Discover a woman skeleton of about 35 years old In Filippovka, wearing fancy gold-plated clothes. Almost 400 gold appliques were sewn to the dress of the individual buried.

Exhibits of the exposition “Gold of the Sarmatians”

The excavations were carried out by Bashkir archaeologists, and despite the fact that the discovered Sarmatian burials were located on the territory of the Orenburg province, all the artifacts found were sent to the museums of Ufa.

Clearing the cache. From the personal archive of Tatyana Surina

Leonid Teodorovich Yablonsky

The most valuable find was the virtually untouched tomb of a noble Sarmatian “Amazon” of the 5th–4th centuries BC, discovered in 2013 during excavations of the so-called “royal” mound near the village of Filippovka, Ilek district, Orenburg region. Under a four-meter thick layer of sand lay a female skeleton, strewn with gold – bracelets on her wrists, rings with stones on each finger. In her left hand the woman held a silver mirror with a gold handle and an object that looked like a rod. The skeleton lay on a multilayer mat with rich and varied grave goods. Nearby were a wicker chest filled to the brim with various items, including a gold breast ornament, a glass vessel of Persian manufacture, a wooden bowl with gold handles in the shape of bear figurines, leather bags of paints, two stone “palettes” for diluting paints used for tattoos, and iron gilded tattoo and sewing needles and bone spoons for diluting paints with handles decorated in animal style, a quiver with arrows with bronze tips and many other things.

After research and restoration, these unique finds replenished the funds of the Orenburg Governor’s Museum of History and Local Lore and subsequently became the basis of the “Golden Pantry” exhibition.