#pazyryk
A 2500 year old mummy that had some amazing tattoos.
The Pazyryk Ice Maiden always delights. This is probably the first big archaeological discovery I remember watching/reading about as it unfolded. That makes me feel old, but…in the long view of things, I suppose I’ve still got some time. She actually had blonde hair, and was aged about 25, and…is in no way genetically linked to the locals who are claiming she is their great-x-ancestor and that the Russkies have to give the body (bodies, actually, they’ve found more, plus the horses, I’m not sure how the Altai feel about the horses. Well, I know how they feel about the horses…) back because it’s ‘technically theirs’…even though it’s not, you know, related in any way, predates their culture by quite some time…kinda like how Kennewick Man was tussled over until the courts finally, and sanely, ruled in favor of the US Army Corps of Engineers and their science-wonks…or Otsi the Ice Man…he should totally be returned to the fucking Alps because he’s like, spiritually, a descendent of the like Alpine people (well, sorta, but considering all the migrations and population shuffling…eh)…
Absolutely beautiful.
The Siberian Ice Maiden, also known as the Princess of Ukok, the Altai Princess, and Ochy-bala, is a mummy of a woman from the 5th c. BCE, found in 1993 in a kurgan of the Pazyryk culture in Republic of Altai, Russia.
Buried around her were six horses, saddled and bridled, her spiritual escorts to the next world, and a symbol of her evident status, though experts are divided on whether she was a royal or a revered folk tale narrator, a healer or a holy woman.
The Pazyryks also believed the tattoos would be helpful in another life, making it easy for the people of the same family and culture to find each other after death. The Siberian Times said, “the tattoos on the left shoulder of the ‘princess’ show a mythological animal - a deer with a griffon’s beak and a Capricorn’s antlers.“
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