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We're in the lands beside the River Oxus. It is the Bronze Age. The Kushan Period in the early centuries AD. The land of the Silk Road trade network.
There is a mound nearby under which there lies a settlement under which there lies a burial site. We shoot forward with a speed that can only be achieved by the written word ... and we now find ourselves in the late 1980's. A Russian archeologist is excavating the settlement. His name is Victor Sarianidi. He comes upon six burials.
The team works feverishly. They shovel and dig and excavate their tuchises off. The reason for the rush?... Get to the grave- crammed gold treasures and recover and remove before it's too late ... before the grave robbers and treasure seekers and ruthless plunderers get their mitts on the stuff. The loot is not theirs. It's ours. Ours ... you hear?
The six humans--men and woman--were buried in deep shafts and covered with wooden roofs. And inside these simple holes in the ground there resided enormous items of gold. 20,000 items in all ... most of it gold. Who woulda thunk it?
Headdresses and pendants and rings and earrings and weapons of gold and ivory. And ... of course ... a golden chariot. This last one is a stunner. Four golden horses drawing two golden men standing in a golden chariot.
Where were they off to? Who knows. Dressed in what appears to be their finest ... perhaps they were off to a ball. Or the local pool hall perhaps ... to have a go at it with the local wenches. Perhaps they were going to get some canolis at the local patisserie. Conjecture ain't no easy thang. I leave it for you to tell me where they were going in this stunner of a vehicle of theirs.
So ... you wanna see?
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And there ya have it. That's it for this week folks. Catch you all next week. Benjamin Mark
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