Chasing the Shaman's Steed: The Horse in Myth from Central Asia to Scandinavia (Presented at the Eurasian Archaeology Conference) By Kristen R Pearson

https://www.academia.edu/35913475/Chasing_the_Shamans_Steed_The_Horse_in_Myth_from_Central_Asia_to_Scandinavia_Presented_at_the_Eurasian_Archaeology_Conference_?nav_from=15270fd0-c874-4ff2-b132-80664dc354f6 The site of Pazyryk is famous for yielding fabulously preserved artifacts, including textiles, wooden objects, and mummified bodies. This material led to the identification of an Iron Age (5th-3rd centuries BCE) culture centered in the Altai mountains, now known as the Pazyryk culture. Several nearby kurgans have been excavated in more recent years, providing additional evidence of the Pazyryk people. One of the most distinctive features of these kurgan burials is the inclusion of elaborately masked and costumed horses, the meaning of which has been much debated. Previous interpretations have connected the costumed horses with the practice of deer-riding or Indo-European beliefs about the sacrificial role of ungulates This paper argues that these explanations do not account for all of the evidence, and proposes an interpretation based on Eurasian shamanic folklore and representations of composite horses in other media. The author argues that the costumed horses are best understood as shamanic steeds, their antlers or horns, typically ornamented with bird heads, linking them to the World Tree/World Mountain. The connection between the horses and the World Tree is highlighted by reference to Scythian horse sacrifices and aspects of Norse mythology that seem to preserve a close link between the World Tree and the shamanic steed. While this connection has been noted before, the author offers a perspective on the transmission of these motifs based on archaeological evidence.