Shilikty

An Early Saka burial complex in the Shilikty Valley of eastern Kazakhstan's Altai Mountains, featuring numerous 8th-6th century BC kurgans. Carbon-14 dating refines the chronology to 730-690 BC, broadly contemporary with the Arzhan-2 kurgan in Tuva. In 2003, remains of a "Golden Man" were discovered with 4,262 gold artifacts, rivaling the famous Issyk kurgan find. The high concentration of elite Saka-Scythian monuments here is rare across all of Eurasia, providing exceptionally well-contextualized examples of Saka art.