Leonid Marsadolov

GREAT SALBYK BARROW IN SIBERIA

(archaeological and astronomical aspects)

The Great Salbyk barrow is the best known of the megalithic monuments in Siberia. The barrow is situated 65 km northward of the town of Abakan in Khakasia (Russia; сoordinates of a monument: geographical breadth (northern) – 53 53.4', a longitude (east) – 90 45.1', height above sea level – 540 м). There are more than 50 big and middle-sized barrows, as well as many small ones. The archaeologist S. V. Kiselev excavated the Salbyk barrow in 1954-1956.

The expedition of the State Hermitage Museum investigated the Salbyk valley in 1992, 1994, 1996, 1998, 2008, 2010 and 2015. The expedition has recently composed a plan of the fence of stone slabs, taken samples for the tree-ring and radiocarbon analysis, conducted the astronomical and topographical analyses, and traced the connection of the barrow with the surrounding landscape.

The barrow height is more than 20 m and originally it was pyramid-shaped. Under the mound was a square “fence” (71 x 71 metres) made of huge stone slabs placed vertically and horizontally and weighting some tones (the average size was about 5 metres). Inside the fence, a square pit-grave had been dug, and there were seven persons buried in timber on its bottom. It seems probable that the chief of an alliance of tribes and his favourites were buried in the grave. The construction of big barrows in Salbyk probably was based on the astronomical knowledge of that time. The installation of the fence slabs is connected with the main positions of the rising and setting of the moon and sun on astronomically significant days. On the basis of the new analyses, the barrow is dated to the 7th century BC.

Under the pyramid there was a square pit – 5 x 5 m and its bottom was 1.8 m deep. Its walls were lined with vertical logs. In the bottom of the pit there was a wooden framework with 4 rows of larch logs cut like bars. The chamber was 4 x 4 m; its height was about 2 m. It was covered by six rows of massive logs with a thick layer of birch bark. The bottom of the framework and the space between its walls and the logs covering the pit’s walls were full of solid red, water-resistant clay. In the chamber, the remnants of seven persons were found—men and women. An old warrior was buried in the centre, some of whose bones were broken. A large clay vessel was found in fragments. Near the middle part of the western wall of the framework, on the bottom, a miniature bronze knife was also found. The fence was made of massive blocks of sandstone placed in a standing position; the largest of these weigh about 30-100 tones.

Astronomical observations had probably taken place there before the construction of the stone fence. The installation of the fence slabs is connected with the main positions of the rising and setting of the moon and sun on astronomically significant days. Signs in the form of circles, crescents and other figures were discovered on the barrow's slabs. On one of the slabs from the barrow, a complicated composition is drawn. In the higher part of the slab the sky is represented: a bird, the sun, stars, a person with vizier in  his hand. The investigation revealed that the solar directions were connected with vertical stone slabs, the moon directions – with corners of a barrow, but the entrance was oriented on sunrise in days of an equinox.

In Salbyk, some of great barrows have “chains” of vertically standing slabs as well as horizontally placed “slab-altars” near the mound. Outside the barrow were found vertical stones of intermediate size, aligned to astronomically significant directions. A sculptural representation of a lying tiger was also found. The detailed study of the stone slabs of the fence revealed the significance of a colour spectrum — from light to dark tones and conversely.

The Great Salbyk barrow, by its monumental construction, can be put in the same group as the famous Stonehenge in England. Megalithic stone slabs at Stonehenge had a weight up to 30 tons, and the biggest plate in Salbyk – about 100 tons. The construction of big barrows in Salbyk having multiple functions (funeral, socio-political, religious, astronomical, architectural, and others) probably was based on the astronomical knowledge of their time.