Exhibition "History and Culture of Kabardino-Balkaria from Ancient Times to the 16th Century"

About exhibition

The exhibition displays artifacts from various eras. Among them are a female stone figurine dating to the 4th–3rd millennium BC, found in the Nalchik burial ground; a bronze necklace decorated with wolf heads and pieces of horse equipment associated with the Koban culture. Fragments of armor frozen in time, an ancient bronze helmet and the silent skull of an Alan youth are also on display. Formidable battle axes, deadly arrowheads, curved sabers, sharp knives and mysterious ritual iron footwear, unearthed from Kabardian kurgans dating to the 14th–17th centuries, seem to speak of the battles and rituals of long-ago days. Visitors can see the costume of a 14th-century Balkar woman and other finds uncovered in archaeological complexes such as the Kamennomostsky and Zaragizhsky burial grounds. Also presented are the results of kurgan excavations carried out in the 1970s–1980s at sites including Chegem 1 and 2, Lechinkaya, Kishpek and other settlements. Particular attention is drawn to artifacts found during excavations of the Nizhny Julat site, which seem to lift the veil on the mysteries of the ancient town. The display is completed by unique maps showing the settlement patterns of tribes and peoples of the Caucasus, compiled from ancient authors and later researchers, allowing visitors to trace the complex routes of migration and interaction among different cultures.