After 2,500 years, the meat was rotting, but its presence indicated the care with which the burial had been prepared.

This was not a hasty interment; it was a formal, elaborate ceremony.

There were also serving dishes and utensils.

And the horses — six of them, in full harness equipment, sacrificed and placed near the coffin.

The harnesses were elaborately decorated, with carved wooden elements that had been painted and gilded.

Leather goods, braided cord, saddle pieces — all of it preserved by the cold.

The number and condition of the horses was itself significant.