Haute Couture in Ornamented Fur, Skin and Felt in Siberian Iron Age Burials with Recognized Parallels in Hungarian Folk Art

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Abstract (max. 250 words):
This paper reexamines archeological evidence of ornamented leather and felt work preserved in frozen tombs of herders and pastoralists at Pazyryk dating from the fourth – third c. BCE in the Altai region of Southern Siberia. The review is prompted by intensification of international scholarship that, responding to fresh excavations in and around the area, is generating productive debate on interactive economies and regional social complexity. Missing from the debate is recognition of large-scale production of organic commodities custom-made into tomb furnishings and elaborate articles of ceremonial dress out of fur, skin and felt for an elite class and their prized horses at the top of Pazyryk social order. The frail arts preserved in burial offer an exclusive view of a grassland industry generally missing in the archeological record. Parsing the data builds an understanding of patronage of an haute couture industry supported by auxiliary sectors of steppe economy including hunting, trapping, technical and creative processing, and trade. Quite possibly they offer a view into the distaff side of grassland economy. The author cites illustrative references for the parallel use of motifs, applique patterning and palette in Népi Gyapjú and Szűcs-Munka by later-day Hungarians which attest to the continued strength and viability of the industry among pastoralists.


Brief Professional Bio (max. 100 words):
Mrea Csorba Ph.D. I received all three of he academic degrees from the University of Pittsburgh-. She has been teaching courses in art history at the University of Pittsburgh and Duquesne University as an adjunct faculty member since the early 90’s. Her MA thesis (1987) investigated horse-reliant cultures associated with Scythian steppe culture. For her Ph.D. (1997) she expanded research of pastoral groups to non-Chinese dynastic populations documented in northern China. Part of this research was published in the British prehistory journal ANTIQUITY, Cambridge, England (ANTIQUITY 70, 1996, 564—587). Her research may be viewed at http://edtech.msl.duq.edu/Mediasite/Play/2ea00c36fc2b4050ba46072efc0b80111d
and at http://www.duq.edu/academics/schools/liberal-arts/centers/interpretive-and-qualitative-research/video mrc25@pitt.edu