Russian archaeologists found the intact burial chamber of a noblewoman from a 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 BCE until 400 CE.
     The Sarmatians, often mentioned by ancient Greek historians, left tombs filled with golden and bronze artifacts that were often looted by gravediggers. 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 said.
     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.
     Modern-day descendants of the Sarmatians include Ossetians, an ethnic group living in the Caucasus region that speaks a language similar to Persian.

Edited from UPI.com (7 August 2013)