In 1969, Kazakh archaeologists made a unique discovery: in one of the ancient burial mounds they found a "golden man" who immediately became famous throughout the world …
The object discovered by Kazakh archaeologists, of course, is not made of a piece of solid gold - most of the military armor, boots and a hat are decorated with many gold plates, which makes the found object look like a statue made of precious metal.
The "Golden Man" or "Man from Issyk" (in Kazakh its name is "Altyn Adam") was found 50 kilometers from Almaty as a result of excavations of a mound 6 meters high and 60 meters in diameter, which is located on the shore Issyk river on the outskirts of the city of Esik. In the grave, lined with spruce logs, on the wooden floor were the remains of a warrior in clothes, all strewn with gold plates. His head was covered with a high pointed cap, decorated with images of winged horses, symbolizing the sun god. The warrior was armed with a long sword and a short dagger. In addition, together with the warrior, there were earthen vessels with kumis, wooden trays with pieces of meat, precious vessels made of silver and bronze in the grave.
According to archaeologists, this young man (believed to be about 18-25 years old) belonged to the Sako-Tirahaud rulers and was a representative of the ruling dynasty of the Kushan Empire.
Saki is a collective name for a group of Iranian-speaking nomadic and semi-nomadic tribes that lived in the 1st millennium BC. Researchers believe that they, along with the Massagets, belonged to the eastern branch of the Scythian peoples. Unfortunately, their material culture has been preserved in a meager amount, so the remains of the "golden man" are of great interest. Ancient historians argued that the Saki were skillful and fearless warriors. Thus, Herodotus noted: "… Babylon, the Bactrian people, the Sakas and the Egyptians were a hindrance to Cyrus." In this passage, the Saki are mentioned along with the powerful powers of the Ancient World, such as Babylon and Egypt, and there is nothing strange about this. An explanation for this can be obtained from Herodotus himself: he wrote that the cavalry of the Saks was a serious military force, which greatly strengthened the armies on whose side it fought.
It is not surprising that the clothes of the young leader are so rich and even sophisticated, because the Saks thus emphasized their important place among other ancient peoples.
In the grave of the "golden man" were found more than four thousand jewelry made of sheet gold and once sewn on clothes, shoes and headwear, gold rings, statuettes, bronze and gold weapons, various vessels, as well as a silver bowl with 26 written signs, not decrypted so far.
All gold plaques with images of animals are united by plant motifs. The height of the headdress, decorated with 200 gold objects, is 65-70 cm. They depict figurines of a leopard, argali, mountain goats, horses and birds. Around the leader's neck was a gold necklace, a red leather jacket was also strewn with small gold jewelry.
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Today, some researchers suggest that this is not a young man at all, but the legendary Tomiris - the queen of the Massagets, who killed the Persian king Cyrus, the founder of the Achaemenid dynasty.
Currently, an ancient warrior of unknown gender is exhibited in the illuminated glass window of the local history museum of the new capital of Kazakhstan - Astana. On the pedestal stands a black mannequin in golden glittering chain mail: the face of a noble saka is covered with dark velvet, and it seems that eternity itself is looking at people from the bottomless depths of history.
Igor RODIONOV