An Ancient Scythian City Found at the Bottom of Issyk-Kul
Divers managed to retrieve many finds from the bottom, including a whole ceramic vessel, a large number of shards, metal pendants, patches, and other artifacts.
A joint expedition of Kyrgyz archaeologists and divers from the "SKAT" club of Tomsk State University (TSU) discovered an ancient Scythian settlement at the bottom of Lake Issyk-Kul, reported the leader of the diving group, Dmitry Gorn.
He noted that these are the remains of a Scythian settlement previously unknown to scholars.
"According to preliminary estimates, the city is about 2,500 years old and was located on the Great Silk Road," said Gorn.
The work was conducted on the southern shore of Issyk-Kul in collaboration with archaeologists from the Kyrgyz-Russian Slavic University under the leadership of Academician Vladimir Ploskih.
Divers managed to retrieve many finds from the bottom, including a whole ceramic vessel, a large number of shards, metal pendants, patches, and other artifacts.
"The underwater work was carried out by a group of 11 people. The settlement was flooded after the water level in the lake rose by about five meters. It is located about 1.5-2 kilometers from the shore at a depth of one to three meters," said the diver.
The beach of the sanatorium on the shore of Issyk-Kul at night.
Excavations at the bottom of Lake Issyk-Kul have been ongoing since the 1950s. The first expedition of divers from "SKAT" took place in Kyrgyzstan in 1962, when divers assisted archaeologists from the Academy of Sciences of the USSR. After the perestroika, cooperation ceased.
In 2015, an agreement on cooperation in the fields of science, education, and culture was signed between Tomsk State University and KRSU, one of the points of which is the implementation of joint scientific research projects, including the study of historical and cultural heritage at Issyk-Kul.
The Great Silk Road ran along the shore of the lake from the 2nd century BC. The valley attracted settlers with its mild climate, fertile soil, and good pastures for livestock.
Source: Sputnik Kyrgyzstan
