Pazırık kültüründe ölü gömme gelenekleri ve Kurgan Mimarisine yansımaları

Abstract

Pazyryk Culture is one of the most prominent subjects of Central Asian Archeology due to its rich archaeological finds. This article aims to assess Pazyryk culture kurgans, in terms of their architectural features and funeral rites to reveal the relationship between the Pazyryk Culture and its successors, the kurgans of Hsiung-nu and Turkic Khaganates. The datings of the Pazyryk kurgans as well as different hypotheses on the origin of Pazyryk society have also been discussed. Layout of burial grounds, architectural elements, interior arrangement of chambers, horse burial practices, orientation of bodies and horses are subjects examined in detail. There are more than 135 burial grounds with more than 600 kurgans attributed to the culture. Almost all the kurgans of the Pazyryk culture are aligned in a straight line in the north-south direction, sometimes with slight deviations. It is believed that the arrangement of the kurgans in a straight line is based on the layout of the permanent dwellings, lined up on the north-south axis, in the winter quarters of the nomadic Turkic peoples of Altai. The burial chambers of the kurgans, which are representative “houses of the dead”, are arranged as housing models with the carpets hung on the walls and the items placed. Among the architectural elements of the Pazyryk Culture kurgans are the circular stone fences surrounding its stone mounds, altars, and row of balbals.