History and features of Scythian gold

Legends of Scythian gold haunt archaeologists for many years. Mention of them can be found even in Herodotus. At a certain period, the Scythians lived on the territory of Russia and Ukraine, so the bulk of the treasures is located in these countries.

The first gold products of the Scythians appeared at the end of the Bronze Age. During this period, the craftsmen have already learned how to process metal efficiently. To understand the value of Scythian gold, you must first understand who these people themselves were.

Their origin also causes controversy. It is believed that the first Scythians lived on the banks of the Dnieper River. The Scythian tribes were the longest in the Crimea. However, back in the III century BC, they were almost destroyed by the Goths.

The Scythians created an original culture. They left a memory of themselves due to the fact that they buried representatives of the nobility with great honors. With them the most expensive gold objects were packed into the tombs, which were supposed to help them in the afterlife live with the same luxury as in life.

It is because of this that many people are engaged in the search for the tombs of Scythians and their study. However, some of them are frightened by the myths about spells cast on all jewelry buried in the ground.

Because of this stories appeared that when a person found gold jewelry, he had a heart attack. Those of the archaeologists who survived were ill all their lives.This suggests that you should not disturb the dead Scythians during their eternal sleep.

However, this did not stop everyone. Therefore, a huge amount of gold and other expensive things could be found and sent for storage at once to several major museums in the world.

There are a large number of jewelry that were found in Scythian barrows. All of them are not only beautiful, but also have a certain meaning. Among the finds exhibited in museums, the most popular are several interesting exhibits.

1. The Greek Museum has earrings made in the 4th century BC. Their magnificence is simply amazing in its beauty.
2. In the collection, located in the Hermitage, you can see a golden disk with the heads of Medusa. Almost all visitors cannot look away from these “beauties”.
3. In the same museum there are many golden vases, which depict a variety of everyday scenes.
4. Another exhibit of the Hermitage, past which it is simply impossible to pass, is a golden deer figurine.
5. The Hermitage collection also has a hair clip made in the form of a griffin that tears the goat apart.
6. In addition, there you can see a golden scallop, on which the image of military battles flaunts.
7. In the Crimean collection you can find an amazing golden diadem, which was created another 150 years before our era.
8. There is also a necklace on which there is an image of interesting everyday scenes.
9. In this enumeration, it is impossible to ignore the amulet on which you can see the image of the Scythian goddess Api, who patronized fertility and wealth.
10. In addition, there is also a statuette of the golden “Winged Bull”, which was sold at one of the auctions in Paris. They made it in the V century BC.

The royal pectoral is also worthy of special attention. It was found in the last century, namely: June 21, 1971 in the mound Tolstaya Grave. Scythians made this burial in the area of ​​the Dnieper River. The expedition was led by the well-known Mozolevsky.

Members of this expedition discovered a lot of gold jewelry of an unusual shape, but the most valuable among them was precisely the pectoral. Its mass is 1 kilogram and 140 grams, and the diameter is 30 centimeters. The shape of this decoration resembles a crescent. The composition itself has 3 tiers, which are separated by tubes. In addition, they are decorated with a pseudograin.

On the very top tier everyday scenes with the participation of people and different animals are captured. So, in the center are images of half-dressed men holding sheep’s skin in their hands. On the right and left sides you can see horses with foals, as well as cows with calves. Immediately behind them are the Scythians, milking the animals. All this allows us to understand how approximately people lived in those days. Therefore, pectoral is of great value.

On the middle tier, you can see images of flowers and shoots of plants, among which there are birds. Hunting scenes are depicted on the lowest tier. Many experts believe that they created such a decoration as a pectoral, experienced Greek masters directly commissioned by the Scythians. Scientists are still arguing about the meaning of images.

There is a pectoral in the Kiev Museum of Historical Treasures of Ukraine.

Many gold jewelry was found directly in the burial places of the Scythian nobility, that is, in the mounds. All of them were of great value. The most valuable findings of the mounds were made in the Black Sea - in Kul-Oba, Chertomlyk and Solokha. All the representatives of world museums today dream of them.

If you translate this name from the Tatar language, it means "hill of ashes." The burial was located on a mountain range that goes from Mount Mithridates. In 1981, several archaeologists began to study this mound. The tomb itself was accidentally found during a stone collapse.

A rather significant burial was discovered in it, which was done according to the Scythian rite. All fossil finds made up the main core in the collection of antiquities, which are stored in the Hermitage.

This discovery was made near Almaty in 1969. Kazakh scientists were very happy about the findings. After all, the mound was completely untouched. Thanks to this, they received at their disposal a large number of artifacts.

According to experts, this burial belonged to the Scythian prince. This was found out thanks to the robe found on the buried man, which contained fragments of the “Issyk letter”. Only a specialist from the Institute of Archeology could read it. In addition, more than 4 thousand gold objects were discovered in the mound, among which was a silver bowl.

This female burial place, located near Kerch, was found in the last century - in 1965. Two women were buried in the tomb, the remains of which were discovered by archaeologists. The expedition was headed by Kirilin D.S.

Along with the remains, a lot of gold jewelry was found. We list some of them:

• earrings made in the form of a sphinx;
• diadem with patterns and relief images;
• scarab ring;
• plaques depicting various mythical animals, such as Pegasus or eagle, as well as lotus flowers;
• winged goddess;
• beads of incredible beauty;
• unusual bells and much more.

Excavations of this burial, located near the city of Nikopol, were carried out in 1913. The expedition was led by Russian archaeologist Veselovsky Nikolai Ivanovich. A lot of gold items were found here.

Among them, it is worth noting a golden plaque made in the shape of a deer. In ancient times, she was on the shield of a Scythian warrior from a wealthy class.

One of the main parts of Scythian gold, including various jewelry, until recently was in the museums of Crimea. However, in 2014, almost the entire Scythian Crimean heritage was exported to the Netherlands for the exhibition.

The collection contained a large number of items - more than 500 units. In 2016, some exhibits were returned to the museums of Ukraine. Their number was only 19 items. The remaining 565 items, consisting of 2111 units, are stored today in the Museum of Amsterdam. The cost of the collection is estimated at 10 million euros.

In 2010, upon completion of the reconstruction, the exhibition “Ancient Siberia. Fifth Pazyryk Barrow. " Its composition includes not only wood or fabric products, but also gold objects. This exhibition was planned for several years. Therefore, it turned out to be very thoughtful and impressive.

The exhibition was based on the famous collection of Peter 1. She is considered one of the very first in Russia. In addition, there you could see a large number of products from the Scythian graves of the Black Sea, which were found in the XIX century. However, the most important part of the exposition was occupied by finds made by modern archaeologists from the Hermitage.

A large number of Scythian gold jewelry is in the world famous museum of St. Petersburg - in the Hermitage. The collection is considered the richest in various objects from the time of the Scythians. Thanks to this exposition, one can understand how diverse the life of the Scythian people was.

In 2017, an exhibition was organized in London, brought from the Hermitage. More than 850 objects went there, which represent the culture of the Scythian people from the VIII century BC to the IV century AD.

Summing up, we can say that the representatives of the Scythians were very rich people. This is evidenced by various objects extracted at different times from Scythian tombs.Therefore, we can only rejoice that this ancient people managed to at least in such a strange way for modern times to preserve the memory of their lives.

Who are the Scythians and what is Scythian gold, see the video.