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Kurgans at Pazyryk

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  Quote Nick1986 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Topic: Kurgans at Pazyryk
    Posted: 18-Sep-2011 at 19:28

Around 600 BC an ironworking and horse-riding culture flourished in the Altai Mountains of Siberia. In the 1920s Russian archaeologists excavated the tombs of the ancient chieftains and discovered some intricate felt artwork, a chariot, gold ornaments in the form of stags, and one of the oldest carpets in existence.
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  Quote Nick1986 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 19-Sep-2011 at 19:29
The chief's body was covered in tattoos, including stags, dragons, griffins and fish
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  Quote Nick1986 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 20-Sep-2011 at 19:05

Picture of the tattoos on a mummified piece of skin
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  Quote TheAlaniDragonRising Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 22-Sep-2011 at 06:50
Very interesting Nick. Do you know if the burial also consisted of horses with antlers attached to make them look like stags? As you might already know the stag was like a deity to nomadic peoples, so there shouldn't be too much of a surprise to find that as a symbol in a burial. The dragon symbol isn't too much of a surprise to me being in the area either, as those related to the Alani carried the dragon synbol as a totem in battle...etc...personally I believe it to be an adaptation of the Chinese dragon, rather than that of the Greek. The Griffin is also a very interesting symbol to find, as there have been dinosaur bones found in the Gobi desert which have been associated with looking looking Griffin like. The fish is the symbol of the great pagan mother goddess, the outline being of the vulva    
What a handsome figure of a dragon. No wonder I fall madly in love with the Alani Dragon now, the avatar, it's a gorgeous dragon picture.
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  Quote Nick1986 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 22-Sep-2011 at 19:07
Thanks. Were the Alani also descended from mongoloid Scythian nomads?
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  Quote TheAlaniDragonRising Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 23-Sep-2011 at 13:27
Originally posted by Nick1986

Thanks. Were the Alani also descended from mongoloid Scythian nomads?

I would say they were of the same family yes. However the Alani were special as they used mass adoption to increase their numbers, whereas the earlier Scythians sold those they defeated as slaves. 
What a handsome figure of a dragon. No wonder I fall madly in love with the Alani Dragon now, the avatar, it's a gorgeous dragon picture.
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  Quote Nick1986 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 23-Sep-2011 at 19:01
Interesting practise. The Indians did a similar thing with the children of slain white settlers
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  Quote Don Quixote Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 27-Sep-2011 at 19:18
Originally posted by TheAlaniDragonRising

Very interesting Nick. Do you know if the burial also consisted of horses with antlers attached to make them look like stags? As you might already know the stag was like a deity to nomadic peoples, so there shouldn't be too much of a surprise to find that as a symbol in a burial. The dragon symbol isn't too much of a surprise to me being in the area either, as those related to the Alani carried the dragon synbol as a totem in battle...etc...personally I believe it to be an adaptation of the Chinese dragon, rather than that of the Greek. The Griffin is also a very interesting symbol to find, as there have been dinosaur bones found in the Gobi desert which have been associated with looking looking Griffin like. The fish is the symbol of the great pagan mother goddess, the outline being of the vulva    

I don't consider the Alani dragon an adaptation of the Chinese - it seems to me that it is an original Eastern Asian symbol, and that it exists in Greek and Chinese mythological consciousness is due to it's archetypal nature, not to cultural borrowings. It's significant that in Chinese world-direction symbolism the animal symbolizing the East is dragon, and the East is "scaled"  http://www.friesian.com/elements.htm
So, if there was a direction of borrowing, I'd bet on the dragon coming from Eastern Asia to China, not vice versa.
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  Quote Nick1986 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 14-Aug-2012 at 19:40
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