The Pazyryk were pastoralists and herders.

They moved with their animals — horses, sheep, cattle — between summer and winter pastures, following the rhythms of the mountain seasons.

Horses were not merely transportation; they were the foundation of the Pazyryk economy, their military capability, their measure of wealth, and apparently their religious expression, given the elaborate horse sacrifices that accompanied their most significant burials.

What we know about the Pazyryk comes almost entirely from archaeology.

They left no written texts.