NUR-SULTAN – The Apollo international art magazine, one of the world’s oldest and most respected magazines on the visual arts, included The Gold of the Great Steppe exhibition in the Exhibition of the Year shortlist, reports the Khabar TV channel.
Artefacts found in burial mounds during excavations in eastern Kazakhstan. Photo credit: gov.kz
The Gold of the Great Steppe was highly popular among the public as more than 25,000 people came to see it at Cambridge’s Fitzwilliam Museum starting from Sept. 28, 2021, and lasting through Jan. 30, 2022.
Several reputable newspapers including The Guardian, Telegraph, and BBC News published stories on the exhibition, highlighting how successful and important it was.
The exhibition unveiled over 300 archeological discoveries from the Saka burial mounds in eastern Kazakhstan. These unique pieces dating back to more than 2,700 years have been discovered by Kazakh archeologist Zeinolla Samashev along with other scientists and students over the past three years at three burial complexes – Eleke Sazy, Berel and Shilikty.
The brightest part of the exhibition was the reconstruction of the burial of an 18-year-old archer, who was found in 2018. He was buried with a younger female relative with more than 15,000 pieces of gold jewelry and other valuable historical items in a tomb.
A young archer was buried in the foothills of the Tarbagatay mountains of eastern Kazakhstan approximately 2,700 years ago. Photo credit: gov.kz
According to the museum’s press service, recent excavations and analyses led by archaeologists from Kazakhstan have helped them understand much better how the Saka lived and traveled, the things they made, and what they believed in.
Fitzwilliam Museum Director Luke Syson said during the opening ceremony of the exhibition that it is an extraordinary opportunity to rewrite world history through objects that were unearthed just a few months ago. “The most important thing for us in Cambridge is to show not only the artifacts themselves but also the entire archaeological process and expertise used in Kazakhstan,” he said.
Archaeological excavations are expected to be continued in East Kazakhstan in 2022.
