Melgunov Kurgan

Melgunov Kurgan (also Lyta Mohyla) is an early 6th-century BC royal Scythian burial mound near the village of Kopani in Kirovohrad Oblast, Ukraine. Excavated in 1763 on the instructions of Oleksiy Melgunov, it contained a chieftain's burial with gold plates bearing eagle imagery, a gold crown, a sword with sheath, bronze arrowheads, and silver adornments. Assyrian and Persian designs on the artifacts testify to Scythian contacts with the Middle East. The collection is housed in the Hermitage Museum in Saint Petersburg. The mound stands approximately 10.5 m tall.