Pazyryk - distinguishing them from other steppe horsemen

[Tim]

According to the text associated with a (to me) new image of a steppe horseman it is '(a) Pazyryk horseman in a felt painting from a burial around 300 BC. The Pazyryks appear to be closely related to the Scythians.' The source is quoted as

Dr. Aaron Ralby (2013). "Scythians, c. 700 BCE—600 CE: Punching a Cloud". Atlas of Military History. Parragon. pp. 224–225. ISBN 978-1-4723-0963-1.

That is new to me. The horseman has a red cloak covered with what are either stars or large dots in a shade of blue. I don't know Ralby's work or the full site report of the excavation. Is this cloak and dot pattern culturally associated with Pazyryks? I have never seen anything vaugely like it reported for Saka. (I recognise that the image is less than realistic in some aspects but the edge detail on the jerkin is quite specific.)

The image can be found at

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saka#/media/File:PazyrikHorseman.JPG

[Duncan Head]

It's a very well-known textile, a carpet or a wall-hanging, showing the horseman approaching a seated female figure who is usually identified as the Great Mother goddess. It could conceivably be an import, not a local work; I don't know of any similar cloak, for instance, in the actual Pazyryk finds, whereas the goddess figure has been said to have Anatolian or other Near Eastern similarities.

[Tim]

Duncan, thank you, as always.

[Dangun]

The mustache and the hair cut are awesome.