Following are several items on the archeology front that might be of interest I to Saga readers:

CROESUS' HEIRS RECLAIM TREASURE

King Croesus ruled Lydia, in what is now Turkey, from 560 BC to 547 BC. The kings of Lydia were reputed to include the legendary Midas, whose touch turned objects to gold, and were famed for their wealth. A portion of this wealth has been on display in an American museum since the 1960s.

After a lengthy court battle, the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art has agreed to return this large collection of Lydian treasure to Turkey, as it had been obtained illegally and smuggled into New York. Ironically, Turkey was able to prove the origin of the hoard through the efforts of a Turkish blacksmith who, with a group of other treasure hunters, unearthed a treasure trove of artifacts from the previously undiscovered tombs behind a marble wall inside Toptepe hill, outside their village of Gure, Turkey.

The hoard includes mostly precious items, but there were several frescos which had also been removed, one of which shows what appears to be a Lydian soldier. wearing a helmet with a unique "duck bill" neck covering.

From an article and pbotograph in Le Figaro - Magazine, Paris, by Albert Wallon.

ICE MAIDEN OF THE STEPPES

Last summer in Russia archaeologists unearthed a remarkable find - an almost perfectly preserved mummy of a Scythian princess who died (from natural causes ?) in her mid twenties some 2,500 years ago. The body was very well preserved, and the skin was still the olive shade of the people living in that region today.

She was found in the Altai Mountains, in Russia near the Chinese border, during the summer of 1993. Her tomb was made from logs, 10 feet below the steppe, and her remarkable state of preservation the result of lying in permafrost for nearly 2,500 years.

The dress of the "ice maiden" is interesting evidence on Scythian royal clothing - a long white dress with two red stripes, matching blouse, and a very interesting headdress. The headdress consisted of a wooden hair grip supporting a tall plume of black felt. Decorating the base of the plume, and along the leading edge, abstract patterns and animals of wood. Her arms and hands bore tatoos of mythical monsters, and her ears with gold earrings.

Carvings found in the tomb and the princess' tatoos show a glimpse of the culture of the Scythians, all the more precious because they had no written language and therefore left no written records. Images include snow leopards and a horse-eagle beast with a flowering matte, Six horses had been sacrificed and buried in the tomb with her, testimony to her wealth and to the significance of the horse in the Scythian culture.

From an article and drawing in the Suoiday Times. London. by Matthew Campbell.