Scythian-Hunnish components of ritual structures and domestic items made of wood of the Turkic-speaking peoples of Siberia

Sacralization of the tree of the Turkic-speaking peoples of Siberia has its origin in the previous culture of the early Sayans and Altai nomads and of the whole Central Asia. Altaic, Tuvan, Khakas and Yakut ethnography has "Scythian" and "Hunnish" components with different degrees of preservation. The tree is a symbol of life, and serves as an indispensable attribute of ritual actions of early nomads of Sayans and Altai. This feature can be seen in the construction of gravestones and burial facilities, in the setting of burials with special compartments for accompanying equipment. A characteristic feature of burials was a person's burial with a sacrificial horse or several killed horses. The Turkic-speaking peoples of Siberia have an archaic tradition of erecting hitching posts. This tradition is directly linked with the cult of the horse of all Siberian peoples who bred horses. The Khakas set hitching posts (sarchyn) in front of the house. This symbol was a substitute of the World Tree. They made a hitching post at the festival of cattle breeders especially for a ritual horse (yzykh). Yzykh had to guard the livestock and contribute to their increase. The Sakha people have a similar tradition. At the Ysyakh festival rites of honoring the sacred horse are made. Presented parallels in the ritual ceremonies of the Turkic-speaking peoples of Siberia show us the continuity of the culture of the early nomads, in the face of the Scythian and Hunnish culture. This tradition was widespread later, and preserved by many of the Turkic-speaking peoples of Siberia until the early 19th century. Household items was one of the categories of objects which testified to the continuity and presence of Scythian-Hunnish components in the formation of cultures of the Turkic-speaking peoples of Siberia. Presumably, the Scythian and Hunnish kettle played an important role in the formation of the Sakha choron. The arched ornamentation of the dish for drinking kumis was similar to the ornamentation of the Hunnish goblet-like bowl. The "animal style" spread across Eurasia in the 1st millennium BC is also reflected in the domestic items. Altaic, Tuvan, Sakha peoples often stylized wooden utensils in the form of parts of a horse body. This feature was associated with the cult of the horse common among the Iranian tribes of the Scythian period. These parallels suggest great influence of the culture of the early nomads on the culture of Altaic, Tuvan, Khakas and Sakha peoples. The beginnings of material culture were formed in the Scythian and Hunnish-Xianbei era and developed in cultures of modern Turkic-speaking peoples of Siberia.

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