3400 BC to 201 BC

Horses and the Golden Man

Around 3500 BC the people of Botai, in the northern steppe, live largely off horses and are among the first known to milk them. Bronze Age herders of the Andronovo culture follow. From the eighth century BC the Saka, Iranian speaking nomads related to the Scythians, rule the steppe; a Saka chief buried in golden armour at Issyk, near Almaty, is known as the Golden Man.