Archaeologists in central Kazakhstan have unearthed an exceptionally well-preserved tomb of a Saka warrior, revealing a pristine 2,500-year-old bronze sword still clutched in its owner’s hand. The discovery, made at the Karabiye burial site in the Aktogay district of the Karaganda region, has been hailed as one of the most significant archaeological finds from the early Iron Age in recent decades.
The excavation, carried out by a team from the Karaganda Regional History Museum, uncovered an untouched burial mound—known as Kurgan No. 1—dating to the 7th–6th centuries BC. Such undisturbed graves are extremely rare among Saka sites, many of which were looted long ago. Beneath layers of stone slabs lay the remains of a warrior positioned carefully according to ancient funerary traditions, his right hand still gripping a bronze akinak—a short sword emblematic of the Saka elite.
“After removing the covering slabs, we saw a skeleton in correct anatomical order. In his right hand was an akinak. We haven’t had such findings in many years,” said Dauren Zhussupov, head of the Archaeology Department at the regional museum.
The bronze weapon, about 30 centimeters long, is double-edged and intricately decorated with figures of steppe birds of prey and argali horns—symbols deeply associated with power and the free spirit of the nomads. Archaeologist Arman Beissenov described the sword as “a masterpiece of ancient metallurgy” and noted that no similar example has yet been found elsewhere in Kazakhstan.
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