Issyk Lake

Drive to Gorge. Excursion to Sak’s kurgans near Issyk town. At the Gorge, sightseeing of classic Zailisky Alatau mountains. Drive up to (1,900 m). Time for lunch overlooking the. Walking excursion along the and in nearby fir forest. Return to Almaty.

The Issyk Gorge contains the Lovely Lake Issyk (1,760m). In 1963 powerful torrents of melt water from the glacier area poured into the upper reaches of the. The gigantic waves destroyed the natural dam and the lake was washed away within hours. Even now it has only been partly restored.

The Issyk burial mound is regarded as a major archeological discovery from the Scythian-Sacae period, indeed as one of the greatest finds of the 20th century. The burial mound dates back to the 4th century BC. In 1969- vault in diameter and high was discovered under the mound, with two burial chambers. The central chamber had been repeatedly plundered in ancient times, but the side-chamber, south of the central one, was untouched. The young man who lay buried there was a Sacae ruler: Kazakh archaeologists believe he was a member of the ruling Great Kushan Empire.

The Golden Warrior was dressed in an arrow-shaped headdress and chain-mail armour richly decorated with platelets. His belt and weapons were of pure gold. The costume consists of 4000 gold ornaments in the animal style typical of Sacae craftsmen. The young warrior`s ornamented funeral armor is priceless. His dagger (akinak) is a masterpiece of the «animal» style, with 21 beasts worked on both gold-plated sides of the dagger. Replicas of the Golden Man are on display at museums in Almaty and Astana.

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