Treasure Filled Warrior's Grave Found in Russia

Greetings, ATS!

I love stories like this, which give us a glimpse into a long-forgotten past. I wonder who this man was?

From Discovery News:

Hidden in a necropolis situated high in the mountains of the Caucasus in Russia, researchers have discovered the grave of a male warrior laid to rest with gold jewelry, iron chain mail and numerous weapons, including a 36-inch iron sword set between his legs.

That is just one amazing find among a wealth of ancient treasures dating back more than 2,000 years that scientists have uncovered there.

Among their finds are two bronze helmets, discovered on the surface of the necropolis. One helmet (found in fragments and restored) has relief carvings of curled sheep horns while the other has ridges, zigzags and other odd shapes.

I have to confess, i sometimes wander through old cemetaries and ponder those who are resting beneath. What were their lives like? What trials did they face, what triumphs were theirs?

And this warrior, I wonder what his life was like. Did he lead masses of warriors into battle? Win an unprecedented victory? Was he a general who commanded elite troops, or a rank and file who committed a brave act of heroism? How did he die...and why the elaborate burial?

I hope you enjoy this article as much as I did, ATS. Happy Friday!

reply to post by smyleegrl


Have you followed the link to the pictures of the excavation site and recovered artefacts?

www.livescience.com...

Incredible stuff! The helmet with the sheep horn designs is very unusual, I have never seen anything quite like that but it would suggest that they were economically pastoralists...and it probably could give us clues to the way in which they selected mates too

But, what I found most interesting was the agate brooch made from a coin and still featuring Athena on the reverse...they were clearly very talented metal workers, but it also confirms that they had a relationship with Hellenised world.

Very cool find! I always enjoy looking at this kind of thing, it makes me wonder about his "story" too, how he got there, how he died, what was the significance of the stuff he was buried with...it said in the article the remains of horses, a boars skull and a cow were found buried nearby, I wonder if that means anything?

reply to post by smyleegrl


Cool spot, thanks for sharing.

Near the town of Mezmay eh? That would make it cross border region for a variety of tribes then - Heruli, Alani, Suani. Possibly even one of the Gothic tribes (if it turns to be 2'000 years old).

Either way, one tough old warrior - the Romans or Persians never bothered with this region as they were just too crazy (as warriors). Mezmay, whilst a tribal border region, was actually more Heruli than anything. And they were the ones the other tribes feared.

Of possible interest to fellow ATS'ers (given some of the other threads), this was prime head binding territory. The Heruli in particular were very concerned about this habit, with the warrior caste having very elongated heads (added to their fearsome reputation).

reply to post by KilgoreTrout


Yes, the pictures were amazing!

Wow incredible find. I always wonder how they managed to lie there for so long, Without being stolen! This guy must have been some sort of ancient hero warrior to his people

Lots of great finds comming from Russia these days.....
I hope we can piece together a more detailed picture of their lives back then......
Cool find Kiddo!

Great Post.

I have always been fascinated with ancient warriors and traditions. This is a great example of the times, I only wish they had more images of the actual burial.

This stuff is on par with my enjoyment of reading about the ancient vikings.

Thank you

Originally posted by TheDoctor46
Wow incredible find. I always wonder how they managed to lie there for so long, Without being stolen! This guy must have been some sort of ancient hero warrior to his people

Given it was the territory of some of the most feared tribes of the Steppes, i am not that surprised it wasn't looted. Your average Steppe tribesman didn't place value on trinkets. Instead, it was about honour, respecting the gods, etc. This is one reason why so much is often found in kurgans (burial mounds). If it was a particular respected warrior, you basically did yourself (as well as their spirit) honour by chucking loads of valuables in with the body.

Other Steppe tribes would only rarely loot them as it would only encourage reprisal attacks on their grave mounds. And, like i said above, this particular area was home to the most feared Steppe tribe at that period of history.

Thanks for posting, ive always been fascinated by this time period. The world must have been a far more beautiful place back then, the style and way they did battle just intrigues me. Often think I would have preferred too live back then!

Admittedly 'numerous weapons, including a 36-inch iron sword set between his legs' made me laugh, maybe ive been at work too long today ): Or maybe they got it all wrong and he just slayed women!

reply to post by stirling


Yes, I have always been fascinated with Russia. For so many years, it was isolated and we did not get much info about it, but since it has "opened up" we are able to really learn a lot more. I bet there are still all kinds of interesting finds just waiting to be uncovered. I'd love to go over there and discover stuff like this!

hes got chain mail, quite rare to find so we can date him from 3rd to 4th century bce.

Snf op.
Great find He must've been an impressive sight on the field.

Some of those pics are stunning.

Nice find
The helmet seemed very Roman except for the horns

The pottery I coulden't nail down anything that looks quite like it for one Roman pottery was too varied
Where exactly did they made this find..was it on the black sea?? the Greeks had a colony there if it was further in land then I just can't even make a guess, the Vikings did not make the trip to Russia untill a thousand yrs after this find according to the history books..Scythians?? .Scythians had a knack for working gold and liked the reindeer motifs .

I'm happy the warrior enjoyed so many years of peaceful rest. It's too bad he couldn't remain layed to rest for a few thousand more. If there's one profession I could never fathom being, it's an archeologist.

It's only a personal contention, but what happens in your minds if the title read:

"Worker from 1950's unearthed, vast treasure of Molson stubbies, baseball cards, and rare farm implements reclaimed!"

See my point?

Originally posted by Flavian

Originally posted by TheDoctor46
Wow incredible find. I always wonder how they managed to lie there for so long, Without being stolen! This guy must have been some sort of ancient hero warrior to his people

Given it was the territory of some of the most feared tribes of the Steppes, i am not that surprised it wasn't looted. Your average Steppe tribesman didn't place value on trinkets. Instead, it was about honour, respecting the gods, etc. This is one reason why so much is often found in kurgans (burial mounds). If it was a particular respected warrior, you basically did yourself (as well as their spirit) honour by chucking loads of valuables in with the body.

Other Steppe tribes would only rarely loot them as it would only encourage reprisal attacks on their grave mounds. And, like i said above, this particular area was home to the most feared Steppe tribe at that period of history.

The article states that the necropolis where this burial was found was looted, though this particular burial was seemingly overlooked, or more likely, not discovered. The helmets pictured in the link that I provided were all found close to the surface, so presumably some of the warriors buried there were not so fortunate, though I am sure, at the time they were buried, no less respected. While what you state may have been true at the time the warrior was buried, times change and so do the people...a lot of migrations north and south in the interim of peoples who did not have the same value systems and any fear of those tribes were long forgotten.

reply to post by Spider879


It all seems rather Ionian.

Originally posted by Spider879

The pottery I coulden't nail down anything that looks quite like it for one Roman pottery was too varied
Where exactly did they made this find..was it on the black sea??

The find was just outside Mezmay, which is on the Russian side of the Black Sea. The greater influence seems to have been Greek, the Athena coin brooch seems to be a clear indicator of that.

Based on the artifacts, researchers believe the warrior's burial dates back around 2,200 years, to a time when Greek culture was popular in west Asia, while the necropolis itself appears to have been in use between the third century B.C. and the beginning of the second century A.D.

Researchers were careful to note that the artifacts cannot be linked to a specific archaeological culture. Mordvintseva points out that "this region is very big, and not sufficiently excavated," particularly in the area where the necropolis is located. "[I]t is situated high in mountains. Perhaps the population of this area [had] trade routes/passes with Caucasian countries — Georgia, Armenia etc.," Mordvintseva writes in the email.

While the people who used the necropolis were clearly influenced by Greek culture, they maintained their own way of life, said Mordvintseva. "Their material culture shows that they were rather very proud of themselves and kept their culture for centuries."

www.foxnews.com...

The level of craftsmanship seems on a par with the Dacians and Sarmatians, so possibly they were the trade intermediaries with the south given that the archaeologists seem to think that the culture that created the necropolis, was contained and not overly contaminated by Hellenization.

Totally awesome
Hope they have some history about him
Good find

Originally posted by Spider879
.Scythians had a knack for working gold and liked the reindeer motifs .

edit on 22-2-2013 by Spider879 because: (no reason given)

I have a theory on the reindeer motifs, or stags as I like to call them. It is overwhelmingly pinned to a specific group of people and might finally solve the mystery of where they come from. Recently in Siberia mummies were found with intricate tattoos of said motif, Maybe one day I can get around to posting it.