Archaeologists in Kazakhstan have unearthed a stash of some 3,000 golden and precious jewels in a burial mound in the Tarbagatai Mountains. According to Art of Jewellery, the treasure trove is assumed to be 2,800 years old and is “priceless”.
Among the items found are “earrings in the shape of bells, gold plates with rivets, plaques, chains, and a necklace with precious stones”, thought to belong to “royal or elite members of the Saka people”. The Saka people were strong in central Asia at the time.
Professor Zainolla Samashev, head of the excavations, was quoted as saying: “A large number of valuable finds in this burial mound let us believe a man and a woman are buried here – the reigning persons or people who belonged to the elite of Saka society”.
