The Pazyryk Carpet
The oldest handmade pile rug in existence is housed at the Hermitage Museum in Leningrad (St Petersburg).In 1949 a team of Russian archeologists excavated a rug at an icy burial site in Southern Siberia.
Taking into consideration that the age of the rug was about 2,500 years old,it was considered as intact and in condition.The size of the rug is 183cm x 200cm and has 3,600 knots of the Turkish type.
The discovery of this rug extended the deginning of rug making in Persia to at least the begining of the first millennium BC as astested to by Professors Rudenko and David Stronach.
Many similarities exist between the patterns of the Pazyryk Carpet and those designs and shapes commonly used during the Achaemenid era prevalent in the carvings at Persepolis.
The ponies in the carpet are similar to the ponies carved at Persepolis,24 eight pointed stars covering the central field are similar in form and preportion with the designs found at excavated sites in the southern central Lorestan Province.Images of Elk can also be seen at historical sites of Iran and are clearly visable in the carvings at Bisotun.
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