The early Tashtyk phase at Oglakhty dates to roughly the 1st–4th centuries AD, although the broader culture continued into the 5th century. The video argues for a 2nd-century-BC start. Tashtyk communities cremated their dead, placed bones in grass-stuffed leather effigies and added gypsum masks. In 1969, Leon Kauslazov excavated Tomb 4, finding a tattooed man aged 25–30 with reddish-brown hair. CT scans showed a 6-by-7-cm opening in the temporal bone, interpreted as trepanation. A long wound from his left eye to his ear may have caused death and was sutured, possibly after death. Ancient DNA supports predominantly West Eurasian ancestry, with blue eyes and blonde or light-brown hair common among those studied; the video links that pattern to Scythian and Sarmatian influence. Oglakhty has yielded 26 intact masks and fragments of nearly 200 more. Communal crypts were burned after the funeral rites.
Tashtyk tombs at Oglakhty reveal tattooed mummy with trepanation
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Key facts
- The culture is spelled Tashtyk, not Tashtik or Tashik.
- Radiocarbon dating places Oglakhty's early Tashtyk phase in roughly the 1st–4th centuries AD, although the broader culture continued into the 5th century. The video argues for a 2nd-century-BC start.
- Tashtyk communities built fortified settlements, practiced metalworking and textile production, and kept cattle.
- They cremated the dead, placed the bones in grass-stuffed leather effigies, and covered them with gypsum masks.
- Leon Kauslazov excavated Tomb 4 in 1969, finding a tattooed man aged about 25–30 with reddish-brown hair.
- CT scans showed a 6-by-7-cm opening in the temporal bone interpreted as trepanation.
- A long wound from the left eye to the ear may have caused death and was sutured, possibly after death; the postmortem stitching itself was not the cause.
- Ancient DNA supports predominantly West Eurasian ancestry, with blue eyes and blonde or light-brown hair common among those studied; the video attributes the ancestry pattern to Scythian and Sarmatian influence.
- Oglakhty has yielded 26 intact masks and fragments of nearly 200 more, and its communal crypts were burned after funeral rites.
Sources
2,000-Year-Old Siberian Funerary Masks Reveal Secrets of the ...arkeonews.net
Unlike many ancient cultures that practiced inhumation (burial of the body), the Tashtyk were known for cremation rituals. After cremating the ...
Ancient DNA gives insight into the mysterious Tashtyk peoples of ...musaeumscythia.substack.com
The Tashtyk as a material culture. Following the Tagar culture, the Tashtyk culture lasts from the first century BC up until the fifth century ...
A Message From a Mysterious Ancient Culture in Siberia - ICMGLTicmglt.org
The Tashtyk culture was common in the Khakassian Minusink basin, in southern Siberia, from almost 2,000 to about 1,600 years ago. But the ...
The face hidden behind the mask - Archeotravelers.comarcheotravelers.com
The Tashtyk culture developed along the Yenisei valley and surrounding areas of southern Siberia from the 2nd century BC. to the 4th century ...
Tashtyk culture - Grokipediagrokipedia.com
The Tashtyk culture was an Iron Age archaeological culture that flourished in the Minusinsk Basin of southern Siberia, along the Yenisei River in modern-day ...
Tashtyk cultureen.wikipedia.org
The Tashtyk culture was a Late Iron Age archaeological culture that flourished in the Yenisei valley in Siberia from the 1st century CE to the 4th century CE.
Dating of the Tashtyk Cultural Remains from the Oglakhty ...repository.arizona.edu
by GI Zaitseva · 2009 · Cited by 3 — 2 different time periods had been identified for the Tashtyk burials: (1) from the 1st century BC until the 1st century AD and (2) from the 1st until the 2nd ...
Dating of the Tashtyk Cultural Remains from the Oglakhty ...semanticscholar.org
... Tashtyk burials, namely the 3rd–4th centuries AD. This considerable shift in chronology needed to be checked with independent data. The chronological ...
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