Orgoyton, Archaeological site in Dzhidinsky District, Russia.
Orgoyton is a valley in the Dzhidinsky District of Buryatia, about 4 km south of Zarubino, stretching roughly 2 km north to south. Its northern end meets pine-covered ridges, while its southern end slopes down to the Selenga River. The valley holds the Orgoyton I burial ground, a Xiongnu cemetery with a princely kurgan, as well as Bronze Age and petroglyph sites.
The Orgoyton burial ground was first examined in 1897 by Yuri Talko-Gryntsevich, who opened one Xiongnu grave there on 8 June 1898 with Ya. E. Smolev. In 1949 Academician A. P. Okladnikov recorded petroglyphs in the area. Excavations resumed in 2009–2010 under the State Hermitage and the Institute for the History of Material Culture, when the burial structure of a princely kurgan was fully cleared.
The name Orgoyton comes from Buryat and means "crowned with a shaman's crown". In 1898 locals from the ulus of Bili told researcher Yu. D. Talko-Gryntsevich that a shaman had lived here before the Buryats resettled in the early 19th century, and they linked the name to him. In Buryat shamanism, Orgoyto böö is the seventh degree of initiation, a shaman entitled to wear an iron crown with deer antlers and to consecrate other shamans.
The burial ground lies on the left bank of the Selenga, about 5 km from Zarubino and 2 km west of the railway bridge, in a valley opening onto the river. The valley runs roughly 2 km north to south, with pine-covered ridges at its northern end. The ground is sandy and the site has no visitor facilities, so plan transport and supplies in advance.
The valley's name comes from Buryat oral tradition: locals told researcher Yulian Talko-Gryntsevich in 1898 that a shaman once lived here, and Orgoyton literally means "crowned with a shaman's crown". On nearby Mount Baga-Zarya, petroglyphs include a phallic anthropomorphic figure with two curved horns resembling a shaman's headdress.
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