Abstract
In the broad creative legacy of K. F. Smirnov,1 the short article "Sarmaty-ognepoklonniki" (Smirnov 1975a) would certainly not be the least prominent item. If we ignore its title [The Fire-Worshipping Sarmatians] and brief introduction, it deals primarily with traces of funeral rituals in kurgans associated with a bonfire lit at the gravesite (the sprinkling of hot coals into the grave pit and onto the deceased, the scattering of tempered soil, and so forth) (Smirnov 1975a, pp. 156, 157). Some of the author's conclusions are extremely conjectural, and as of today they are as difficult to prove as they are to disprove (for example, the clay censers and horse burials are both associated primarily with the cult of fire; sprinkling with chalk is semantically equivalent to the former sprinkling with hot coals).
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