Archaeologists unearth treasures of ancient nomads

• The Kangju people lived in Central Asia (South Kazakhstan) for almost a millennium, but experts know very little about them.
• The discovery of new artifacts from a 2,000-year-old burial mound underscores the sophistication of this little-known society and its close connection to the ancient Silk Road.
• Featuring a brass mirror from China and a Roman-style brooch, this treasure trove displays intimate evidence of the world’s first major attempt at globalization.

For about 800 years (from the 4th century BCE to the 4th century CE), an ethnic group called the Kangju flourished in what is now southern Kazakhstan. Despite this relatively long reign in Central Asia, what is known about this ancient society far outweighs what is unknown. For example, experts know that the people were of Indo-European origin, spoke an Eastern Iranian language, and probably lived a semi-nomadic lifestyle—a common choice among ethnic groups in Central Asia and the Eurasian steppe. Everything else has been slowly pieced together from pottery and other artifacts left to us and that we can find.

Now, a new treasure trove of artifacts has been discovered in 2,000-year-old burial mounds in the ancient Kangju region. These items include jewelry, arrowheads and a large bronze mirror – all testaments to the sophistication of the Kangju people. Kazakhstan lies at the heart of what was once the ancient Silk Road, and the items reflect the impact of this globalization of the ancient world.

The mirror, for example, has been traced to the craftsmen of China’s Han Dynasty, which ruled from 206 BC to 220 AD. Similar mirrors have been found among the discarded remains of other civilizations along the ancient Silk Road, which likely means that the woman buried with the mirror was a person of considerable wealth or importance. China was not the Kangju’s only trading partner, however—the ancient people also likely traded with the Roman Empire and the Kushan Empire, another Central Asian power to the south.

To uncover these items, a team of experts from Ozbekali Zhanibekov University – in the city of Shymkent on the border with Uzbekistan – and archaeologists from the local government travelled to three burial mounds in the Region (Administrative region) Turkistan.

As is often the case when researching ancient ruins, two of the mounds had already been looted, probably in the Middle Ages. But the third mound still contained ancient wonders. According to a press release translated from Kazakh, experts also found other items – including ornate earrings, a belt buckle and a Roman brooch – that further underscored the mound’s strategic location on the Silk Road.

The leader of this archaeological expedition, Aleksandr Podushkin of Osbekali Zhanibekov University, said that the Yangju actually consisted of many different peoples, including the Asiatic Sarmatians, the Xiongnu, the Kangyu, and the later Saki (who may have been the famous Scythians). Podushkin has published about 90 articles on the peoples of southern Kazakhstan, and some of his previous work involved analyzing the religious beliefs of the Kangju from artifacts collected in the Ugam Valley, which is also in the Turkistan region.

Now these relics will be brought to the capital Astana and displayed at the National Museum of the Republic of Kazakhstan. As experts like Podushkin continue to find these hidden treasures, the largely blurred picture of this Central Asian ethnic group should slowly become clearer over time.