The collection of antiquities from the Altai region dating from the 6th–3rd centuries BC numbers over 5,000 items and is the fullest in any museum in the world. Its core is made up of the artefacts from the great kurgans of the region – Pazyryk, Bashadar and Tuekta.
This hall is used to display objects found during excavation of the 6th- and 5th-century BC barrows situated on the banks of the Rivers Karakol and Ursul in the Central Altai – Bashadar and Tuekta. Four burial mounds were investigated there in 1950 and 1954 under the direction of Sergei Rudenko. Although all four kurgans had been looted, the equine burials in them survived. The largest – the First Tuekta Kurgan – had eight horses interred in it. In contrast to the ones found in the Pazyryk mounds, these were bridled and saddled. The straps of the tack had mostly rotted away, but a large quantity of adornments did survive and are presented in the large showcase by the long wall. They are carved plaques and pendants depicting elks, deer, tigers and gryphons. Standing out among the wooden articles is a leather appliqué in the shape of a tiger with curly horns (in the centre of the showcase, at the bottom). Ranking among the masterpieces of world art is a large plaque made to be worn on a horse’s forehead. Fitted into its round shape are two figures of gryphons with predatory beaks, animal ears and manes in the form of stylized antlers (on the right in the showcase).
