The Issyk

kurgan A kurgan is a type of tumulus constructed over a grave, often characterized by containing a single human body along with grave vessels, weapons and horses. Originally in use on the Pontic–Caspian steppe, kurgans spread into much of Central As ...

, in south-eastern

Kazakhstan Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country located mainly in Central Asia and partly in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the north and west, China to the east, Kyrgyzstan to the southeast, Uzbeki ...

, less than 20 km east from the Talgar alluvial fan, near Issyk, is a burial mound discovered in 1969. It has a height of six meters and a circumference of sixty meters. It is dated to the 4th or 3rd century BC. A notable item is a silver cup bearing an inscription. The finds are on display in

Nur-Sultan Astana, previously known as Akmolinsk, Tselinograd, Akmola, and most recently Nur-Sultan, is the capital city of Kazakhstan. The city lies on the banks of the Ishim River in the north-central part of Kazakhstan, within the Akmola Region, tho ...

. It is associated with the

Saka The Saka ( Old Persian: ; Kharoṣṭhī: ; Ancient Egyptian: , ; , old , mod. , ), Shaka (Sanskrit ( Brāhmī): , , ; Sanskrit (Devanāgarī): , ), or Sacae (Ancient Greek: ; Latin: ) were a group of nomadic Iranian peoples who histo ...

peoples. "The dress of Iranian-speaking Saka and Scythians is easily reconstructed on the basis of... numerous archaeological discoveries from the Ukraine to the Altai, particularly at Issyk in Kazakhstan... at Pazyryk... and Ak-Alakha" The burial complex located on the left bank of the Issyk Mountain River, 50 kilometers to the East to the Almaty city. The unique archaeological complex found by a small group of Soviet scientists led by archaeologist Kemal Akishevich Akishev in 1969. The burial ground consists of 45 large Royal mounds with a diameter of 30 to 90 and a height of 4 to 15 meters. The Issyk barrow is located in the Western half of the burial ground. Its diameter is 60 meters and its height is 6 meters.

"Golden man"

Situated in eastern

Scythia Scythia ( Scythian: ; Old Persian: ; Ancient Greek: ; Latin: ) or Scythica (Ancient Greek: ; Latin: ), also known as Pontic Scythia, was a kingdom created by the Scythians during the 6th to 3rd centuries BC in the Pontic–Caspian steppe. ...

just north of

Sogdiana Sogdia ( Sogdian: ) or Sogdiana was an ancient Iranian civilization between the Amu Darya and the Syr Darya, and in present-day Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan. Sogdiana was also a province of the Achaemenid Empi ...

, the kurgan contained a skeleton, warrior's equipment, and assorted funerary goods, including 4,000 gold ornaments. Although the sex of the skeleton is uncertain, it may have been an 18-year-old

(

Scythian The Scythians or Scyths, and sometimes also referred to as the Classical Scythians and the Pontic Scythians, were an ancient Eastern * : "In modern scholarship the name 'Sakas' is reserved for the ancient tribes of northern and eastern Centra ...

) prince or princess. The richness of the burial items led the skeleton to be dubbed the "golden man" or "golden princess", with the "golden man" subsequently being adopted as one of the symbols of modern

. A likeness crowns the Independence Monument on the central square of

Almaty Almaty (; kk, Алматы; ), formerly known as Alma-Ata ( kk, Алма-Ата), is the largest city in Kazakhstan, with a population of about 2 million. It was the capital of Kazakhstan from 1929 to 1936 as an autonomous republic as part of ...

. Its depiction may also be found on the

Presidential Standard The presidential standard or presidential flag is the flag that is used in many countries as a symbol of the head of state or president. In some countries it may be for exclusive use of the president or only raised where the president is present. An ...

Nursultan Nazarbayev Nursultan Abishuly Nazarbayev ( kk, Нұрсұлтан Әбішұлы Назарбаев, Nūrsūltan Äbişūlı Nazarbaev, ; born 6 July 1940) is a Kazakh politician and military officer who served as the first President of Kazakhstan, in off ...

Symbol of Kazakhstan

The treasures of the Issyk mound and an exact copy of ''The Golden man'' are located in the Kazakh Museum of archaeology in Almaty city and in the State Museum of gold and precious metals of the Republic of Kazakhstan in Astana city. ''The Golden man'' on the winged leopard is one of the national symbols of Kazakhstan. Copies of the Saks warrior installed in many cities of Kazakhstan. One of the copies crowns the Independence monument on the Republic square in Almaty city. Altogether, in the excavations, found five tombs with the so-called ''The Golden man'': the second ''The Golden man'' found in the Barrow Araltobe, the third in Chiliktinsk Kurgan Biglobe, the fourth near Astana city and fifth found in the burial ground Taldy Karkaralinsk district.

Burials

There were two burials in the grave complex: the Central one and the Southern one (to one side). Unfortunately the Central burial site had been robbed but the side grave was undisturbed. The burial chamber in the side grave was constructed from spruce logs. The tomb and its contents remained intact and buried. The skeletal remains were found in the Northern half of the chamber. More than 4,000 gold items were found in the chamber, as well as iron sword and dagger, a bronze mirror, vessels made of clay, metal and wood, shoes, headdresses, gold rings, statuettes, bronze and gold weapons, and an inscribed silver bowl dating from the 6th to 5th century BCE. Many clothing ornaments made of gold, a headdress and shoes were found on and under the remains. Next to the remains were an arrow with a gold tip, a whip (the handle of which was wrapped with a wide ribbon of gold in a spiral pattern) and a bag containing a bronze mirror and red paint. Scientific research, particular that of the anthropologist O. I. Ismagulov, shows that the remains belong to a member of the

peoples of Semirecheye, who have a European appearance with an admixture of Mongoloid features. The age of the body at death is estimated at 16–18 years, and its sex is indeterminate. The form of clothing and method of burial suggest that "The Golden Man" was a descendant of a prominent Saks tribe leader, or a member of the Royal family. Some Kazakh historians suggest that the burial belongs to Usun.

The Issyk inscription

A text was found on a silver bowl in Issyk kurgan, dated approximately VI BC. The context of the burial gifts indicates that it may belong to

tribes. The Issyk inscription is not yet certainly deciphered, and is probably in a

dialect, constituting one of very few autochthonous epigraphic traces of that language.

János Harmatta János Harmatta (2 October 1917 – 24 July 2004) was a Hungarian linguist. He deciphered the Parthian ostraca and papyri of Dura Europos and was the first to decipher a major Bactrian inscription.Ritoók, Zsigmond. (1997"The contribution of ...

, using the

Kharoṣṭhī The Kharoṣṭhī script, also spelled Kharoshthi (Kharosthi: ), was an ancient Indo-Iranian script used by various Aryan peoples in north-western regions of the Indian subcontinent, more precisely around present-day northern Pakistan and e ...

script, identified the language as a

Khotanese Saka Saka, or Sakan, was a variety of Eastern Iranian languages, attested from the ancient Buddhist kingdoms of Khotan, Kashgar and Tumshuq in the Tarim Basin, in what is now southern Xinjiang, China. It is a Middle Iranian language. The two ...

dialect spoken by the

Kushans The Kushan Empire ( grc, Βασιλεία Κοσσανῶν; xbc, Κυϸανο, ; sa, कुषाण वंश; Brahmi: , '; BHS: ; xpr, 𐭊𐭅𐭔𐭍 𐭇𐭔𐭕𐭓, ; zh, 貴霜 ) was a syncretic empire, formed by the Yuezhi, ...

Golden treasures in the kurgan

File:Sun emperor.JPG, "Golden Man" File:20. Elk. Burial mound Issyk (V.-IV. B.C.) Kazakhstan.JPG, Elk. Burial mound Issyk (5th–4th centuries BC) File:19. Horse. Burial mound Issyk (V.-IV. B.C.) Kazakhstan.JPG, Horse. Burial mound Issyk (5th–4th centuries BC) File:14. Head of tiger, burial mound Issyk (v.-IV. B.C.) Kazakstan.JPG, Head of tiger, burial mound Issyk (5th–4th centuries BC) File:18. Flying elk with griffin burial mound Issyk (V.-IV. B.C.) Kazakhstan.JPG, Flying elk with griffin burial mound Issyk (5th–4th centuries BC)

Notes

References

*Hall, Mark E. Towards an absolute chronology for the Iron Age of Inner Asia. Antiquity 71 (1997): 863-874. *Harmatta, Janos. History of Civilization of Central Asia. Volume 2, Motilal Banarsidass (1999), , p. 42

https://books.google.com/books?vid=ISBN8120814088&id=DguGWP0vGY8C&pg=PA420&lpg=PA420&ots=y_41j-abm0&dq=issik+inscription&sig=LwuIEyVirfpvAwWWSNb0qzqQgYQ#PPA421,M1] *

External links

Archaeology magazine - Chieftain or Warrior Priestess?
* :ru:%D0%98%D1%81%D1%81%D1%8B%D0%BA%D1%81%D0%BA%D0%B8%D0%B9 %D0%B7%D0%BE%D0%BB%D0%BE%D1%82%D0%BE%D0%B9 %D1%87%D0%B5%D0%BB%D0%BE%D0%B2%D0%B5%D0%BA, Иссыкский золотой человек
К. А. Акишев «Курган Иссык, Искусство саков Казахстана» Москва Искусство 1978

АКИШЕВ А. К. КОСТЮМ «ЗОЛОТОГО ЧЕЛОВЕКА» И ПРОБЛЕМА КАТАФРАКТАРИЯ

* [https://camonitor.kz/31376-altyn-madam-novyy-vzglyad-na-znamenitoe-zahoronenie-v-issykskom-kurgane.html «Алтын-мадам»: Новый взгляд на знаменитое захоронение в Иссыкском кургане] Saka Scythia Archaeological sites in Kazakhstan Kurgans Iranian archaeological sites {{Central Asian history