Tours archeology Kazakhstan Altai.
 

“An ancient burial site will always hold clues as to who the people were, and to who we are” 

Anthony T. Hincks.

Tours Travels Kazakhstan.

Altai is of great interest because only here you can find unique formations - rock-fill barrows which were exposed to long-term frost penetration. For the first time such barrow in the Bukhtarma River valley has been discovered in 1865 by known scientist V.V. Radlov.
Similar barrow was investigated by Kazakhstan archeologists in 1999 - 2000, they found unique Sakian burial place. Both barrows are located on vast River terrace on the right bank of the Buhtarma River at absolute height of 1100 meters.
These barrows with permafrost are of 30 meters in diameter and thickness of rock-filling is nearly 3 meters. And this rocky cover caused long-term freezing of imperial burial ground and preserved the horses without decomposition which have been buried together with ancient Sakian warrior about 2300 years ago.
Rock-filling promoted deep penetration of frosty air and long-term freezing of soil under it. This man-made permafrost has appeared in those places where nowadays average annual air temperatures are above zero and there is no permafrost anywhere outside the barrows.

Authority:
“Central Asia Mountains”. 2009, Almaty, Publishing house “Mektep”. Authos Aldar Gorbunov, Anna Ivachenko, Sharipa Bisarieva.

Photo by:
Alexander Petrov.