Early Saka Bridle Set from the Ai Kurgan in the Eastern Kazakhstan

The article describes a bridle set discovered by the expedition of Archaeological Expertise Limited Liability Company on Ayagoz District, Abay Region, the Republic of Kazakhstan. The kurgan lays in a pit among Karaultobe mountains. The kurgan is 16 m in diameter. Its apex is 1.1 m tall. The kurgan is fringed by a round crepidoma 1 to 1.5 m wide and up to 25 cm tall. The central part of the sub-kurgan site reveals a grave. The grave is oval, 1.7 m deep and has dimensions of 2.9×1.7 m. The burial was previously raided. The pit's north east reveals an accumulation of items from a horse bridle set. The set was found leaned against the wall. The set includes a bunch of V-shaped cheek pieces and a round flat tack buckle with a cufflink-shaped pin on the flipside. In addition there is a bit set with stirrup-shaped ends, a tack harness and a tack buckle, a bronze zoomorphic nose-piece pendant depicting a standing four-leg beast with its head tilted back. Besides, the set includes 203 bronze ring beads, eight bridle blade beads, flattened and rounded spreaders, button-shaped fastening beads of the horse harness chin strap and button-shaped chest strap fasteners. Furthermore, the burial reveals a copper needle and a large polychromatic bead. The finds allow to date the burial back to the late 700s – early 500s BC. This is the period determined for the V-shaped cheek pieces too. The stirrup-shaped bits had been popular and had co-existed with various types of cheek pieces until the Early Scythian culture faded. The nose-piece pendant discovered in the burial is found only in set with V-shaped cheek pieces. It means the pendant co-existed with the cheek pieces.