The Pazyryk mounds are located on the Ulagan Highland. Nearby there is a road that leads from the Chuya Highway to the Katu-Yaryk pass. In the 19th century, 5 large royal burial mounds were found near the village of Balyktuyul, which belong to the period of the Iron Age (from the 5th to the 3rd century BC).
The Pazyryk archaeological culture refers to nomadic tribes that settled in the mountainous regions of Altay before our era. It was named after the Pazyryk site on the Ulagan Highland, where 5 mounds were discovered in the 19th century. They are huge in size. The diameters of the stone mounds vary from 24 to 47 meters. The height of the embankments reaches 3.5 meters.
Representatives of the Pazyryk culture lived on the Ulagan Highlands and the Ukok Plateau. They belong to the nomadic tribes of the Iranian-Samoyed ethnic group. The first excavations on the Pazyryk mounds began in 1865. The largest excavations in the Pazyryk mounds were carried out during the archaeological expeditions of Academician Sergei Rudenko in 1927-1929. Unique finds were made here.
The sub-zero temperature in the burial chambers has preserved in good condition not only the mummies of the buried people, but also the utensils. The mounds were looted more than a thousand years ago, so archaeologists did not find jewelry and weapons in them, but even what remains has exceptional cultural value.
Archaeologists usually find objects made of iron, stones and bones of the deceased in burial mounds. However, in the Pazyryk Mounds, due to the subzero temperature, fabrics, wooden products, horse harness and many household items were found. Even the mummies of people have been preserved very well. A tent and wooden parts of wagons were found in one of the mounds.
The pile carpet found in the Fifth Mound during excavations in 1949 has the greatest cultural value. The Pazyryk carpet is the oldest surviving carpet in the world. It was made between 5-2 centuries BC. Its preservation is very good. Patterns and images of fallow deer are clearly visible on the carpet. The carpet was made by craftsmen from Persia. Now it is kept in the State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg.
The Pazyryk Mounds are located in a very picturesque place surrounded by mountains. Four Mounds are located near the road, and the fifth mound is located at the foot of the hill a kilometer from the road.
