When excavating the archaeological site of Eleke Sazy in the steppes of eastern Kazakhstan, scientists discovered an overwhelming treasure with tens of thousands of exquisite items crafted from gold and jade.

This treasure belongs to a teenage Saka archer, a nomadic people native to Iran that roamed the Kazakh steppes more than 2,000 years ago.

The warrior in the tomb at Eleke Sazy was buried around the 8th century BC and it is likely that the warrior died before he was 18 years old.

According to the custom of the Saka people, warriors and people of high social status were buried with a lot of gold, silver, jewels and their horses when they died.

In the past, most of those burial places were looted. But an accidental rock avalanche obscured Eleke Sazy’s treasure from gravediggers for more than 2,000 years.

One of thousands of gold ornaments found in the ancient tomb of the warrior Saka

“This warrior was named ‘golden boy’ not because more than 15,000 gold items were buried with him, but because this is the second Saka tomb still intact,” said Danial Akhmetov, governor of the East Kazakhstan region. intact in Kazakhstan, after the first tomb was found at Issyk in Zhetysu in 1969″.

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Artifacts at Eleke Sazy, including jewelry, plates, bands and pendants with stylized animal figures (tiger, deer, snow leopard, horse, dog, eagle, etc.) use non-invasive technology for research.

About 300 items from this treasure will be on display at the Fitzwilliam Museum of the University of Cambridge (UK).

Mound at Eleke Sazy, Eastern Kazakhstan, where priceless treasure was discovered

“The Saka people created masterpieces, truly unique pieces of jewelry, using technological processes that were considered cutting-edge for their time, constructing religious monuments, monuments, etc. monumental and exceptionally complex,” added governor Danial Akhmetov, a staunch supporter of this archaeological project.