The discovery consisted of formidable walls, some stretching for 500 meters-traces of a large city with an area of several square kilometers.

Other findings included Scythian burial mounds, eroded by waves over the centuries, and numerous well preserved artifacts-bronze battleaxes, arrowheads, self-sharpening daggers, objects discarded by smiths, casting molds, and a faceted gold bar, which was a monetary unit of the time.

All these discoveries suggest that the ancient city was a metropolis in its time.

Some artifacts are in fact so stunning that they point towards an advanced civilization.

For example, a 2,500 year-old ritual bronze cauldron was found on the bottom of the lake. The subtlety of its craftsmanship is amazing. Such excellent quality of joining details together can only be obtained presently by metalwork in an inert gas.

The lake we are heading towards is called Issyk -- meaning hot -- due to the fact that even in winter, the water here does not freeze. The lake boasts both salty and clear water. Despite the cold, snowy mountaintops that surround it, Lake Issyk-Kul remains stubbornly hot.