Reported at the end of last year, but missed pretty much everywhere, Russian archaeologists working in Kyrgyzstan have discovered the remains of, what must have been at its time, a thriving metropolis. Estimated to be from 2,500 years ago, they were found at the bottom of Lake Issyk Kul, in the Kyrgyz mountains.
The team, which was led by Vladimir Ploskikh, vice president of the Kyrgyz Academy of Sciences, was in charge of the eighth expedition to the lake. This find is a landmark find for archaeologists and historians in the area, after many years of visiting the lake.
The lake is found in the northern Tian Shan Mountains in eastern Kyrgyzstan, and qualifies as the world’s ninth largest lake in the world by volume and the second largest saline lake after the Caspian Sea.
The expedition itself, which scoured the bottom of the lake, provided finds that have been labeled as ‘sensational’ by some media outlets. Major settlements, walls that stretch in some places up to 500 meters, and areas of a city that once had an area of several square kilometers were all found well beneath the surface.
Many of the discoveries – such as Scythian burial mounds (a nation of horse-riding nomadic pastoralists who dominated the Pontic steppe throughout Classical Antiquity) and more than a few bronze artifacts – all point towards the location once being a thriving and even advanced city.
One artifact that pointed towards the advanced nature of this civilization is a ritual bronze cauldron, which was found on the bottom of the lake. According to the historians who are now carefully studying the collected artifacts, the craftsmanship that went in to making the piece is such that similar work can only be done by metalwork in an inert gas.
Next door to the once thriving city are the remnants of ritual complexes, which essentially defy any feasible measurement of time, as well as the more likely dwellings and household outbuildings (ie, the outdoor toilet).
This civilization has hitherto gone undetected by historians who have focused on the area, and speculation is raised as to what happened to them. Did they simply migrate in to the more nomadic people historians are more used to finding in the area, or were they simply wiped out by floods not uncommon in the area; many experts predict the latter.
Needless to say, the archaeological and historical implications of such a find – in a day and age where such finds are few and far between – is one that will no doubt keep many a research student happy for a long while.
Joshua Hill, a Geek’s-Geek from Melbourne, Australia, Josh is an aspiring author with dreams of publishing his epic fantasy, currently in the works, sometime in the next 5 years. A techie, nerd, sci-fi nut and bookworm.
