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Tomb of ancient nomadic noblewoman found in southern Russia

Credit: State Teachers Training University of Bashkortostan
Credit: State Teachers Training University of Bashkortostan

FILIPPOVKA, Russia, Aug. 7 (UPI) -- Russian archaeologists say they've found the intact burial chamber of a noblewoman from a powerful tribe that roamed the Eurasian steppes 2,500 years ago.

The burial site found near the village of Filippovka in southern Russia dates to the time of the Sarmatians, a group of Persian-speaking tribes that ruled in what are now parts of southern Russia, Ukraine and Central Asia from around 500 B.C. until A.D. 400, they said.

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The Sarmatians, often mentioned by ancient Greek historians, left tombs filled with golden and bronze artifacts that were often looted by gravediggers, they said.

But the burial site found near Filippovka has not been robbed, Gulnara Obydennova of the Institute of History and Legal Education in the city of Ufa said.

"The find is really sensational also because the burial vault was intact -- the objects and jewelry in it were found the way they had been placed by the ancient nomads," she told RIA Novosti.

The woman's skeleton, in a vault 13 feet underground, was still covered with jewelry and decorations, and her left hand held a silver mirror with an ornamented golden handle, Obydennova said.

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Modern-day descendants of the Sarmatians include Ossetians, an ethnic group living in the Caucasus region that speaks a language similar to Persian.

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