Did Russian Archaeologists Really Discover a New Ancient Culture?

Photo Illustration by Erin O’Flynn/The Daily Beast/Getty ImagesDo you ever find yourself performing a task only to find that someone—possibly even you—has already done the work? Something similar happened to a team near the Russian city of Krasnoyarsk, in Siberia, in 2018. While construction workers were flattening land in preparation for a new cemetery, they discovered that they were on the site of a 2,000-year-old tomb. What are the chances? Now, scientists from the Siberian Federal University claim that the tomb holds evidence of a new, previously unknown ancient culture. But does it?According to the story, first published in Haaretz and now making the rounds on archeological news websites, the discovery took place as workers bulldozed a mound (30m in diameter) that, at the time, they believed to be a natural hill. They quickly discovered that it was not and, since 2021, Dr. Dimitry Vinogradov and his team have been excavating the site.The tomb itself is roughly 2,000 years old and features a large rectangular pit, lined with wood and inlaid with a birch bark carpet. When it was in use, the tomb likely had a roof, but the bulldozing of the site destroyed all evidence of it. Inside the tomb were the remains of fifty people, who were interred alongside their most prized belongings. Archeologists found bronze axes and daggers, knives, mirrors, needles, bronze plaques, beads, and ceramic containers for food. One plaque showed an image of a stag—a popular ancient motif in Siberian Scythian art.Read more at The Daily Beast.