The territory of the Valley of the Kings of Tuva is located in the Turano-Uyuk mountain-steppe basin in the Piy-Khem district of the Tuva Republic of the Russian Federation. The total area of the Turano-Uyuk valley is approximately 130,000 hectares. Here, in the vast valley of the Uyuk River, there are thousands of large earthen or stone mounds. Some of these mounds are over a hundred meters in diameter and up to six meters in height. Usually, the mounds form chains, which probably means that the people buried in them were related by blood. There are especially many mounds in the depths of the valley, where the Kortushibinsky and Uyuksky mountain ranges meet. The locals call this area the "Valley of the Kings" (Tuvan: Khannar Shynaazy).

The archaeological sites here date back to the 1st millennium BC, the Bronze and Iron Ages. The archaeological study of Tuva began with this valley. In 1915-1916, A. V. Adrianov conducted the first scientific archaeological excavations here. In the late 1920s, the famous Leningrad archaeologist S. A. Teploukhov studied the Scythian burial mounds in the Turano-Uyuk basin. In the Valley of the Kings, excavations were carried out in different years by A. D. Grach, A. M. Mandelstam, M. P. Gryaznov, M. Kh. Mannai-ool, Vl. A. Semenov, M. E. Kilunovskaya, and L. S. Marsadolov. The staff of the Artefact Laboratory at Tomsk State University (TSU), together with specialists from the Hermitage, with the support of the TSU Scientific Foundation, explored the territory of the Valley of the Kings in Tuva using remote archaeological site search technology based on aerial photography. The total area of the survey conducted in the Turano-Uyuk basin was about 200 square kilometers.

The study was conducted using a Geoscan-201 unmanned aerial vehicle. This is the largest project in Russia to document archaeological sites using a drone. Over 20,000 images were taken during ten flights. The search for archaeological sites was conducted using the QGIS software. Through aerial photography, scientists were able to map over 1,000 archaeological sites, compared to the previously known 265 sites. Among these sites are those that were not visible or accessible from the ground, such as plowed burial mounds. The Valley of the Kings of Tuva in the Piy-Khem District of the Republic of Tuva, with its grandiose archaeological monuments, has the potential to be included in the UNESCO World Heritage List as an example of ancient elite burial and memorial complexes of early nomads, the progenitors of the Scythian culture that emerged in the early 1st millennium BC in what is now Tuva.

Almost the entire territory of the Valley of the Kings of Tuva is a cluster of a huge number of burial, memorial, and ritual complexes. It combines not only mound burials, but also monuments of rock art. It is safe to say that this territory has been revered by the local residents for over 3,000 years. The tradition of revering this valley has been preserved among modern Tuvans. The most famous mound in the world is Arzhan-1 (original diameter 120 m, height 4 m), the results of research of which have overturned the scientists' understanding of the ancestral homeland of the Scythian culture and have become an invaluable scientific source for studying the civilization of early nomads. Under the stone platform, there was a wooden structure made of more than 5,000 logs. It consisted of numerous rectangular and square log cabins arranged in rows around the center of the mound, giving the entire structure the appearance of a wheel.

In the center was the srubnaya chamber of the central grave. In total, there were 29 complexes in the Arzhan-1 mound (the central grave, 15 accompanying graves, as well as 13 horse burials with the remains of more than 200 horses). The central burial in the Arzhan-1 mound was, in all likelihood, very rich. It is impossible to say anything definite about the quantity and significance of the inventory, as the most valuable objects were stolen by robbers. There are only two mounds with this layout in the world, and both date back to the 9th and 8th centuries BC and are located in the Valley of the Kings of Tuva. The discovery of the un disturbed royal burial in the Arzhan-2 mound (second half of the 7th century BC) was a global sensation. Before the excavation, the monument appeared as a flat, sodded stone "platform" with a diameter of 75-80 m and a height of 1.5-2 m. In the northwestern part of the mound, a burial of two people was discovered with a large number of high-quality gold jewelry.

The remaining 3331 pieces are permanently stored in the State Hermitage Museum. The gold items from the "royal" grave of Arjaan-2 are remarkable for their craftsmanship and high artistic taste, demonstrating the advanced level of jewelry-making achieved by the tribes inhabiting modern-day Tuva.

These masterpieces of ancient craftsmanship have become a permanent part of world culture. The king's and queen's headdresses were adorned with golden plaques. The crowns were adorned with tiptoeing figures of a trumpeting deer with its head slightly tilted back. The king's headdress featured four horse figures, while the queen's headdress had two horse figures, arranged symmetrically on either side of the royal couple's headdresses. The king's neck was adorned with a massive oval-shaped gold collar. The weight of the hryvnia is 1504.18 g. The front part of the hryvnia is a curved bar with figures of cat predators soldered on two adjacent sides.

The entire surface is covered with carved reliefs. The absence of one of the figures, as well as the wear and scratches, indicate that it was used extensively during the king's lifetime. Additionally, 2,632 clothing plaques in the shape of cat-like predators were found on the king's clothing. A 38.7 cm long iron dagger (akinak) weighing 930.06 grams was found near the king's right thigh.

The ornamentation of the hilt and blade is a distinctive combination of very detailed and realistic animal drawings, as well as abstract representations of wings and spirals, possibly stylized heads of birds of prey, forming a complex and ornate pattern. The king's pants, originally made of fabric or leather, were adorned with a vast number of gold beads, estimated to be around 250,000 based on their weight. On the floor to the king's left, there were remnants of a gorit containing arrows and a bow.

Made of wood and possibly covered with a material, the gorit had two gold covers: one longitudinal and the other at the bottom. Both covers were decorated with a scaly pattern that was stamped using a wooden model. There were also 244 gold plaques from the gorit in the form of wild boar figurines, with a total weight of 1389.52 grams. The wild boar figurines were very realistically depicted and were made of gold and ornamented with carvings. Despite their small size, numerous details can be easily recognized. There were smaller plaques next to the 244 large ones. The arrows were lying in the fire, with their tips facing down.

All the arrows, with the exception of two: one of bone, the other of bronze, were made of iron with gold and silver inlay. Between the king and the queen, there was a miniature golden cauldron. The queen's jewelry included a golden pectoral with a total weight of 172.93 grams. It was not on the deceased's body but was likely hung on a thin wooden pole placed vertically against the northwestern wall of the structure. At the queen's head, next to the plaques and stripes, there were two massive gold pins, which were probably attached to the front of a tall, conical or pointed headdress.

One of the studs ends in a hemispherical head and a wing-shaped protrusion on the side. The stud is 35.7 cm long. Parallel to the stud with the hemispherical head, there is a stud with a deer-shaped head. The stud is 30.2 cm long. This stud is covered with a cast relief ornament on the shaft. The head consists of a "tiptoeing" sculptural figure of a deer, which is carefully crafted on all sides. 2297 smaller gold plaques in the shape of cat predators were sewn onto the queen's cape or jacket in the form of curved lines.