A team of archaeologists discovered an ancient burial ground with chariots, gold, jewelry and other rare artifacts in the country of Georgia, Live Science reported Wednesday.
The underground site was found beneath a nearly 40-foot high mound, known as a kurgan, in the southern Caucasus region. Once archaeologists located the burial chamber they discovered two wooden-wheeled chariots, 23 gold artifacts, amber beads, and obsidian arrowheads. Experts say the chamber, which could have housed human sacrifices, dates back over 4,000 years to the Early Bronze Age.
The findings were recently presented in Switzerland at the International Congress on the Archaeology of the Ancient Near East, Live Science reported.
"In the burial chamber were placed four-wheeled chariots, both in good condition, [the] design of which represents fine ornamental details of various styles," Zurab Makharadze, head of the Centre of Archaeology at the Georgian National Museum, wrote in his presentation.
A total of seven people were buried in the chamber which was made before horses were domesticated in the region. The bodies had been repositioned due to grave robbers that ransacked the site long ago. Archaeologists believe some of the bodies were slaves that were sacrificed after a royal died.
"One of them was a chief and others should be the members of his family, sacrificed slaves or servants," Makharadze told Live Science.
The chamber was also packed with leather goods, textiles, ornate jewelry and gemstones- not to mention a wooden armchair- which all suggests the final resting place of a high-ranking official.
"The purpose of the wooden armchair was the indication to power, and it was put in the kurgan as a symbol of power," Makharadze told Live Science.
Other lavish burials that were found underneath kurgans in Georgia date back to the third millennium B.C., Live Science reported. They are likely the result of interactions between the nomadic Eurasians and farming societies in south Caucasus, Makharadze said.
