The Pazyryk Carpet
Fifth to fourth century BC
Behind glass in a dim room lies a square carpet about two metres on a side, its colours faded to soft reds, blues and ochres but its design perfectly clear. A central field of small star-like squares is surrounded by borders of griffins, grazing deer with branching antlers, and a procession of horsemen, some riding and some leading their horses. It is the oldest surviving knotted pile carpet in the world, made about two and a half thousand years ago, and it looks astonishingly like carpets still woven today.
The carpet was found in 1949 by the archaeologist Sergei Rudenko in a burial mound at Pazyryk, high in the Altai Mountains of Siberia. Grave robbers had broken into the tomb in antiquity, and water seeping through the hole froze, sealing everything inside in a block of ice that preserved wood, leather, felt and textiles that would otherwise have rotted away. Look at the knots: there are about three hundred and sixty per square centimetre, a density that speaks of an experienced workshop, and the symmetrical knot is of a type later associated with Turkey. Where it was made is still argued. The horsemen and the deer resemble Persian reliefs at Persepolis, so many think it came from Persia or Central Asia as a luxury import, while others believe it was woven by the nomads themselves.
The Pazyryk tombs also yielded a wooden chariot, tattooed human bodies and felt wall hangings, all shown in the neighbouring rooms, which together give the most vivid picture we have of the horse-riding peoples of the ancient steppe. Notice that the horsemen in the outer border walk in one direction and the deer in the inner border in the other, a small rhythmic trick that makes the design seem to turn.
Did You Know? The carpet survived because looters' tunnels let water into the tomb, which froze and sealed its contents in ice for over two thousand years.
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