The Phenomenon of the “Golden Statue of a Man for Sacrifices to Heaven” in Xiongnu Culture

Abstract

Purpose. The purpose of the work is to search for evidence of the “golden statue of a man for sacrifices to Heaven” existence in the material culture of the early Xiongnu for the subsequent interpretation of this phenomenon.Materials. To achieve this goal, the reports of Chinese historical records on the culture of the early Xiongnu, which contain references to the “golden statue of a person for sacrifices to Heaven” were analyzed. Information from the historical records was compared with archaeological materials of synchronous archaeological cultures with numerous gold items in the territory of Northern Eurasia. Basically, the comparison was made with the “golden culture” of the Sakas of Kazakhstan.Result. It has been established that the “golden statue of a person for sacrifices to Heaven” in the culture of the early Xiongnu did not imply a golden statue, similar to later statues of Buddha, but the tradition of the deceased rulers clothes decorating with gold implements in the process of the ritual exposure of the deceased body. This tradition is widely known from the materials of the Sakas culture of Kazakhstan as a rite of creating a “golden man”. It is suggested that this tradition was borrowed by the Xiongnu in the course of contacts with the Saka population of Kazakhstan in the 4th century BC and existed among the Xiongnu until the 2nd century BC. The contacts between the Xiongnu and the Scythian and Saka nomadic population of Central Asia are confirmed by the excavations materials from the Chikhertyn Zoo burial ground in Mongolia.Conclusion. As a result of the work carried out, it was possible to identify some material and spiritual culture features of the early Xiongnu (4th – 2nd centuries BC).