ARTE Documentaries

Go back in time of the Scythian, these mysterious fearless riders. An incredible archaeological treasure-trove sheds a new light on the life of these nomadic conquerors from Eurasia. The Scythians, skilled horsemen and nomadic conquerors, built a feared Empire in the vast Eurasian steppe between the 9th and 2rd century B.C. The only remaining traces of this people are their graves: the Kurgans. In April 1999, a French-Italian and Kazakh scientific team announced the exceptional disocvery of a 2400 year-od Scythian tomb in Kazakhstan. The incredible archaeological treasure-trove reveals amongst others, twelve horses completely harnessed in gold, the object of a ritual sacrifice, that have rested for more than 2,000 years in these frozen lands of Altai. Their precious metal adornments elevate them to the rank of divinities and reveal the importance of the social stratum of the deceased. Next to the mummified bodies still wrapped in their shrouds, rest wooden statuettes covered with gold,