Ancient gold found in the Valley of the Kings in East Kazakhstan

NUR-SULTAN, Kazakhstan – The archaeological expedition of the Kazakh National University named after Al-Farabi, which for several years has been conducting research in the Eleke Sazy valley in East Kazakhstan, has discovered an undiluted burial mound that kept a rich treasure consisting of ancient gold jewellery, the regional information portal YK-news.kz reported.

During the 2020 archaeological season, scientists examined several burial mounds.

Despite the fact that archaeologists got objects that had been looted earlier, a treasure was found on one of them, which had 850 fragments of a ceremonial horse harness.

“The treasure was found not in the mound itself, but nearby, under its stone shell,” the head of the archaeological expedition, Abdesh Toleubaev, said.

The hoard has gold and gilded trims for the harness in the form of deer, griffins and leopards, pendants, thin chains and appliqués made of gold foil. Some of the fragments have carnelian inserts, and some are made in a sophisticated jewelry technique called “grains”, in which tiny gold balls are soldered onto the base.

“The treasure belongs to the late animal style of the Scythian-Saka era and dates back to around the 5th-4th centuries BC. The central object is a golden figure of a panther, decorated with four bells. Fine and graceful work speaks of the high level of jewelry skill of the ancient inhabitants of our region,” specified Toleubaev.

He also said that this year the gold treasure, although the most significant, is not the only find. Archaeologists have collected many fragments of thin-walled ceramics and unearthed an ancient smelter and smithy, where the Iron Age steppe people made jewelry and weapons.

The exhibition “Gold of East Kazakhstan” was successfully held in Moscow last year. This year, Kazakh archaeologists planned to show the precious finds in the UK, but the event was postponed due to the pandemic. But scientists do not lose hope to hold it in the spring of 2021. They also plan to show their findings at the University of Cambridge.