A 3,800-year-old intact ancient kurgan, or burial mound, belonging to a warrior was unearthed by archaeologists at the Yovşanlıdere site in the Ceyranchol plains in western Azerbaijan, Aze Media reported.
Dating back to the Middle Bronze Age, the kurgan measures roughly 92 feet in diameter at six-and-a-half-feet tall. Inside, experts identified a burial chamber divided into three sections. The first contains the warrior’s remains and weapons, and the second contains ceramic vessels, while the third was empty. The empty space, experts say, holds symbolic meaning connected to the soul’s journey in the afterlife.
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Based on the findings, the warrior is believed to have stood roughly six-and-a-half-feet tall. He was buried in a semi-flexed position, with a rare four-pronged bronze spearhead in his hand. Bronze ankle adornments, obsidian tools, paste beads, and 12 decorated ceramic jugs were also found.
Inside these ceramic vessels, decorated with impressed patterns and white inlay, were the cooked bones of such animals as goats, horses, cows, and boar, intended for sustenance on the journey through the afterlife.
On the surface of the kurgan, archaeologists found massive limestone slabs, roughly weighing one ton each, with a bull-shaped stone and a circular limestone seal placed at the head of the mound.
Though all the artifacts were documented, with fragmented items were restored on-site, there still conducting further analysis.
Currently in its fifth year, the excavation is part of a joint initiative between the Cultural Heritage Protection, Development, and Restoration Service under the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Azerbaijan and the Institute of Archaeology and Anthropology at the Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences.
Last year, another burial of this kind belonging to the Scythians was uncovered in Siberia. It marked one of the earliest-known examples of Scythian burial practices.