Excavations of the Issyk burial mound

In 1969, excavations of the Issyk mound, which is part of the burial ground of the same name, located on the northern outskirts of the city of Issyk, 50 km east of the Alma-Ata, were started and completed this year. The height of the mound is over 7 m, the diameter is 60 m.

The mound contained two burials: central and lateral (southern). The first one was completely looted and destroyed, the side one turned out to be undisturbed. Here, in a tomb made of Tien Shan spruce, the remains of a warrior lay in the form of a rectangular frame. On the floor of square bars in the southern and western parts of the tomb stood 31 vessels - wooden dishes and bowls, a ladle, clay pots and bowls, two silver bowls and a spoon, a bronze vessel. The remains of a warrior occupied the northern half of the tomb. He lay in a wooden coffin, on his back, in an extended position, with his head to the west. His headdress was decorated with numerous gold plaques, plaques and plates made in the form of figures of a horse, a snow leopard, an argali, a thorny goat and birds. On the neck was a massive golden hryvnia, the ends of which end with embossed heads of tigers. A short leather caftan is completely trimmed with figured gold plaques on a bronze base, over the caftan there is a stacked belt made of massive gold plaques with images of an elk in a flying gallop, trousers and boot tops were also decorated with gold plaques. On the belt on the left was an iron dagger, on the right - a sword inlaid with gold. Two massive gold rings were found near the hands, one of them was a seal ring. In total, 4 thousand gold jewelry were found in the grave. There are two lines of inscriptions on one of the silver vessels of 26 characters. The burial dates back to the 5th-6th centuries BC.