Indo-Europeans in the Altai Mountains Part 2 of 5

Excavation of a royal Scythian Kurgan (burial mound)

The Scythians were ancient Iranian people of horse-riding nomadic pastoralists who from about 900 BC to about 200 BC lived on the Eurasian Steppe. By Late Antiquity the closely-related Sarmatians came to dominate the Scythians in this area. Much of the surviving information about the Scythians comes from the Greek historian Herodotus (c. 440 BC) in his Histories and Ovid in his poem of exile Epistulae ex Ponto, and archaeologically from the exquisite gold work found in Scythian burial mounds in Ukraine and Southern Russia. The name \"Scythian\" has also been used to refer to various peoples seen as similar to the Scythians, or who lived anywhere on the vast short grass prairies covering present-day Central Asia, Southern Russia, and Southern Ukraine known  as the steppes. The Romans called the Goths Scythians but they were really North Germanic not Iranian.

Siberian steppes echoes a legendary past. Mounted tribes once ruled these high plateaus, where towering stone monuments reach toward the heavens. Golden treasures from these days are rare and enigmatic. But new finds cast light on a culture cloaked in mystery: Sacrificed animals, valued possessions, and a startling emissary from this age of warriors—a 2400 year old woman frozen in time. But this Ice Maiden will not be left to rest. Removed from the grave, her body has traveled half way around the world to be displayed and admired. Now, she is returning to Siberia, back to the scientist who discovered her, and who hopes to learn more of the Ice Maiden\'s secrets.

Afghanistan: Crossroads of the Ancient World A story of daring and intrigue - archaeologists discovered the treasures of Afghanistan's nomadic ancestors but then had to hide them to keep them safe.

The Oseberg ship is a well-preserved Viking ship discovered in a large burial mound at the Oseberg farm near Tønsberg in Vestfold county, Norway.[1] The burial mound contained numerous grave goods and two female human skeletons. The ships internment into its burial mound dates from 834, but parts of the ship date from around 800, and the ship itself is thought to be older. It was excavated by Norwegian archaeologist Haakon Shetelig and Swedish archaeologist Gabriel Gustafson in 1904-1905. This ship is widely celebrated and has been called one of the finest finds to have survived the Viking Age. The ship and some of its contents are displayed at the Viking Ship Museum, Bygdøy, Oslo.The Gogstad ship is a Viking ship found beneath a burial mound at Gogstad farm in Sandar, Sandefjord, Vestfold, Norway. Excavation of Gogstadhaugen or Kongshaugen (from the Old Norse words kong meaning king and haugr meaning mound) revealed a ship burial dated back to 9th century. The site was excavated in 1880 by Nicolay Nicolaysen.The Gogstad ship is clinker-built, constructed largely of oak. The ship is 24 m long and 5 m wide. It is the largest in the Viking Ship Museum in Oslo. The ship was built to carry 32 oarsmen, and the oar holes could be hatched down when the ship was under sail. It utilized a square sail of c. 110 square meters, which, it is estimated, could propel the ship to over 12 knots. While the ship was traveling in shallow water, the rudder could be raised. Dendrochronological dating suggests that the ship was built of timber that was felled around 890 AD.The ship's design has been demonstrated to be very seaworthy. The Viking, an exact replica of the Gogstad ship crossed the Atlantic Ocean from Bergen, Norway to be exhibited at the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago during 1893. Other known replicas include the Gaia, which currently has Sandefjord as its home port, and the Munin, (a half scale replica) located in Vancouver, BC.

The Royal Library of Alexandria, or Ancient Library of Alexandria, in Alexandria, Egypt, was the largest and most significant great library of the ancient world. It flourished under the patronage of the Ptolemaic dynasty and functioned as a major center of scholarship from its construction in the third century B.C.E. until the Roman conquest of Egypt in 48 B.C.E. In Roman times, scholars used a related library called the Serapeum, located in another part of the city. This library was described as the "daughter library" and was also a temple to the god Serapis.The library was conceived and opened either during the reign of Ptolemy I Soter (323-283 BCE ) or during the reign of his son Ptolemy II (283-246 BCE). Plutarch (CE 46--120) wrote that during his visit to Alexandria in 48 BCE, Julius Caesar accidentally burned the library down when he set fire to his own ships to frustrate Achillas' attempt to limit his ability to communicate by sea. British historian Edward Gibbon attributed the library's demise to Archbishop Theophilus of Alexandria, who ordered the destruction of the Serapeum in 391.• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Library_of_Alexandria---Carl Edward Sagan, Ph.D. (1934-1996) was an American astronomer, astrochemist, author, and highly successful popularizer of astronomy, astrophysics and other natural sciences. He pioneered exobiology and promoted the Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence (SETI).He is world-famous for writing popular science books and for co-writing and presenting the award-winning 1980 television series "Cosmos: A Personal Voyage", which has been seen by more than 600 million people in over 60 countries, making it the most widely watched PBS program in history.A book to accompany the program was also published. He also wrote the novel "Contact", the basis for the 1997 Robert Zemecki's film of the same name starring Jodie Foster.During his lifetime, Sagan published more than 600 scientific papers and popular articles and was author, co-author, or editor of more than 20 books. In his works, he frequently advocated skeptical inquiry, secular humanism, and the scientific method.

Kremlin Armory - it is a museum where precious objects from the treasury of the imperial dynasty of Russia are stored, beginning with the 14th century.

Indo-Europeans in the Altai Mountains Part 1 of 5

Excavation of a royal Scythian Kurgan (burial mound)

The Scythians were ancient nomadic Iranian tribes that had a horse riding warrior culture who from about 900 BC to about 200 BC lived on the Eurasian Steppe. They were related to the Medes and Persians. Much of the surviving information about the Scythians comes from the Greek historian Herodotus (c. 440 BC) in his Histories and Ovid in his poem of exile Epistulae ex Ponto, and archaeologically from the exquisite gold work found in Scythian burial mounds in Kazakhstan, Ukraine and Southern Russia. The name "Scythian" has also been used to refer to some other  nomadic horse riding warrior cultures seen as similar to the Scythians, or who lived anywhere on the vast short grass prairies covering present day Kazakhstan, Southern Russia, and Southern Ukraine known as the steppes. The Romans called the Goths Scythians but they were really a North Germanic tribe not Iranian.

The  Altai Mountains echo a legendary past when mounted warriors once ruled these high plateaus, where towering stone monuments reach toward the heavens. Golden treasures from these days are rare and enigmatic. But new finds cast light on a culture cloaked in mystery: Sacrificed animals, valued possessions, and a startling emissary from this age of warriors a 2400 year old woman frozen in time. But this Ice Maiden will not be left to rest. Removed from the grave, her body has traveled half way around the world to be displayed and admired. Now, she is returning to Siberia, back to the scientist who discovered her, and who hopes to learn more of the Ice Maiden's secrets.

Scythian art collection in the Budapest Museum.

The Scythians were nomads who lived on the vast prairies of Kazakhstan, Southern Russia and Ukraine from about 700BC to 300AD, they spoke an Iranian language they were known for their horsemanship and archery skills. The gold jewelry that has been found in their tombs is amazing, also the oldest surviving carpet in World was found in one of their tombs, it was manufactured about 2,700 years ago. The carpet is on display at a Russian Museum.

The ancient Greeks did business with the Scythians and this is where the legend of the Amazon women warriors came from. In reality it was no legend, Scythian tombs have been found with women buried with their armor and weapons. Cyrus the Great the founder of the Persian Empire was killed in a battle with one of the Scythian tribes and the Scythians were led into battle by their Queen.

In 612 B.C. the Babylonian army with allied armies of Medes and Scythians captured the Assyrian capital of Nineveh. It was pillaged and burned, and then razed to the ground so completely that it was never rebuilt and the Great Assyrian Empire was wiped from the face of the Earth that day as prophesied in the Bible..

The Scythian capital of Gelonus was reached by the Persian army of Darius in his assault on Scythia during the 5th century BC, already burned to the ground, the Scythians having abandoned it before the Persian advance. The Scythians sent a message to Darius: "We are free as the wind and what you can catch in our land is only the wind". By employing a scorched earth strategy, they avoided battles, leaving "earth without grass" by burning the steppe in front of the advancing Persians. After advancing all the way to the Volga river, the Persian army returned home without a single battle or any significant success.

Some scholars, before the 20th century, thought that the Scythians were Turkic/Mongolic People. Some Scythian tribes did live in Mongolia in the 5th and 6th centuries B.C., but were not Mongolian. The 2,500 year old frozen mummy of a Scythian warrior, is a 30-to-40 year-old man with blond hair and blue eyes, and was found in the Altai Mountains in Mongolia.

One Scythian invention is still with us today, men's pants.

Gold coins with byzantine emperors. From Anastasius I to Michael III. 491-867. The song is All The Day of Gods, from the CD Constantinople, my Beloved City.

The man who uncovered the greatest find of the century King Tut's Tomb, suffered a strange fate amidst unlikely events.

The Diamond Fund at the Kremlin contains thousands of priceless treasures - including gems, jewelry and gold nuggets. Set up by Peter the Great at the beginning of the 18th century, the collection is still growing.The jewels were put on public display in the 1960s and remain a popular tourist attraction.Yuriy Bokarev, historian, Russian Academy of Sciences, speaking Russian: There was the first wave of sell-offs after the Revolution. These were tough times and it was necessary to sell some jewels to provide poor people with food. Irina Polynina, Chief Expert, Diamond Fund, speaking Russian: People are always asking me how much all of this costs. But these things are priceless - imagine the historical value of a crown worn by seven Russian emperors. There are always some visitors, who ask, why you keep them. Could they not be spent on building houses? Of its thousands of jewels, the Diamond Fund inside the Kremlin only displays the most astonishing items.And heading the collection - the Imperial Jewels worn by the Romanovs since Catherine the Great, including the Imperial Crown decorated with nearly 5,000 diamonds and the second largest spinel in the world.Chief Expert of the Diamond Fund, Irina Polynina, says the jewels cannot be valued in monetary terms: People are always asking me how much all of this costs. But these things are priceless - imagine the historical value of a crown worn by seven Russian emperors.She goes on to say that some visitors do not understand the historical value of this opulence and consider it inappropriate: There are always some visitors, who ask, why you keep them. Could they not be spent on building houses? It was Peter the Great who first assembled the vast treasures of the Russian Tsars into one secure collection. But even the best vaults could not protect the jewels from the Bolsheviks. After the Russian Revolution, the majority of pieces were auctioned off at Christie's in London.Historians have claimed that during the 1920s the crown jewels were stored in a diplomat's house in Dublin, as collateral for a loan of 25,000 pounds that Ireland gave to the USSR.There was the first wave of sell-offs after the Revolution. These were tough times and it was necessary to sell some jewels to provide poor people with food, historian Yuriy Bokarev says.But he is more concerned about what pieces may have disappeared after the fall of the Soviet Union. Many of the thefts, he believes, were hushed up.Yet, the most valuable are still in Moscow. An 88-carat Shah diamond with very unusual inscriptions is among them. First it was in the possession of Indian moguls, then Persian rulers, but it was delivered to the Tsar after the Russian Ambassador was slain in Tehran. As a result of this gift, a war may have been avoided.The treasure was first exhibited to the Russian public in November 1967. Originally a short-term show, in 1968 it became a permanent exhibition in the Kremlin Armory building.