Preliminary Analysis of the Silver Plaques from the Issyk Burial Ground

Two silver plaques, recovered at Issyk, one of the several archaeological sites closely connected with the imposing figure of K.A. Akishev, allow to advance some preliminary considerations about the silver artefacts unearthed so far across the Kazakhstan steppes. Besides of the Issyk plaques, a hemispherical bowl, a bowl with everted vertical rim, and a silver spoon with bird-head end come from the “Golden Man” funerary barrow of Issyk, while a hemispherical bowl with figured decoration was found in 1903 near Kostanay. These may have been manufactured in the cultural world of the eastern Mediterranean Sea or Near East and then traded or sold of gifted towards the Kazakhstan steppes, in the second half of the first millennium BC. The two silver plaques represent a couple of fantastic beings, sphinxes, portrayed with several attributes. Their analysis suggest several and diverse lands of the ancient ecumene. Considering that the dating of these silver plaques is comprised between the fifth and the beginning of the second century BC, there is only one character who can be historically and culturally associated with all these lands.