2015/01/01 by N.V. Polosmak · 5 citations
Social Sciences · Arts and Humanities · Earth and Planetary Sciences · #Eurasian Exchange Networks #Ancient and Medieval Archaeology Studies #Archaeology and ancient environmental studies #Ceremony #Ancient history #Art #Altar #Humanities #Empire #Archaeology #Polychrome #History
paper · doi:10.3406/arasi.2015.1881
published in Arts asiatiques 70(1), 3-32 (Maisonneuve)
openalex publication_date 2015/01/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/05/21
Dr. Natalia Polos’mak has written an important preliminary article devoted to the finds recently made during the excavations of the Xiongnu kurgan nos. 20 and 31 in Noin-Ula by the Mongol-Russian expedition (Institute of Archaeology of Mongolia, Ulaanbaatar and Institute of Archaeology, Ethnology and Anthropology of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Novosisibirsk). Large fragments of polychrome textile wall hangings were discovered in monumental princely burials, dated from the turn of the era. These tapestries were apparently manufactured in Bactria or in Gandhāra at the time of the Śaka-Yuezhi rule, when these countries were connected with the Parthian empire and the “ Hellenized East.” They represent groups of men, warriors of high status, and kings and/or princes, performing rituals of drinking, fighting or taking part in a religious ceremony, a procession leading to an altar with a fire burning on it, and two men engaged in a ritual action.