New artifacts to be presented at international festival of ancient technologies and cultural communications

New artifacts found during excavations of a unique burial ground of the Andronov era in Kostanai region will be presented at the international festival of ancient technologies and cultural communications in the end of August. Excavations are still underway near the village of Novoilyinovka. According to archaeologists, evidence was found on the burial field that allowed them to make key discoveries for the Great Steppe’s history. For example, domestication of a horse as a riding animal. The fragments of a bridle found in the burial mounds indicate that this occurred during the Bronze Age.

“A gold ornamental plaque was found here. It is stored in the Lisakovsk Museum. Here is the analog of this plaque that I managed to find on figurines from Serbia. It is Balkan bronze from the Bronze Age. These pendants were put on figurines of goddesses. Not to mention, this burial ground testifies to deep connections. This is the evidence of global communications reflecting the mobility of Bronze Age tribes. That’s what makes this graveyard interesting,” archaeologist Emma Usmanova said.

Russian scientists work in tandem with Kazakh researchers. Artyom Yakimov is studying the so-called casts of soil as it was at the time of the burial.

“The uniqueness of this burial ground is that there are literally mounds of different eras. So, it is a piece of great luck for us, since we at least can restore the chain of events in this area. For example, we can take the Bronze Age, the Early Iron Age, and the Middle Ages, and trace what changes were taking place at that time, as well as observe the dynamics until our time,” added Artyom Yakimov, Lead Researcher of the Earth Cryosphere Institute, Siberian Branch of Russian Academy of Sciences.