Fitzwilliam; Gold of the Great Steppe

Treasures uncovered at Saka burial complexes, comprising of mounds (kurgan), in East Kazakhstan have been on display in Cambridge at the Fitzwilliam Museum; the Saka were a prehistoric nomadic warrior horse people who inhabited the northern and eastern Eurasian Steppe and the Tarim Basin and dominated this region, from the Black Sea to Siberia, from about 900BC to 200BC. This part of the world is of interest to me due to its proximity to the Silk Road (see atdtravel.wordpress.com for my blog describing this overland travel adventure).

The highlights of the "Gold of the Great Steppe" exhibition are gold artefacts found with a high-rank teenage archer discovered in 2018 at the Eleke Sazy kurgans and include status symbols such as a gold neck torc and thousands of gold shoe beads; other items found with the teenage archer included a short composite bow designed to be fired from horseback and a bronze dagger with gold sheath.  

There are stylised animal artefacts on display (including a stag plaque with twisted legs, griffins and argali on cloud stands) which point to the mythological view of the world that the Saka had.  The exhibition also draws attention to the importance of horses to the Saka in Steppe society, to their metal working skills in general, as well as their ability to work with natural resources, including plants and herbs.

All in all, a very pleasant morning's diversion and a reminder of an interesting part of the worldRead more