by NATALIE TAYLOR
Excavations discover treasure trove of ancient Saka people in Kazakhstan.
Recent excavations in eastern Kazakhstan have led to important discoveries about the ancient Saka people. The excavations reveal that permafrost has preserved treasures for over 2,700 years. But changing climatic conditions are a risk to further revelations.
Summer 2020 was an unlikely time for one of the most exciting archaeological discoveries of recent years. The Covid-19 pandemic had restricted the ability of researchers to travel to the field and work in close proximity. Despite these practical difficulties, in eastern Kazakhstan, a small team of archaeologists were preparing to excavate a burial mound or kurgan.
This particular kurgan in Eleke Sazy, a valley bounded by mountains, may not have seemed the most promising. While part of a complex of 300 burial mounds where some remarkable discoveries had been made in recent years, the central grave pit of the ancient burial site had been looted in antiquity.
Yet as the archaeologists excavated the foot of the burial mound, they found something astonishing. Beneath a protective ‘shell’ of stones, they unearthed treasure after treasure. Intricate and glimmering, the artefacts were made of bronze, overlaid with gold foil. The hoard contained a total of 830 golden objects, which had once been used as ceremonial decoration for horse harnesses.
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