Filippovka kurgans
Two-planed stag, Filippovka kurgan, 4th century BCE.

The Filippovka kurgans (Ru: Филипповский курганный) are Late-Sauromatian to Early-Sarmatian culture kurgans, forming "a transition site between the Sauromation and the Sarmatian epochs", just north of the Caspian Sea in the Orenburg region of Russia, dated to the second half of the 5th century and the 4th century BCE (that is, from the 450-300 BCE period).

Characteristics

The style of the artifacts from the Filippovka kurgans is considered as Scythian Animal Style. Some of the artifacts having Achaemenid stylistic elements, it has been suggested that they were made by Achaemenid craftsmen by order from Filippovka nomads.

The numerous burials at Filippovka are dated to the 2nd half of the 5th century and the 4th century (c.450-300 BCE), and correspond to the Early Sarmatian culture of the southern Ural region.

The style of many artifacts looks quite archaic, prompting some historians to date them to the 6th century BCE and to the Sauromatian (pre-Sarmatian) period (ca. 600-400 BCE), but detailed analysis confirms dates of c.450-300 BCE for all the Filippovka kurgan, representing a transitory phase between the Sauromatians and the Earliest Sarmatians.

The finds of weaponry in the Filippovka kurgans also allowed for the definition of the Early Sarmatian heavy-armed warrior: "He wore a forged-iron helmet with a nose piece and cheek pieces. Scale armor of leather protected his body. He carried a twig-woven quiver for a bow and sometimes more than 200 arrows, covered with leather and decorated with an umbo; an arms belt with a buckle for crossing the belts; a richly decorated quiver hook; a long spear with a massive head and spike; a short iron akinakes sword; and iron axe. This complete image recalls a picture from a novel featuring medieval western European knights; these Sarmatian "prototypes," however, are 2,000 years older".

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  Gold amphora with argali-shaped handles, Filippovka kurgan 1, 4th century BCE.
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  Filippovka kurgans cup
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  Bear-shaped vessel, Filippovka kurgan 1, 4th century BCE.
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  Mirror, Filippovka kurgan 1, 4th century BCE.
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  Silver ewer, Filippovka kurgan 1, 4th century BCE.
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  Earrings, Filippovka kurgan 1, 4th century BCE.

Weapons

Numerous weapons, armour, helmets were found in the excavations of Filippovka kurgan 1:

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  Filippovka 1 Iron armour from burial 2 mound 4
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  Filippovka 1, Horn armour from mound 29
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  Filippovka 1, bronze arrowheads from burial 2, mound 4
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  Filippovka 1, iron helmets from mound 11
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  Filippovka 1, iron swords and daggers

Anthropology

The people buried in Filippovka combined Western (Timber Grave and Andronovo) and Eastern characteristics. Compared with classical Sauromatians, Early Sarmatians, such as those of Filippovka, generally display an increased incidence of eastern Asiatic features. They most closely resembled the Saka populations of Central Asia, particularly from the Altai region (Pazyryk), and were very different from the western Scythians, or the Sarmatians of the Volga River area to the west:

In skull shape and facial structure, the Filippovka specimens differ considerably from remains of Scythians and Volga River-area Sarmatians. The Filipovka skulls most closely resemble those of Saka from Kazakhstan and the Aral Sea region, and those of the Usuns from Eastern Kazhakhstan.

— The Golden Deer of Eurasia: Scythian and Sarmatian Treasures from the Russian Steppes.

Ethnic context

The region between the Caspian Sea and of the Southern Urals originally had populations of Srubnaya (1900 BC–1200 BCE) and Andronovo (c. 2000–1150 BCE) ancestry ancestry, but, starting with the Iron Age (c.1000 BCE) became a region of intense ethnic and cultural interraction between European and Asian components. From the 7th century BCE, Early Saka nomads started to settle in the Southern Urals, coming from Central Asia, the Altai-Sayan region, and Central and Northern Kazakhstan. The Itkul culture (7th-5th century BCE) is one of these Early Saka cultures, based in the eastern foothills of the Urals, which was assimilited into the Early Sarmatian culture. Circa 600 BCE, groups from the Saka Tasmola culture settled in the southern Urals. Circa 500 BCE, other groups from the area of Ancient Khorezm settled in the western part of the southern Urals, who also assimilated into the Early Sarmatians.

As a result, a large-scale integrated union of nomads from Central Asia formed in the area in the 5th–4th century BCE, with fairly uniformized cultural practices. This cultural complex, with notable ‘‘foreign elements’’, corresponds to the ‘‘royal’’ burials of Filippovka, and define the "Prokhorovka period" of the Early Sarmatians.

See also

• Taksai kurgan, about 100 km to the west
• Araltobe kurgan