A debate has unfolded on the social network Threads over the gender of the 'Golden Man' found in the Issyk kurgan, with users claiming that scholars still have no consensus on who the Saka warrior was, reports infohub.kz.

According to the post's author, in 1970 the first Kazakh anthropologist, Noel Shayakhmetov, examined bones from the Issyk kurgan and reached a sensational conclusion: the golden armor had belonged to a 16-year-old female warrior. However, Soviet academic authorities at the time harshly rejected Shayakhmetov's hypothesis.

In the 21st century, independent researchers deciphered an inscription on the famous Issyk silver bowl, which allegedly read: 'daughter of a warrior.'

'Shayakhmetov himself always acted strictly within the bounds of science, restoring to us the faces of Makhambet, Kurmangazy, and Koblandy batyr. But the main question remains open. What do you think: why does official science cling so stubbornly to the image of a "prince," ignoring Shayakhmetov's arguments and the inscription "daughter of a warrior" on the Issyk bowl?' the author asked.

Commenters suggested that there were many such golden warriors, but most burials were looted. Other users recalled that DNA analysis of the 'Golden Man' remains confirmed the presence of a male Y chromosome.

'I always thought the Golden Man was small for a man, let alone a warrior,' one user noted.

'Yes, we know, the headdress is most likely a saukele,' the author suggested.

Other users do not understand the point of these disputes at all, noting that the gender of the 'Golden Man' is not so important, since similar artifacts have been found throughout Kazakhstan.

Recall that this year geneticists for the first time studied the DNA of the 'Golden Man' and determined his sex and tribal affiliation. According to scientists, published in the journal Science Advances, the famous artifact belonged to a man from the Saka tribe.

The burial dates to 400–300 BCE. The Issyk kurgan also yielded more than 4,000 gold ornaments, weapons, and a silver bowl.

Earlier, Kursiv wrote that Qasym-Jomart Toqaev showed the 'Golden Man' to the King and Queen of Belgium at the National Museum of Astana.