FIRST EXCAVATION OF PAZYRYK KURGANS IN MONGOLIAN ALTAI Tsagaan Törbat, Pierre-Henri Giscard, Dunbüree Batsükh Introduction It is well known that during the Early Iron Age or Scythian period the central and eastern parts of Mongolia were inhabited by the population of the Slab grave culture, but the western part and boundary regions such as Gornyi-Altai and Tuva were populated by several cultures of Scythian type. In the early 1970s Mongolian and Soviet archaeologists discovered and ex- cavated the first Scythian type culture of Mongolia – the “Chandman’ culture” or “Ulangom culture” – which is very similar to the Uiuk-Saglyn culture of Tuva. The territory of the Chand- man’ culture was probably limited and occupied only the boundary region to Tuva. The rest of the vast territory of west Mongolia or the mountainous region of the Mongolian Altai is still uncovered by extensive archaeological research. Since 2004 a Mongolian-French joint archaeological expedition directed by Ts. Törbat and P.-H. Giscard carried out a field survey and covered several hundreds of kilometres in the high mountainous region of Baian-Ölgii aimag. We have discovered hundreds of archaeological monuments but were especially focused on funeral monuments of the Scythian period. We have discovered more than ten burial complexes with hundreds of tombs belonging to the Pazyryk culture of the Scythian period in Ulaankhus and Tsengel sum of Baian-Ölgii aimag. In 2005, we initiated the first excavation of Pazyryk tombs in Mongolia. During June and July 2005 we excavated three kurgans of the Pazyryk culture at Baga Türgen Gol (= Small Rapid River) of Khurgan Nuur region of Tsengel sum, Baian-Ölgii aimag. In this paper we present some preliminary results of our research on these kurgans. All three kurgans are part of a Pazyryk style chain of tombs with eight tombs orientated on a south– north axis. Tombs No. 1 and No. 2 were situated in the south part of the chain at the edge of a terrace of the Baga Türgen Gol and contained quite simple funeral goods, such as some frag- ments of gold sheet, a ceramic pot, and an iron bit for the accompanying horse. During the excavation we found some traces of permafrost, but unfortunately in the burial levels there was no evidence of permafrost. Both tombs had very similar funeral rites, presented by up to 3 metres deep funeral pits with wooden coffins and accompanied by the skeletons of horses on the north side. The biggest kur- gan of the cemetery is Tomb No. 8, which is situated in the extreme north of the cemetery. This tomb has similar funeral rites to others but contained three human skeletons and three horses, as well as more rich goods, such as battle bronze daggers with wooden scabbards, wooden pieces of a quiver, a bronze war-pick with a wooden handle, pieces of leather, wool, etc. All