The “Archaeology” Hall of the Atyrau Regional Museum of History and Local Lore offers visitors a unique sense of touching the mysteries of antiquity and immerses them in a special atmosphere.
The first sight that greets visitors entering the hall are the images of two “Golden Men” recreated in reconstructions. One of them is a Sarmatian chieftain, discovered in 1999 in the Araltobe burial mound near the village of Akkiztogai in the Zhylyoi District; the other is a woman in golden attire, named the “Pearl of the Great Steppe” (the seventh “Golden Man” found in Kazakhstan), discovered in 2017 in the Miyaly burial mound of the Kyzylkoga District.
In this hall, visitors can see finds discovered during archaeological excavations in the Atyrau Region: from the burial mounds of Araltobe, Miyaly, Borsyk, Kylysh, Sarykamys, Imankara, and Kudaibergen. swords and akinakes dating from the 4th century BC to the 11th century AD; beads and whetstones; ceramic jugs and vessels; bone spoons; bronze cauldrons with four handles; bronze mirrors; a collection of silver jewelry; and gold plaques depicting animals, birds, and pyramidal forms (with a gold content of 72%). Of particular interest are stone statues — balbals — dating from the 4th–5th centuries, found near the settlement of Kyzyl-Uyuk close to Koschagyl.
Visitors can also see reconstructed faces of the Sarmatian chieftain and woman of the Sarmatian era, as well as sculptural images of warriors of the Saka and Hun tribes. The recreated figures, in composite helmets, chain mail armor, with double-edged swords and decorated belts, vividly reflect the warlike spirit and grandeur of that epoch.
