{"id":562,"date":"2016-08-24T09:27:49","date_gmt":"2016-08-24T09:27:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/archaeology.sa\/en\/?p=562"},"modified":"2016-08-24T09:32:39","modified_gmt":"2016-08-24T09:32:39","slug":"chamber-in-bronze-age-pyramid-opened-in-kazakhstan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.archaeology.sa\/en\/?p=562","title":{"rendered":"Chamber In Bronze Age &#8216;Pyramid&#8217; Opened In Kazakhstan"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img src=\"http:\/\/archaeology.sa\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/1.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Archaeologists who unearthed the remains of a 3,500-year-old pyramid-shaped mausoleum in the Kazakh steppes, have now opened its funerary chamber, finding a skull, human bones and Bronze Age pottery.<!--more-->Wrongly hailed by several media outlets as the world&#8217;s first pyramid, the structure dates back to the 14 th to 12th century BC and contains five walls that gradually rise toward the center.<\/p>\n<p>The structure appears to resemble the step pyramid of Djoser, which was built about 4,700 years ago at the site of Saqqara in Egypt.<\/p>\n<p>Considered the first Egyptian pyramid, the Djoser monument originally stood 203 feet tall, with a base of 358 by 410 feet.<br \/>\n<img src=\"http:\/\/archaeology.sa\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/2.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<p>By contrast, the Kazakhstan &#8220;pyramid&#8221; was much smaller. Made from stone, earth and slabs in the outer side, it measured about 6.6 feet high and about 49 by 46 feet long.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;It was built by the Begazy-Dandybay culture of Late Bronze Age in Kazakhstan,&#8221; Viktor Novozhenov, an archaeologist with the Saryarka Archaeological Institute at Karaganda State University in Kazakhstan, told Discovery News.<\/p>\n<p><img src=\"http:\/\/archaeology.sa\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/3.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<p>The tribes of the Begazy-Dandybay culture of Central Kazakhstan are mainly known for their unique monumental architecture. Their megalithic structures were used as tombs for people of the highest social rank.<\/p>\n<p>About 18 of such megalithic mausolea have been found so far. They consist of two or three perimeter walls made by stone masonry or by stone slabs weighting up to 3 tons.<\/p>\n<div class=\"separator\"><\/div>\n<p>The central chamber had a stone roof supported by up to 14 square pillars and usually contained an impressive sarcophagus and an earthen altar.<\/p>\n<p>The newly discovered pyramid-shaped mausoleum is completely different in shape and size. It has however a funerary chamber at the center, which possibly housed the clan leader.<\/p>\n<p><img src=\"http:\/\/archaeology.sa\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/4.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Already 27 graves of nobles or relatives to the leader have been found around the mausoleum,&#8221; Novozhenov said.<\/p>\n<p>As the archaeologists opened the chamber, they immediately realized it was heavily robbed long ago.<\/p>\n<p>On the floor, there were scattered human bones, a skull and Bronze Age objects such as a knife and some jugs. Another skull was found in a nearby grave.<\/p>\n<p><img src=\"http:\/\/archaeology.sa\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/5.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<p>&#8220;These findings confirm our preliminary dating of 14 th -12th century \u0412\u0421,&#8221; Novozhenov said.<\/p>\n<p>He added that one skull might belong to a male individual, while the other to a female, but more research, including DNA analysis, is needed to solve the mystery of their identities.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The finding can provide us with unique information about Eurasia&#8217; steppe tribes in the Late Bronze Age, a period when the Saka and Cimmerians mentioned by Herodotus emerged,&#8221; Novozhenov said.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Later, in the 9th to 8th century BC, these tribes migrated to western Eurasia up to the Black Sea coast, forming the Persian Scythian-Sakas community,&#8221; he added.<\/p>\n<p><i>Source: Discovery News [August 20, 2016]<\/i><\/p>\n<div class=\"post-labels\"><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Archaeologists who unearthed the remains of a 3,500-year-old pyramid-shaped mausoleum in the Kazakh steppes, have now opened its funerary chamber, finding a skull, human bones and Bronze Age pottery.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":564,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.archaeology.sa\/en\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/562"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.archaeology.sa\/en\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.archaeology.sa\/en\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.archaeology.sa\/en\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.archaeology.sa\/en\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=562"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.archaeology.sa\/en\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/562\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":571,"href":"https:\/\/www.archaeology.sa\/en\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/562\/revisions\/571"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.archaeology.sa\/en\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/564"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.archaeology.sa\/en\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=562"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.archaeology.sa\/en\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=562"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.archaeology.sa\/en\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=562"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}