Ichthyofauna from the burial sites of the Early Iron Age in Western Siberia: semantic aspect

This article discusses different interpretations of ichthyofaunal remains found at the burial sites of the Early Iron Age in Western Siberia. In recent years scholars have discovered a whole number of burial grounds of the barrow type, mostly belonging to the Sargat culture, which contained fish bones and scales. Several location types of individual bone remains and their clusters have been observed: in a grave, at the level of the buried soil under the mound, in the sacrificial pit, and near the mound, yet outside the sacred space. Since fishing played an important role in economic structure of the Western Siberian ancient cultures, fish could have been used in funeral and commemorative rites together with meat because of abundance of this food resource. However, it also has been observed that various species of ichthyofauna appeared in cultic hypostasis in a number of nomadic cultures from the Altai and Western Siberia to the Black Sea region. This article attempts to reconstruct the significance of this image in the worldview of Siberian societies of the Early Iron Age. The sacred connotation connects the image offish with the otherworld, fertility, and rebirth cults. Cases of using individual bones as protective amulets are known. Fish could be a sacrificial offering, product forfuneral feast, or accompanying food in a burial in Siberian funeral and commemorative rites. Differences in the composition offish remains (bones, gill covers, scales in various combinations) may indicate that there were specific ceremonial dishes or rituals which depended on variations in funerary cultic practices.