The "Golden Man" - the most famous archaeological discovery in the history of Kazakhstan, which has become an integral part of the symbolism of our country - has continued to excite the minds of scientists and ordinary people over the past 45 years. We will reveal to you some mysteries and little-known details of the discovery of the "Kazakh Tutankhamun".
More than 45 years ago, 50 kilometers from Almaty, on the outskirts of the city of Issyk, a discovery of the century was made. The only untouched burial of the Saka leader on the territory of Kazakhstan with a fully preserved ceremonial golden vestment. He became known to the general public under the name "Issyk Golden Man" or "Altyn Adam". The history of this discovery and the subsequent fate of the golden costume and the remains of the Saka prince themselves is associated with many myths and conjectures. Everything in this story has grown into myths, starting from the very discovery of the famous burial. There are still legends in society that the "Golden Man" was accidentally found by local residents or even by bulldozer workers. In fact, this merit belongs entirely to domestic scientists, but the find was indeed made almost by accident.
Beken Nurmukhanbetov.
In many textbooks, when they write about the discovery of the "Golden Man", they mainly mention one of the founders of national archeology - Kimal Akishev, who in the 70s headed the archeology department at the Institute of History, Archeology and Ethnography at the Academy of Sciences of the Kazakh SSR. Without belittling the merits of this scientist, it should be said that there was an archaeologist who at that time was the head of the Issyk archaeological detachment and directly supervised the excavations - Bekmukhanbet Nurmukhanbetov. In those years, he was a junior research fellow at the same institute. This is probably why K. Akishev signed his scientific work "Kurgan Issyk" for B. Nurmukhanbetov with the words: "To the participant and co-author of the Issyk discovery." Beken-aga himself recalls the events of those days:
- In 63, a powerful mudflow descended, practically destroying Lake Issyk. The same mudflow washed away the motor depot located in the city. In 1969, a territory was allocated for the construction of a new motor depot. Their chief engineer A. I. Dubkart, according to the law of that time, had to agree on the choice of the site with archaeologists, especially since the Issyk burial ground, which is well known to scientists, is located in that area. Dubkart came to our boss Akishev, and Kimal Akishevich, before giving his consent, sent me to inspect the site of the future motor depot. Arriving there, I immediately noticed a large mound with a height of six meters and several others smaller. I explained to the management of the motor depot that according to the Law on the Protection of Monuments, before the demolition of the burial mounds, archaeologists must carry out their research, and all the costs of excavation,and the provision of technology and labor is undertaken by the building organization. We got the opportunity to explore a large mound without spending money from the institute.
Mound section.
On April 21, Nurmukhanbetov himself, a young laboratory assistant Aytbek Amandykov, a photographer Oleg Medvedev, and an artist Pavel Son were sent to Issyk to carry out excavations. Scientists did not expect any sensational findings. Not long before that, excavations had already been carried out on the burial mounds of the Issyk burial ground, which did not give any interesting results. At the top of the mound, which they were to explore, there was a crater - a sure sign that the burial had already been plundered. Archaeologists carefully photographed and measured the embankment. They soon found out that its height is 6 meters and its diameter is 60 meters. The bulldozer began to dig deeper into it. According to the standard procedure, scientists had to cut the mound in order to study its internal structure of the technology by which it was erected.
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Archaeologists and bulldozer drivers on vacation.
- We fixed the construction plan. If in the cut came across fragments of blood vessels, animal bones, or even ash spots, then we stopped the bulldozer and carefully examined them. This is a very painstaking job, but important. For example, the stages of the construction of a mound can be restored from ash.
After removing the mound.
Beken-aga recalls that the pace of work slowed down at the end of April. The equipment broke down and was transferred to other places. The construction superintendent even quarreled with scientists, demanding to dig up the mound as soon as possible. They managed to convince the builders that, for scientific reasons, this business should not be rushed. With grief in half, by May 31, half of the planned work was completed. Scientists have dug most of the embankment. The remains of the mound were mothballed, and the excavations were postponed to the next year.
In 1970, excavations were continued in early to mid-March, after a call from the motor depot. According to the documents, Nurmukhanbetov and his faithful assistant, laboratory assistant Amandykov, were sent to Issyk only on April 2, but work on the mound, apparently, began earlier. The archaeologists lived and worked in a small construction trailer near the excavation site.
The construction management wanted to get rid of the mound that was interfering with them as soon as possible and allocated for the work a couple of bulldozers and two bulldozer drivers - Gugu Schmidt and Savely Laptev. After explaining to them that they need to work carefully and carefully, the scientists continued to clear the embankment. Quite quickly, they removed the remains of the mound, reaching the ancient horizon of the earth. The restless foreman again tried to prevent the completion of the excavations, citing the fact that the archaeologists had already excavated everything that was foreseen. The scientists were able to convince him again that they needed to continue working. Archaeologists soon discovered an underground passage, making sure once again that the mound had already been plundered. They set about clearing the central burial.
- The grave was deformed by predatory manholes. We found scattered human remains, fragments of pottery, and several gold plaques. After that, it became clear that we could not find anything more interesting.
Grave frame of the tomb of the "Golden Man".
By April 3, the excavations were to be completed. The foreman was about to pick up the bulldozer. It was only some kind of inner instinct that prompted Bekmukhanbet to ask the bulldozer operator Savely to once again pass the bucket along the base of the mound. Suddenly, 15 meters southeast of the central burial, a brown line was seen under the bucket. Scientists perked up, began to clear the place and dug up some logs. Their joy knew no bounds when they realized that these were the logs from the ceiling of an untouched burial pit located on the side of the center of the mound, at a depth of no more than 1.2 meters from the ancient ground level.
Clearing the burial frame. On the left, laboratory assistant Amandykov. On the right - worker Utelinov.
- The overlap of the burial house, consisting of Tien Shan spruce logs, has rotted from time to time, and the logs have broken. The bucket, apparently, accidentally caught one of the ends of these logs, so it appeared on the surface. I went to Alma-Ata to report the amazing find, and we started to clear the outer surface of the log house. We were assisted by two workers - S. Stapaev and Uteulinov, as well as the driver A. S. Parshin, hired on behalf of Kimal Akishev.
The next day, a team headed by the head of the Otrar expedition, Kimal Akishev, left for the excavation, which also included a small detachment that worked in Issyk. In addition to Akishev, restoration engineer Vladimir Sadomskov, laboratory assistant Alexander Zagorodny, artist Tamara Vorobyova, another draftswoman, photographer Oleg Medvedev, and KazSU student Alisher Akishev also arrived at the excavation. Together they continued to work. By April 6, the tomb was cleared.
The collapsed logs of the roof of the tomb.
The excavations attracted great attention of the inhabitants of Issyk and surrounding villages. They constantly monitored the progress of work, interfering with scientists. Beken-aga recalls that one old woman was on duty at the grave pit for whole days. Around the same time, an unpleasant incident occurred, which later gave rise to speculation about the partial looting of the burial by local residents. When the blockhouse had already been cleared, and Beken left for Almaty, a group of schoolchildren from Issyk entered the pit and tried to dig up the southern side of the burial. They managed to extract several gold plaques that were once attached to the shoes of the buried. Later, Beckmukhanbet returned and caught these guys, taking a box with precious artifacts from them. The police soon found all the missing items. The excavation led to the fact that the order of the arrangement of the bones of the right leg of the deceased was violated. After this incident, an armed police detachment was on duty at the pit at night. For many years, there were retellings and various variations of this story across Issyk.
On April 9, archaeologists began to disassemble the floor logs and began to clear the grave. Due to the rains and unhealthy excitement around the excavation from the side of onlookers, work went on at an accelerated pace. Several people worked in the burial. Distributed into sectors, they gradually cleared the ground. The finds and their location were immediately recorded by the detachment's photographer and artist, frantically running around the grave pit.
- It seems to me that the clearing of the hole lasted about 20 days. We worked quickly but carefully, removing only 20 centimeters of soil a day in a burial chamber measuring about 3 by 2 meters.
Gold jewelry on the remains of the deceased.
Soon, in the southern and western parts of the chamber, scientists unearthed pottery. To the east of it appeared the skull of the deceased. It was damaged by a log house that fell into the grave. Then the first golden plaques emerged from the ground. The further work went on to clear the grave, the more amazing the sight appeared before the archaeologists. The remains of the buried person were literally covered with gold plaques and ornaments. The gold plates that once adorned the headdress lay above the skull. A golden hryvnia was found on the cervical vertebrae.
Among the bones of the fingers was found a gold ring with the image of the sun god Mithra. There was a gold earring in the ear area. On the right side lay the remains of an iron sword, also decorated with gold plates, and on the left there was an iron dagger - akinak. In total, over 4,000 gold objects were found in the grave, 31 clay vessels, silver and bronze bowls, a wooden scoop and a dish, 26 carnelian beads, a bronze mirror with a piece of ocher. The most surprising thing in all this was that all objects and decorations were preserved in the same places where they were located at the time of burial.
Since April 14, many newspapers have been enthusiastic about the discovery. The news became known in Kazakhstan and soon spread to all parts of the USSR. Every day, interest in the discovery grew, and archaeologists were in a hurry to record the results of the excavations and send all the materials found to Alma-Ata as soon as possible. Scientists worked from morning until dusk. According to the recollections of many members of the expedition, by April 22, the clearing of the grave was completed. Even before that, archaeologists began to pack their finds. Gold items were placed on cotton wool and laid out in small boxes for photographic film. Wooden and ceramic dishes were wrapped in cotton wool with great care. Part of the burial was carved out of the grave along with wooden blocks (flooring) on which the remains of the "Golden Man" lay. Archaeologists dragged her along with the bones into their wagon. The bones and remains of gold jewelry were removed there.
- It was a momentous day. Then everyone celebrated the 100th anniversary of Lenin's birth and held an all-Union subbotnik in honor of him. In Issyk, we disrupted this subbotnik with our excavations, since all its participants soon threw brooms and rakes and threw them onto the mound to see our find in all its splendor, says Beken-aga.
Alisher Akishev recalls that already deeply dark, together with his father Kimal Akishev and restorer Vladimir Sadomskov, they loaded all the material into a car and moved to Alma-Ata. On the way, there was an accident in front of their car. On a day off, the building of the Academy of Sciences, where the Institute of History, Archeology and Ethnography was located at that time, was closed. The scientists had to go to the building of the publishing house on Pushkin-Dzhambul Street, where the laboratory of the institute's photographer Oleg Medvedev was located. Kimal Akishev and his son loaded ceramics and wooden objects into the basement. However, they could not leave almost 4.5 thousand gold plaques and jewelry unprotected there. They decided to take them to their home. Due to the ban on the passage of trucks in the city center for almost two blocks, archaeologists cautiously walked through the dark streets, carrying boxes full of gold. At home, they examined the finds. The next day, the gold was transported to a safe in the main building of the Academy of Sciences.
Beken-aga, together with the laboratory assistant Aytbek, continued to work on clearing the grave pit. Bekmukhanbet failed to find the second gold ring of the Saka leader, apparently rolled under the grave floor. Archaeologists stayed at the excavation site until May 15, completing the study of the area of the mound embankment and observing the reclamation of the site. Soon on the site of the Issyk mound - one of the most famous burials in the history of Kazakhstan - a car depot building was built. Archaeologists headed for new excavations, this time - in the ancient settlement of Otrar.
Archaeologists of the Otrar expedition (Beken Nurmukhanbetov - on the steps, first from the left).
As a reward for the work of archaeologists, the Academy of Sciences of the Kazakh SSR gave them a rather modest (considering the scale of the discovery) prize of 500 rubles. 200 rubles went to Nurmukhanbetov, and 100 rubles each were given to restorer Sadomskov, photographer Medvedev and laboratory assistant Amandykov. According to the recollections of Kimal Akishev, scientists spent most of this amount in the restaurant, marking the end of the excavation.
A sketch of the arrangement of objects in the grave pit of the "Golden Man".
Meanwhile, in the department of archeology, located within the walls of the Academy of Sciences, work began on research, sketching, restoration, as well as the creation of a reconstruction of the costume of the "Golden Man". The gold items were placed in a secure room with limited access even for the staff of the institute. The artist Tamara Vorobyova-Trifonova worked on a graphic reconstruction of the caftan and headdress of the Golden Man, completing a life-size drawing. Kimal Akishev took up the scientific understanding of the find. Restorer Sadomskov undertook the creation of the first reconstruction of the golden costume found in the burial.
In his monograph "Kurgan Issyk", which was published in 1978, Kimal Akishev noted that the discovery of the "Golden Man" contributed to the growth of knowledge about the social structure and culture of the Saks. According to the scientist, the person buried in the mound was not just a noble nomad. Akishev believed that the grave belonged to the prince, the son and heir of the leader of a large association of Saka tribes. The finds dated back to the 5th – 4th centuries BC suggest that the Saks already at that time had formed a class division of society, social inequality and the cult of leaders who were deified after death.
Protome of tulpars on the headdress of the "Golden Man".
Alisher Akishev believed that the plates with the image of winged horses with goat horns (tulpars), which were part of the headdress, symbolized the cult of the sun. The headdress with plaques depicting various animals reflected the Saks' ideas about the world order. A person wearing this headdress was elevated to the rank of a sun-like deity. Developing these ideas, the scientist suggested that a complex social structure and religion may be evidence of the formation of an early form of statehood among the Saks.
Earthenware from the Issyk burial mound.
Few people know that most of the gold plaques and plates that adorn the caftan and tops of the Golden Man's boots are not made of pure gold. They represent a wooden or bronze base with thin sheets of gold fixed to it. This analogue of modern gold foil was made in ancient times using a special casting method. Many ornaments made in the Scythian-Siberian animal style are shaped like wild animals: leopards, argali, deer, tigers, lions, wolves, horses. Scientists believe that all of them were made by Saka craftsmen, which indicates a high level of development of crafts and art. This is also confirmed by the clay pots found in the mound, made on a potter's wheel, and wooden products carved on a lathe.
One of the mysteries of the Issyk find to this day is a silver bowl with 26 characters scrawled on its bottom in two lines. Many scientists and linguists have tried to decipher the inscription, but each of the translation options does not coincide with the others. The inscription on the bowl is one of the few examples of Issyk writing. Kimal Akishev wrote in his book that this inscription proves the existence of a written language and alphabet among the Semirechye Saks, according to linguistic scientists, based on the Orkhon-Yenisei writing or the Aramaic alphabet.
Samples of wooden dishes found in the tomb of the "Golden Man", such as a wooden dish (tobacco) and a scoop for kumis (ozhau), are very similar to traditional Kazakh dishes.
Thanks to the almost perfectly preserved arrangement of all the elements of the Golden Man's costume (the leather base was rotten, but the golden plaques were in their original order), scientists had the opportunity to carry out an accurate reconstruction of the burial dress of the Saka leader. The scientific development of the first reconstruction of the "Golden Man" was carried out by Kimal Akishev himself. It was based on images of artists and a photographer, who recorded in detail the location of objects in the burial vault of the deceased. In addition, when recreating the appearance of a headdress, caftan and shoes, Akishev studied images of Scythians and Sakas on rocks in Iran, reliefs on the walls of buildings in the ancient Persian capital of Persepolis, descriptions of Herodotus, figures of Scythians made on metal and earthenware found in the Amu Darya treasure and during the excavations of the mounds of Solokha and Kul-Oba,as well as sculptures of human heads found in the ancient city of Khalchayan in Uzbekistan.
The first reconstruction of the Golden Man.
Scientists at their own expense purchased all the materials necessary for the reconstruction, including metal, chemicals and fabric imitating suede. The restoration engineer Vladimir Sadomskov was involved in the creation of copies of gold jewelry and costume plates. He made a plaster cast of each individual piece of jewelry, based on it, creating a resin cliché and stamping products from thin sheets of anodized (gilded) aluminum. The costume of the Saka king was made of brown artificial suede by the restorer's wife Tamara. They tried it on a dummy donated by TSUM and even on their daughter Lena. It took Sadomskov and Akishev three years to create the first reconstruction of the Golden Man. In 1973, it was already exhibited in the hall of the Museum of Archeology specially established for this. There were also exhibited original gold jewelry found in the Issyk mound. The model of the "Golden Man" was successfully exhibited at the Museum of Oriental Art in Moscow, at the International exhibitions in Leipzig (1974), Cairo (1975) and Damascus (1976). It is currently stored at the Academy of Sciences. The originals of gold plates and ornaments of the Saka king's costume were transported to Astana at the end of the 90s, after the Museum of Gold and Precious Metals moved there. Now they are kept in the funds of the National Museum of the Republic of Kazakhstan.
Subsequently, the artist-restorer Anatoly Tanabaev made the second version of the reconstruction of the "Golden Man". In 1996, the restorer Krym Altynbekov created the third version of the costume reconstruction. It differs significantly from the first and second options, since it was performed taking into account the results of new research and the recommendations of Kimal Akishev's son Alisher. The third "Golden Man" now has a cloak, new decorative elements on the dagger sheath, and a harness belt. The order of the arrangement of elements on the pointed headdress - kulakh - which crowned the head of the Saka prince also changed. The costume has acquired the red color we know. In the 70s, scientists already knew what color a funeral dress should be, but they simply did not find a suitable artificial suede on sale.
After the end of the excavations of the Issyk mound, the remains of the buried Saka leader were sent for examination to the anthropologist Omurzak Ismagulov. On the basis of the remains of the frontal bones and the lower jaw, he gave an oral description of the remains as the skeleton of a young man aged 16–18 years. He also determined that the buried, apparently, had partial Mongoloid features in his appearance. For some reason, a detailed anthropological analysis of the skeleton has not been carried out. This gave rise to numerous speculations and theories that the "Golden Man" was actually not a man, but a woman. Such assumptions were made at a meeting of the archeology department in 1972. The discoverers of the burial themselves, including Kimal Akishev, were inclined to believe that the remains in the mound still belonged to a man.
A box where the remains of the Saka prince lay for many years.
The fate of the remains themselves developed in an almost detective way. For a time they were considered lost. None of those who participated in their study could tell exactly where they were. In the press, this topic caused a stir and raised the question of the true gender of the "Golden Man". In 2014, the staff of the historical and cultural reserve-museum “Issyk” managed to find most of the bones of the “Golden Man”. As it turned out, they had been lying in a cardboard box in the building of the forensic medical examination office in Almaty for several decades. Apparently, Kimal Akishev or some other scientist sent them there for research. The museum workers did not manage to find the skull of the Saki prince. Now most of the skeleton of the "Golden Man" is kept in the fund of the reserve-museum "Issyk".
The history of the appearance of this museum is also quite interesting. After the discovery of the "Golden Man", studies of the mounds of the Issyk burial ground continued. In none of them have scientists been able to find something as significant as the 1970 find. In the 90s – 2000s, Bekmukhanbet Nurmukhanbetov carried out excavations on the territory of the Issyk burial ground on his own initiative. At the beginning of the 90s, he organized a field camp and traveling exhibitions dedicated to the Golden Man and other finds from this area on the mounds. Beken-aga became the main popularizer of the Issyk kurgans.
Nursultan Nazarbayev at the exhibition dedicated to the "Golden Man".
In 1992 in Issyk on the initiative of the local newspaper and with the participation of Nurmukhanbetov, the exhibition "Altyn Adam" was held. Residents and guests of the city had the opportunity to see the reconstruction of the "Golden Man" costume from the Museum of Archeology. The exhibition was attended by Nursultan Nazarbayev and the then regional akim Akhmetzhan Yesimov. Beken-aga asked the president to organize a museum dedicated to the history of this region. This is how an archaeological museum of local lore appeared in the city of Issyk.
In 2004, in the village of Rakhat, archaeologists discovered the settlement "Rakhat". According to the researchers, there could have been palace buildings of the Saka rulers. A few years later, Beken-aga discovered the Oricty settlement near this place.
In 2010, the old dream of the keeper of the Issyk burial mounds finally came true. As part of the Cultural Heritage program, the Issyk State Historical and Cultural Reserve-Museum was created. In the fall of 2011, it opened its doors to visitors.
Initially, the territory of the museum occupied only six hectares. After long disputes and proceedings with the owners of the unauthorized construction, built in the 2000s on the protected territory of the Issyk burial ground, the museum has grown to 422 hectares. The exposition of the museum is dedicated not only to the Issyk burial mounds, but also to the history and culture of the Saks in general. On the territory of the reserve there are about 80 mounds and Saki settlements "Rakhat" and "Oricty".
One of the important areas of research of the museum staff was the history of the discovery and study of the "Golden Man". After the discovery of the bone remains of the buried in the Issyk mound, their samples were sent for paleogenetic research to Denmark. Perhaps soon the results of these studies will be obtained, and the secrets of gender and ethnicity of the "Golden Man" will be revealed.
We express our deep gratitude for the help in preparing the material to the employees of the State Historical and Cultural Reserve-Museum "Issyk" Galiya Fayzulina and Yermek Dzhasybayev. In preparing the reportage, materials from the books “Secrets of the Golden Man”, “Kurgan Issyk” by Kimal Akishev and the catalog-album “Issyk” (A. Ongar, G. S. Dzhumabekova, G. A. Bazarbayev) were used.
