Mausoleum for the Scythian princess

A year ago I briefly mentioned the conflict between the archaeologists and the a group of the Altai natives who demanded that the mummy of the so called Ukok princess be returned from the Novosibirsk museum and re-buried. Now, the deputy minister of culture of the Republic of Altai Vladimir Filimonov has announced that by the end of 2008 a mausoleum will be built in the capital of the republic, Gorno-Altaisk, and the mummy will be transferred there from Novosibirsk. The mausoleum will have all the equipment necessary to keep the body in good conditions and available for the scientific research. Filimonov said that the mausoleum will cost 271,000,000 Russian rubles (more than $10,000,000). A sarcastic commenter noted at the web-site of a Novosibirsk newspaper: "271,000,000?! Tutankhamum would die of envy!"

The group of Altai pagans accused the archaeologists of causing earthquakes by not allowing the spirit of the "princess" to rest in peace. In 2004, Russian scientific web-site Inauka.ru published an article refuting the claims of the local population that they are the descendants of the mummy: The Curse Of The Altai Princess. The article ends with the conclusion:

The Altai Princess falls under the law "On objects pertinent to cultural heritage of the peoples of the Russian Federation". The law says that archeological finds shall be regarded as objects of cultural heritage of the federal importance. Article 25 reads: "The objects of cultural heritage that are deemed ... of the highest archeological value may be considered as objects of the world cultural heritage." The mummy is undoubtedly an object of the highest value.

As by Article 61 "Persons who caused damage to an object of cultural heritage shall recover the cost of restoration incurred thereby. The costs duly recovered shall not exempt such persons from being subject to criminal prosecution."

Those who will bury the mummy will end up in jail.

Thank gods and spirits, there are no laws analog to the American NAGPRA in Russia.

The story of the Ukok princess can be found in the very good article A Culture on the Hoof: Kurgan Woman of the Pazyryk by Mary Lynn E. Turner and in brief, but informative The frozen horseman of Siberia by Winnie Allingham.

Scythian city?

The divers of the 2007 International Expedition of the Kyrgyz-Russian Slavic Institute to lake Issyk-Kul' (Kyrgyzstan) have found the traces of an earlier unknown civilization, dated approximately by 2,500 years ago. The heads of the expedition were Vladimir Ploskih (Kyrgyzstan) and Svetlana and Nikolay Lukashovs (Russia).

This civilization was comparable to the civilizations of the Northern Black Sea or the Mediterranean Egypt, said Nikolay Lukashov (link in Russian). The divers worked at the depth of 5 to 10 meters at the northern coast of the lake and found large walls, up to 500 meters long. The area encircled by the walls was some square kilometers. Near the walls, there were Scythian burial mounds with bronze axes, spear heads, knives, remainders of a bronze production and a golden rod — the ancient money.

Some finds are really intriguing. So, the bronze cauldron raised from the lake bottom is made of some separate parts welded together with the quality which is only possible to achieve using modern inert gas welding. The quality of the bronze mirrors and the ornamented harness is also astonishing.

Large ritual and living buildings were found nearby. In the next year, these buildings will be studied in details.

The uniqueness of Issyk-Kul' is that it is located at the crossroads of the human migrations, including Indo-Aryan tribes. Also, the water level in the lake is known to oscillate irregularly. Currently, the water level is relatively high and the lake may contain many more interesting archaeological sites, including the legendary fortress built by Timur, who kept noble prisoners and treasures in this fortress. Another secret of the lake is the monastery which is found in the Catalan Atlas (1375). The monastery is marked on the map with the words: "The place is named Isikol. Here is the monastery of the Armenian brothers where the remains of St.Matthew the Apostle are kept." Famous Russian geographer P. Semyonov-Tyan-Shansky found this inscription in the atlas and tried to find the ruins of the monastery, but failed. Probably, it is lying now below the surface of Issyk-Kul'.

Update @ 23:38 2007-12-27: Here's a link to the same article in English: Remains of ancient civilisation discovered on the bottom of a lake

A Body Of A Nomad Found In Permafrost On Altai

Ancient 'warrior' found in permafrost:

RUSSIAN archaeologists have uncovered the 2000-year-old remains of a warrior preserved intact in permafrost in the Altai mountains region, the official Rossiiskaya Gazeta daily says.

The warrior was blond had tattoos on his body. He was wearing a felt coat with sable fur trimmings and was buried in a wooden frame containing drawings of mythological creatures with an icepick beside him, the paper said.

Local archaeologists believe the man was part of the ruling elite of a local nomadic tribe known as the Pazyryk. Numerous other Pazyryk tombs have been found in the area.

“This is definitely a very serious discovery. It's incredibly lucky that the burial was in permafrost so it was very well preserved,” Alexei Tishkin, an Altai archaeologist, was quoted as saying.

The original article adds also that the body was found on the border between the Altai republic (a part of Russian federation) and Mongolia. The local population of the Altai republic are upset by archaeologists 'disturbing' their predecessors and the historians have to explore the surrounding area of Pazyryk, mostly in Mongolia. It seems that the educational level in Altai is dropping faster than in other parts of Russia and Mongolia.

Alexey Tishkin says also that "this warrior is not a Scythian, as many newspapers have reported, he just lived at about the same time as the Scythians did." He doesn't seem to share the common (among the laymen, like me) idea that the Pazyryk people, in spite of their unusual appearance, were Scythians.

Two interesting articles about Pazyryk culture are:

Scythian Contemporaries

Ice Mummies: Siberian Ice Maiden

See also the web-museum of Novosibirsk State University.