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'What has enabled Russia to rise among the great powers of the world…has been the conquest of Siberia'
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Unique dragon found in Siberia

By 0 and 0 and 0
19 April 2017

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Unique dragon found in Siberia. Picture: Andrey Borodovsky

Detailed analysis of belt buckles unearthed by a Soviet tractor driver in the modern day Republic of Khakassia proves the existence of a distinct dragon on the territory of modern Russia, according to experts. 

The mythical creature is seen as distinct from other dragons, notably those famous in China. 

'In China of that time, which was Han era, a set image of a dragon, later one the main symbols of the national identity, did not yet exist. Yet the same period in Siberia we have a formed composition of dragon images in a typical serpentine pose,' said Andrei Borodovsky, a researcher from the Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography, part of the Siberian branch of Russian Academy of Sciences.

'Although at the end of the first millennium BC the territory of South Siberia was under very strong Chinese influence, the buckles depicting the Iyussky dragon were most likely were produced locally. They were original, and  not copies. It was an independent development of the image.'

'The dragon's figure is a symbol that allows us to say that Siberia has always had a set of particular, specific features as a cultural area.' 





They were original, and  not copies. Pictures: Andrey Borodovsky

The dragon is seen as a talisman protecting the owner from danger, researchers have suggested. 

Archeologist Vitaly Larichev said image of the Siberian dragon may be linked to ancient notions about the calendar and astronomy.

It is known that nearby ancient astronomic observations were held at an  'observatory' called Sunduki in Khakassia.

A Chinese dictionary from AD 200 reads: 'On the day of spring equinox the dragon flies to the sky, on the day of autumn equinox it delves into abyss and covers in mud.' 

Dr Borodovsky believes that the Siberian dragon image were dated to the end of the first millennium BC until the second century AD. 

Then they vanished.









The belt buckles unearthed by a Soviet tractor driver in the modern day Republic of Khakassia. Pictures: Alexander Kuptsov, The Siberian Times

Later dragons were copies of the familiar Chinese dragons with a zigzag movement.

The dragon buckles - some eight in number - were found by Iyus state collective farm worker Sergei Fefelov in the mid-1970s as he ploughed a field. Initially he thought the metal was a tractor part, but then he noticed the treasure was wrapped in birch bark. 

Digging around, he found a large cauldron made of red bronze with 271 items inside. 

New research on the buckles has disclosed the existence of the Siberian dragon in ancient mythology. 

The case was highlighted in Science of Siberia, journal of the Siberian branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

Comments (6)

Draco is a Latin word, not Thracian. The dragon was present also by the Celts in France, which made dragonheads for their musical-probably ritual-instruments. On one archaeological excavation, there were recovered many such broze instruments. And because the Celts were present also in Transilvania, the Dacians took over this from them and made the so-called Dacian wolfhead, which is in fact a dragonhead. But in this article, i see Russian nationalism, just like by the Romanians. It is obvious, that this dragon on the beltbuckle was taken over from the Chinese by some Asian people, who lived there. They must be related with the Scythians, as the cauldron shows.
Son of Five Dogs, Transylvania
31/12/2017 21:10
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Yes, @Isabella. This is - almost for sure - the same RED DRAGON, with its roots in...Thracian/Dacian 'draco'. They and Balcan Celts were very close to each other at least geographically (and to Iranian speaking Scythians too, as well as some proto-Germanic groups); and the Thracians for sure came from the Great Steppe, although their connection to Ukraine is from 4th millennium BCE and Yamna culture. There is a theory that proto-Thracians were pushed West in the Late Bronze by a close to them Srubna culture, but I have no clue what the people's movement of 18th-12th c. BCE has common with Welsh and Wales.
Gabriela, United Kingdom
28/10/2017 16:24
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I am Welsh by birth and n Nationality. This discovery of the dragon on the belt is of enormous interest. I have been doing what research I can into the question of where the true Welsh people came from. It is know we were from "the east" in the time of Julius Cesear, and that we spent time in "The Sea of Grass" [current North Ukraine].

However, the name we call ourselves by - "Celts" - has no common sounds with Eastern names except, perhaps, the Kets of Siberia !!

However, if the Archaeologists involved in this find were to take a look at our national Flag, they will see a dragon, with wings , and a defensive raised right foreleg. In fact, apart from the twist of the belt buckle dragon, which may have been put in in order to fit the dragon to the buckle's round shape, the two are identical.

I wonder if the scientists have any comment to make??
Isabella, Cuenca Ecuador
27/10/2017 01:11
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What an incredible cultural treasure. We know so very little of the people of the late glaciation period in that area. These items will certainly shed some light on who they were and how they lived. It seems to ke that the concept of a dragon was universal at the time. Likely has to do with the marking of spring and automn equinox. I would love to read more about this incredible discovery.
Alan, USA
01/08/2017 18:09
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I cannot wait for the Russian government to one day realize the importance of Siberia to human history and culture. Early humans (probably Cro-Magnon) follow the herds into the steppes and beyond during the middle of the last Period of Glaciation. While there the glaciation got worse and the tribes that moved there as well as the tribes who had already lived there for millenia (Denisovans, etc) learned to domesticate herding animals, dogs, train horses, develop a tolerance to lactose and so many related items and customs. As the weather got colder they must have been smart enough (smarter than us) to realize that hunting a diminishing number of herding animals was not very smart so they learned how to corral and later domesticate them. What an adventure!!! And all the evidence is still there somewhere. The Indians of North America, the 'Aryans' of Persia, the Mongols, the early Finns and later Europeans all owe their existence to them.Take care of it, please.
Erik Bosma, Mission, BC, Canada
27/05/2017 04:21
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Is there an inferred,date? And how was it determined?
Joseph, USA
21/04/2017 00:52
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