(Dec. 18) – The history of the nomadic Scythians continues to fascinate and to be the subject of research . Hunters, archers, warriors: to bring to light the past of this people is now a team of scholars from Venice who flew in Kazakhstan on the trail of “Knights in silence”. After 16 years, in fact, the digging through the ancient secrets of Kazakhstan has started again and an unprecedented discovery has come to light: a previously unknown type of funeral tomb dated between the second and fifth centuries BC. The excavation was carried out between August and September along the Seven Rivers Valley, in the southern part of Kazakhstan, and was conducted by the Centro Studi Ricerche Ligabue from the University of Venice Ca’ Foscari. The mission also saw the collaboration of the Margulan Institute of Archaeology from the Academy of Sciences of Kazakhstan. In the expedition took part also Elena Barinova, archaeologist and responsible for Ligabue Study Center, Lorenzo Crescioli, graduate student from Ca’ Foscari and the student Nicola Fior, winner of a scholarship from the same Institute. Kazakhstan is considered one of the most interesting archaeological sites in central Asia. A territory – from the Paleolithic Age to the Middle Ages – scattered with graves and tombs, the most famous of which are unveiling important pages of the nomadic Saka-Scythians, a nomadic culture that has had its heyday in the middle of the 1st century BC. In this latest excavation it was possible to document a mound-shaped yurt (the mobile home of the Scythians- Saka), a funeral forma never known before with this interpretation. (Red)
