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Siberian Princess reveals her 2,500 year old tattoos

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14 August 2012

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Reconstruction of a warrior's tattoos, who was discovered on the same plateau as the 'Princess'. All drawings of tattoos, here and below, were made by Elena Shumakova, Institute of Archeology and Ethnography, Siberian Branch of Russian Academy of Science 

She is to be kept in a special mausoleum at the Republican National Museum in capital Gorno-Altaisk, where eventually she will be displayed in a glass sarcophagus to tourists. 

For the past 19 years, since her discovery, she was kept mainly at a scientific institute in Novosibirsk, apart from a period in Moscow when her remains were treated by the same scientists who preserve the body of Soviet founder Vladimir Lenin. 

To mark the move 'home', The Siberian Times has obtained intricate drawings of her remarkable tattoos, and those of two men, possibly warriors, buried near her on the remote Ukok Plateau, now a UNESCO world cultural and natural heritage site, some 2,500 metres up in the Altai Mountains in a border region close to frontiers of Russia with Mongolia, China and Kazakhstan.

They are all believed to be Pazyryk people - a nomadic people described in the 5th century BC by the Greek historian Herodotus - and the colourful body artwork is seen as the best preserved and most elaborate ancient tattoos anywhere in the world. 

To many observers, it is startling how similar they are to modern-day tattoos. 

Princess Ukok

Reconstruction of Princess Ukok's tattoos, made by Siberian scientists 

The remains of the immaculately dressed 'princess', aged around 25 and preserved for several millennia in the Siberian permafrost, a natural freezer, were discovered in 1993 by Novosibirsk scientist Natalia Polosmak during an archeological expedition.

Buried around her were six horses, saddled and bridled, her spiritual escorts to the next world, and a symbol of her evident status, perhaps more likely a revered folk tale narrator, a healer or a holy woman than an ice princess.

There, too, was a meal of sheep and horse meat and ornaments made from felt, wood, bronze and gold.  And a small container of cannabis, say some accounts, along with a stone plate on which were the burned seeds of coriander. 

'Compared to all tattoos found by archeologists around the world, those on the mummies of the Pazyryk people are the most complicated, and the most beautiful,' said Dr Polosmak. More ancient tattoos have been found, like the Ice Man found in the Alps - but he only had lines, not the perfect and highly artistic images one can see on the bodies of the Pazyryks. 

'It is a phenomenal level of tattoo art. Incredible.'

Princess Ukok

Princess Ukok's shoulder, tattoo of fantastic animal, and a drawing of it made by Siberian scientists

While the tattoos, preserved in the permafrost, have been known about since the remains were dug up, until now few have seen the intricate reconstructions that we reveal here. 

'Tattoos were used as a mean of personal identification - like a passport now, if you like. 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,' added Dr Polosmak. 'Pazyryks repeated the same images of animals in other types of art, which is considered to be like a language of animal images, which represented their thoughts. 

'The same can be said about the tattoos - it was a language of animal imagery, used to express some thoughts and to define one's position both in society, and in the world. The more tattoos were on the body, the longer it meant the person lived, and the higher was his position. For example the body of one man, which was found earlier in the 20th century, had his entire body covered with tattoos. Our young woman - the princess - has only her two  arms tattooed. So they signified both age and status.'

The tattoos on the left shoulder of the 'princess'  show a fantastical mythological animal: a deer with a griffon's beak and a Capricorn's antlers. The antlers are decorated with the heads of griffons. And the same griffon's head is shown on the back of the animal.

The mouth of a spotted panther with a long tail is seen at the legs of a sheep. She also has a deer's head on her wrist, with big antlers. There is a drawing on the animal's body on a thumb on her left hand. 

On the man found close to the 'princess', the tattoos include the same fantastical creature, this time covering the right side of his body, across his right shoulder and stretching from his chest to his back. The patterns mirror the tattoos on a much more elaborately covered male body, dug from the ice in 1929, whose highly decorated torso is also reconstructed in our drawing here. 

His chest, arms, part of the back and the lower leg are covered with tattoos. There is an argali - a mountain sheep - along with the same deer with griffon's vulture-like beak, with horns and the back of its head which has a griffon's heads and an onager drawn on it. 

All animals are shown with the lower parts of their bodies turned inside out. There is also a winged snow leopard, a fish and fast-running argali.  

Princess Ukok


Princess Ukok

A drawing of a tattoo on a warrior's shoulder. Below: this is what the tattoo looks like now, thousands of years after it was made

To some, the clash depicted on the tattoes between vultures and hoofed animals corresponds to the conflict between two worlds: a predator from the lower, chthonian world against herbivorous animals that symbolise the middle world. 

Dr Polosmak is intrigued at way so little has changed. 

'We can say that most likely there was  - and is - one place on the body for everyone to start putting the tattoos on, and it was a left shoulder. I can assume so because all the mummies we found with just one tattoo had it on their left shoulders. 

'And nowadays this is the same place where people try to put the tattoos on, thousands of years on. 

'I think its linked to the body composition... as the left shoulder is the place where it is noticeable most, where it looks the most beautiful. Nothing changes with years, the body stays the same, and the person making a tattoo now is getting closer to his ancestors than he or she may realise. 

'I think we have not moved far from Pazyryks in how the tattoos are made. It is still about a craving to make yourself as beautiful as possible.

'For example, about the British. A lot of them go on holiday to Greece, and when I've been there I heard how Greeks were smiling and saying that a British man's age can be easily understood by the number of tattoos on his body. 

'I'm talking the working class now. And I noticed it, too. The older a person, the more tattoos are on his body.'


FINDING THE ICE-CLAD 'PRINCESS'

'It was an international research programme, devoted to the Pazyryk Iron Age culture,' said Academician Vyacheslav Molodin,  deputy director of  Institute of Archeology and Ethnography of the Siberian Branch of Russian Academy of Sciences.

To modern man, the only way in is by helicopter, yet in ancient times this was on the 'southern steppe road' used by migrating nomadic peoples in the  pre-Christian and Dark Ages.

'The burial mound with the 'princess' seemed to be half deserted, with big holes which border guards dug to use the stones.

'It seemed less than hopeful. But Natalya Polosmak was determined that we had to start working on it..... 

'To our utter surprise, there was an untouched burial chamber inside the mould. 

'We started working on opening the 'ice lense' - the burial inside the mould was filled with ancient ice. 

'We  started to melt the ice. First the skeletons of six horses appeared, some with preserved wooden decorations on the harness, some with coloured saddles made from felt. 

'On one of the saddles was a picture of a jumping winged lion. 

'Then the burial room appeared from under the ice. It was made from larch logs. Inside stood a massive hollowed wooden log with a top, shut with bronze nails. Inside the log was all filled with ice. 

'It was a tanned arm that appeared from under the ice first. 

Princess Ukok


princess Ukok

Princess Ukok's hand, as the scientists saw her first, with marked tattoos on her fingers and, below, the drawings of tattoos

'A bit more work and we saw remain of a young woman, lying inside the log in a sleeping position, with her knees bent.

'She was dressed in a long shirt made from Chinese silk, and had long felt sleeve boots with a beautiful decoration on them. 

'Chinese silk before was only found in 'Royal' burials of the Pazyryk people - it was more expensive than gold, and was a sign of a true wealth. 'There was jewellery and a mirror found by the log.

'The great value of Pazyryk burials is that they were all made in permafrost, which helped the preservation.

'It was quite unusual to have a single Pazyryk burial. Usually men from this culture were buried with women. 

'In this case, her separate burial might signify her celibacy, which was typical for cult servants or shamans, and meant her independence and exceptionality. 

'She had no weapons buried with her, or on her, which means that she certainly was not one of the noble Pazyryk women-warriors. 

'Most likely, she possessed some special knowledge and was a healer, or folk tale narrator.

'From the inside the mummy was filled with herbs and roots. Her head was completely shaved, and she wore a horse hair wig.  

'On top of the wig there was a symbol of the tree of life  - a stick made from felt, wrapped  with black tissue and decorated with small figures of birds in golden foil. 

'On the front of the wig, like a cockade, was attached a wooden carving of deer. 

'The princess's face and neck skin was not preserved, but the skin of her left arm survived, and we saw a tattoo, going all along it. 

'She had tattoos on both arms, from shoulders to wrists, with some on the fingers, too. The best preserved of all was a tattoo on her left shoulder, featuring a deer with griffon's beak and a  Capricorn's horns. A bit below is a sheep, with a snow leopard by its feet.' 

It is said tattoos, once done, are for life. In this case, though, it was a whole lot longer. The experts say they were made with paint, partially concocted  from the burned bits of plants, their soot or ashes which contained a high level of potassium. The drawings were pierced with a needle, and rubbed with a mixture of soot and fat. 


WHAT RESEARCH ON HER BODY SHOWS

The experts say she died in her 20s, with the best guess at 25 to 28, and that this was 2,500 or more years ago, making her, for example, some five centuries older than Jesus Christ, and several hundred years the senior of Alexander the Great. 

'She was called 'Princess' by the media. We just call her 'Devochka', meaning 'Girl'. She was 25-28 years old when she died,' said Irina Salnikova, head of the Siberian Branch of Russian Academy of Sciences Museum of Archeology and Ethnography. 

'The reason for her death is unknown, because all her internal organs were removed before the mummifying. All we see is that there is no visible damage to her skull, or anything pointing to the unnatural character of her death. 

'Her body is curled, so we cant say for sure how tall she was. Some estimate her to be 1.62 metres, others say she could have been as tall as 1.68 metres. We could not establish when the young woman has had her tattoos made, at what age. The horses, found by her burial, were most likely first killed, and then buried with her.'

In 2010 an MRI scan was conducted on the mummy, the first time this had been done on ancient remains in Russia. The final results of exhaustive analytical work has still not been released. 

Princess Ukok

A sculptor's impression of how Princess Ukok looked 2,500 years ago

But Andrei Letyagin, chairman of the MRI Center of the Siberian department of the Russian Academy of Sciences, said: 'The cause of death remains unknown. I don't believe that it will be possible to find an answer to this question because there's no brain and no internal organs in the body.'

In all probability she did not die from injury. 'Her skull is fully preserved, and so are the bones,' he confirmed. DNA obtained from her remains is intriguing. 

The Princess of Ukok is not related to any of the Asian races, the scientists are convinced. She is not related, evidently, to the present day inhabitants of Altai. Moreover, she had a European appearance, it has been claimed.

'There was a moment of gross misunderstanding when a legend came about this mummy being a foremother of people of Altai,' said Molodin. 

'The people of Pazyryk belonged to different ethnic group, in no way related to Altaians. Genetic studies showed that the Pazyryks were a part of Samoyedic family, with elements of Iranian-Caucasian substratum.'

So perhaps more Samoyedic than Scythian.   

'We tried to overcome the misunderstanding, but sadly it didn't work.' 

OBJECTIONS

Many locals in Altai were nervous from the start about the removal of remains from sacred burial mounds, known as kurgans, regardless of the value to science of doing such work. 

In a land where the sway of shamans still holds, they believe the princess's removal led immediately to bad consequences. 

'There are places here that it is considered a great sin to visit, even for our holy men. The energy and the spirits there are too dangerous,' warned one local.  'Every kurgan has its own spirit - there is both good and bad in them - and people here have suffered much misfortune since the Ice Princess was disturbed.'

It is nothing short of sacrilege to pour hot water on the remains of ancients who have survived in the permafrost for thousands of years, he said.

The 'curse of the mummy' even caused a crash of the helicopter carrying her remains away from Altai, some believe.  Then in Novosibirsk, her body, preserved so well for so long, started to decompose.

Stories circulated that the princess had been stored in a freezer used to preserve cheese. Fungi began growing on the preserved flesh, it was claimed. 

Whatever the truth, the scientists sought emergency help from the world-renowned Lenin embalming experts who worked on her remains for a year. 

Back in Altai, many ills have been blamed on her removal: forest fires, high winds, illness, suicides and an upsurge in earthquakes in the Altai region. 

Altai, Ukok plateau


Altai, Siberia, Ukok plateau

One of the most mysterious in the world: Ukok plateau, Alta, Siberia. Pictures: Elena Nikultseva 

Local woman, Olga Kurtugashova, said: 'She may be a mummy but her soul survives, and they say a shaman communicated with her and she asked to go home. That's what the people want, too.'

'Our ancestors are buried in these mounds,' insisted Rimma Erkinova, deputy director of  the Gorno-Altaisk Republican National Museum  as a war of words raged over the last decade.  'There are sacred items there. The Altai people never disturb the repose of their ancestors. We shouldn't have any more excavations until we've worked out a proper moral and ethical approach.'

THE CAMPAIGN FOR HER RETURN TO ALTAI

'She was a beautiful young woman, whom they dug up, poured hot water and chemicals upon, and subjected to other experiments. They did this to a real person,' complained Erkinova to the Irish Times newspaper in in 2004. 

The same year, an Altai regional chief insisted: 'We must calm people and bury the Altai Princess. 

'We're having earth tremors two or three times a week. People think this will go on as long as the princess's spirit is not allowed to rest in peace.'

Many wanted the princess to be returned from the Archaeological and Ethnographic Institute of Novosibirsk, some 600 km away, and restored to her original burial site. 

After some 300 earth tremors in a six month period, the head of Kosh-Agachsky district Auelkhan Dzhatkambaev,appealed to the  Siberian Federal District presidential envoy Leonid Drachevsky for this to happen. 

Drachevsky travelled to Kosh-Agach and told residents that the mummies would not be returned, saying they were serving important scientific purposes, and that he was 'simply uncomfortable hearing about angry spirits, as if we were living in the Middle Ages'.

Erkinova's plan was different. 'We shall put the princess in a glass sarcophagus, so everybody can come and bow before her,' she said. 

'This is a very painful issue. Altai's native people worry about their forbear. The Princess must return to us.'

People were angry, too, that the mummies were taken on a tour to Korea and Japan with one report saying the princess 'was met like a diva, with vast crowds, admirers on their knees and bouquets of red roses'.

Eventually a compromise was reached, though delays and arguments followed. Finally this culminates in this month's return of the princess not to her burial place but to the Altai museum. 

'We agreed to give back the princess once the conditions for looking after it were right. That means proper accommodation with an air conditioner and a special sarcophagus,' said Molodin as long ago as 1997.

'Another condition was that this was our intellectual property and that we would have the right to use it for exhibitions and to study it. We're not doing this out of curiosity but in the interests of science. The soul is somewhere else and we're studying the remains. So I don't see a violation of any accepted social rule here.'

Finally, all now agree the princess is coming home. 

BANNING MORE ARCHEOLOGICAL DIGS

The Altai authorities have now declared the remote mountain area from where the princess and her kinsmen were buried as a 'zone of peace' where no more excavations will take place, despite the near-certain treasures lying in the permafrost. 

Such work amounts to plundering, they believe. 

To Molodin, who found the male mummy several years after the princess, this  deprives the world of a valuable scientific inheritance. He argues, too, that the issue is critical since global warming means the ancient bodies will decay.

Scientists reckon there are thousands of burial mounds here, hundreds of which date to the Pazyryk period, many of which may contain answers to questions about where we come from.

See related: 'Fashion and beauty secrets of 2,500 Siberian 'princess' from her perfamrost burial chamber'
and 'A row has erupted over 'illegal' gas pipeline through burial site of ancient 'tattooed princess'



The Siberian Times thanks Dr. Natalya Polosmak, Elena Shumakova, Irina Salnikova and 'Science First Hand' Magazine for the images and drawings of tattoos.

Comments (132)

I don't have any tattoos yet. How cool would it be if I got these exact same tattoos?
Soren, Austin, Texas
30/03/2014 12:04
8
23
Wish I could appropriate some of her beautiful, powerful body art but it evokes hunting deer/elk from horseback, something I can't unfortunately relate to. Much respect for the life she must have led.
AJ, Miami, FL
26/02/2014 10:18
20
2
One world. One people. Just because a tiny fraction of nearly nothing DNA makes us look a bit different, doesn't mean the rest of the DNA code isn't nearly all the same. We are basically all the same. Social indifference is most of the problem in the larger, but as individuals when we try to enlighten ourselves just a little bit... just a LITTLE, that alone might make the difference between being shit, and not being shit. peace
Tom, USA
26/02/2014 08:14
20
9
Tbh I agree with Freez from Romania.

Ethnically, the dead Shaman was Indo-Iranian (Scyth) and Caucasian. The people living there now are Türkmen and Mongoloid.

It is ironic, pathetic and disrespectful that the Türkmen people who eradicated the tribe of the Shaman in the first place, stole their land and extinguished their culture would now claim ownership of her remains.

It is even more pathetic that they claim to have contacted her via a Shaman. I wonder what language did they spoke to her, since the dead Shaman girl spoke Indo-Iranian when she was alive and obviously would not understand Türkmeni.

It is a common trait shared by some Turkic cultures to steal other people's lands and history and then call them their own, probably b/c they themselves don't have much of a history to speak of.
Ypologos, Patras, Achaea, Greece
21/02/2014 15:33
56
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Authorities always have agendas when they are teaching about race. Students need to be aware. Often in modern times the agenda is disinfo.



Em of Finland wrote: But what is race? 19th century Europeans tought Finns were like mongols in appearance, because we share the cultural elements with eastern people. I feel connection to these people due our cultural bonds - whatever their appaerance or genetics would be.
Mark U., Atlanta, Georgia
13/01/2014 21:05
9
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My first tattoo was on my left shoulder... Wow.
Jade, United States.
31/12/2013 03:37
4
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Respect ppl's belief. Do unto others.

There was supposed a golden sword with germ stones (blue or pink colour) on it.
It belonged to the Ice Princess


Olivia, Asia
02/12/2013 12:57
9
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'PS Someone said something about this being older than Christianity...(etc.) Danielle from Idaho.'



Dear sweet Danielle, you make everyone think Christians are morons when your spout jibberish like this. You are thinking of the Jews. The JEWISH people were, and still ARE, awaiting 'The Messiah'. During the time of Christ until about the 3rd century there were Jewish Christians. They didn't self identify as Christian until after that point. The entire point of Christians is they they acknowledge Jesus as the messiah they were awaiting. In essence, your argument is that there were Packers Fans in 500 B.C.E. Yes there were 'sports' in North America and undoubtably there were people who were 'fans'. However you can't 'be' something before it is invented.



That being said, with today's technology, an exact replica can be created. Scan, test, replicate, then give her to the people who still live around and care for those mounds to re-inter.
Irritated Christian, ,.
22/11/2013 20:09
11
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Sue, Doctors are not trained to cure. That is an issue. Treating things they don't understand because they weren't educated properly is no reason for Old Bad American Medical Assoiciation Care (OBAMACARE). There are many natural substances which are greatly effective, even cures, but are suppressed. This does nothing for Humanity and the process needs to be exercised like a cancer.

As for cadavers. That should be a choice before death. Once dead a body need be left alone. This wouldn't even matter if past scientist were truthful rather than seeking of fame, fortune & notoriety. The lies that Governments pervade is only possible due to complicity of Corporate, Academia and Religion. That these "pillars" are all working in complicity to suppress history so they can maintain their bases of power is a travesty in the history of Mankind. In fact, it IS the history of Mankind.
Hemp, Boulder, CO
30/10/2013 23:59
1
30
princess my ass, she is a SHAMAN WARRIOR get your WORDS correct PhD people
Death Shaman, life
26/10/2013 08:37
17
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PS Someone said something about this being older than Christianity...well, there were lots of Christians looking forward to His coming even before He was born. Look it up. 5th Century BC/BCE there were plenty of Christians all over Europe, and possibly the world. Look at the Cakohian civilization. Analyze what they left behind for yourself. I haven't found a lot of commentary on it, but they do depict the tree of life, and griffin-type creatures as well. There is one I saw on Wikipedia about their art depicting two snakes tied in knots around each other with a hand and an all-seeing eye in the center of the hand. Wow. Any comments on that one?
Danielle, Idaho Falls, Idaho
23/10/2013 05:33
1
59
The tattoos are related to the Cherub/Kerub. Google Cherub and read the Wikipedia article. The Iranian word Kerub was what they used for the griffin-like winged, clawed creature who stood at the entrance of the Garden of Eden to guard it. It's all over the internet. God placed Cherubim and a flaming sword before the entrance to guard the way. The Wikipedia article covers it well. People just didn't tattoo for fun. It MEANT something to them. If God spoke with Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, then He taught them things, and they taught their children...who spread out over the earth. Google Gobekli Tepe. Then Google Cahokia. I like the Wikipedia articles on them. Peoples all over the earth were building temples, and you can see this griffin (Cherub) creature all over them too. The Cahokia of ancient North America built the same temples, like Stonehenge, and like Gobekli Tepe, in concentric rings, and renewed temple structure upon renewed--a stack of buried temples...the MOUNDS!! The animal sacrifices done within could be the sacrifice of an animal without blemish, as commanded by God in the Old Testament as a similitude of Christ to come. There actually were Christians before Christ came....google it. The cross was everywhere. Google "ancient or native Cedar Tree." The four corners of the earth could very well be the cross itself.
Danielle, Idaho Falls, Idaho
23/10/2013 05:18
2
42
Hello all!
these are typical Hun-Skythian-Avar tattoos!
s., Hungary
22/09/2013 16:41
19
2
I love this. And people need to chill out. When I die my family can do whatever they want with my body, feed me to the sharks if they want, I won't care since I'll be dead.
Yasmel,
31/08/2013 22:45
17
3
Freez,



Although your opinion shows a complete lack if empathy and understanding of social values. It does to an extent mirror my own beliefs.

However that is the key, it is a belief system you are going up against. Much like any religion, you cannont argue against it, with its believers. Because everyone (quite rightly) is entitled to their own opinion.



The outlook they have on life is very different from ours, however that does not mean it deserves any less respect.


Mat, London, England.
05/08/2013 14:04
19
0

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