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Ancient DNA Study Including Kazakhstan’s “Golden Man” Reveals Family Networks Behind Scythian Elite Power
Gold, horses, weapons, and monumental kurgans have long shaped the image of Scythian elite power. But a new study published in Science Advances suggests that power among some Scythian and Saka groups may also have depended on something less visible in the archaeological record: family ties. Based on ancient DNA from Iron Age burials across…
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Early Saka Burial Mounds Unearthed Near Kyrgyzstan’s Lake Issyk-Kul
Early Saka burial mounds discovered near Lake Issyk-Kul in Kyrgyzstan are offering new clues to the region’s ancient nomadic past, after a rescue excavation near Cholpon-Ata revealed 21 kurgan burials and a large stone enclosure. The site, located on the northern shore of Lake Issyk-Kul, was identified during work connected to a bypass road around…