arrowheads, and people survived that
• Wooden torque with gold foil
• Bow!! Composite bow -- lower part shorter so it wouldn't catch on the horses when shooting astride
• Arrows wooden; fake, made for burial -- trilobate heads carved from wood
• Bow made of juniper wood under steam in boards with pegs, forced into the shape; replica can shoot arrows with metal heads through Persian shields

About Scythians in general:

• Scythians followed the rivers
• Scythians got as far as East Germany (???)
• Near the black sea, they happened onto Greeks
• Greek city by the Black Sea where both Scythians lived and made trilobate arrows (modern name: Taganrok or so) by the sea of Azov
• Taman peninsula by Sea of Azov -- where Scythians met Greek colonists
• Peninsula was island in that time, 2,500 years ago
• Greek colonists grew corn in those colonies; furs and slaves also important trade goods; also, mercenaries
• Greek city of Phanagoria (?) -- harbour explored underwater
• Bead looking like an artificial eye -- exactly like the ones they still have in Turkey against the 'evil eye'
• Had famous jewellers!
• Found the furnace of a Greek goldsmith that did naturalistic Greek-style work for Scythian customers!!
• Glass and pottery
• Scythians lived or at least traded in Phanagoria
• Inscription mentioning war between Greeks and Scythians
• Cannabis fumes used for contact with Otherworld -- archaeologists prefer 'ritual' explanation to recreative, but that's an occupational hazard

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

But!! But but but - that's a HUN bow!

Squeees - so much good stuff! thanks a bunch