Integrating Remote Sensing and Geophysics for Exploring Early Nomadic Funerary Architecture in the “Siberian Valley of the Kings”

Abstract

This article analyses the architecture of the Early Iron Age royal burial mound Tunnug 1 in the “Siberian Valley of the Kings” in Tuva Republic, Russia. This large monument is paramount for the archaeological exploration of the early Scythian period in the Eurasian steppes, but environmental parameters make research on site difficult and require the application of a diversity of methods. We thus integrate WorldView-2 and ALOS-2 remote sensing data, geoelectric resistivity and geomagnetic survey results, photogrammetry-based DEMs, and ortho-photographs, as well as excavation in order to explore different aspects of the funerary architecture of this early nomadic monument. We find that the large royal tomb comprises of a complex internal structure of radial features and chambers, and a rich periphery of funerary and ritual structures. Geomagnetometry proved to be the most effective approach for a detailed evaluation of the funerary architecture in our case. The parallel application of several surveying methods is advisable since dataset comparison is indispensable for providing context.

Mapping and Damage Assessment of “Royal” Burial Mounds in the Siberian Valley of the Kings

“…The swamp is likely to contain smaller submerged monuments, but these are unlikely to be detected using optical data. As opposed to earlier studies [22], experiments with L-Band SAR have led to decent results in the detection of large stone based structures [6] but also show that, beyond the Early Iron Age burial mound Tunnug 1, there are no other monuments of similar size and composition in the vicinity. The search is therefore focused on the flat areas of the northern river terrace where steppe vegetation makes the mapping task straight forward.…”

“…The burials Arzhan 3 (90 m) and Arzhan 4 (>100 m) also belong in this category. Additionally, the burial mound Tunnug 1 in the south of the valley has been shown to be of similar size (>100 m) and have similar architectural features to Arzhan 1 [6]. The burial mounds Arzhan 1-4 line up approximately in the direction of the valley over a distance of more than 8 km.…”

“…The smaller mound structures merely represent a selection of highly visible monuments mostly in the vicinity of larger burial mounds. Since most large burial mounds do have a periphery of smaller stone monuments [6], circular features in the immediate vicinity of a large burial mound are contextualized and thus more easily recognizable as archaeological structures. With a median of 14.2 m, most of the burial mounds are small-or middle-sized mounds.…”

“…Arzhan 2, dating to the 7th century BCE [2], showed that the Uyuk Valley in Tuva Republic remained an important place for burials of the social elite during much of the first millennium BCE. In 2017, a Russian Swiss expedition surveyed and dated the large burial mound Tunnug 1 to the 9th century BCE, finding another monument dating to the time of the Late Bronze Age-Early Iron Age transition in the eastern Eurasian steppes [6,7]. Research is currently on-going on three royal burial mounds in the Uyuk Valley, namely Chinge-tei 1 [8], Arzhan 5 [9], and Tunnug 1 [10].…”

Use of Remote Sensing, Geophysical Techniques and Archaeological Excavations to Define the Roman Amphitheater of Torreparedones (Córdoba, Spain)

“…The exploration of buried archaeological structures using non-destructive techniques is at the cutting-edge frontier of field archaeology [10,11]. Remote sensing and geophysical methods are capable of generating images and models of buried remains [12][13][14][15][16], but also provide more complete information such as the geoarchaeological characterization and geotechnical context of the site.…”