Medieval Siberian mummies baffle archaeologists

Archaeology News Network ^ | 4-10-2014 | Kate Baklitskaya

[Renfield]

Academics restart work to unlock secrets of mystery medieval civilization with links to Persia on edge of the Siberian Arctic.

A red-haired man was found, protected from chest to foot by copper plating 
[Credit: Kate Baklitskaya/Go East]

The 34 shallow graves excavated by archaeologists at Zeleniy Yar throw up many more questions than answers. But one thing seems clear: this remote spot, 29 km shy of the Arctic Circle, was a trading crossroads of some importance around one millennium ago.

The medieval necropolis include 11 bodies with shattered or missing skulls, and smashed skeletons. Five mummies were found to be shrouded in copper, while also elaborately covered in reindeer, beaver, wolverine or bear fur. Among the graves is just one female, a child, her face masked by copper plates. There are no adult women.

Nearby were found three copper masked infant mummies - all males. They were bound in four or five copper hoops, several centimeters wide.

Among the graves is just one female, a child, her face masked by copper plates
[Credit: Natalya Fyodorova]

Similarly, a red-haired man was found, protected from chest to foot by copper plating. In his resting place, was an iron hatchet, furs, and a head buckle made of bronze depicting a bear. The feet of the deceased are all pointing towards the Gorny Poluy River, a fact which is seen as having religious significance. The burial rituals are unknown to experts.

Artifacts included bronze bowls originating in Persia, some 3,700 miles to the south-west, dating from the tenth or eleventh centuries. One of the burials dates to 1282, according to a study of tree rings, while others are believed to be older.

The researchers found by one of the adult mummies an iron combat knife, silver medallion and a bronze bird figurine. These are understood to date from the seventh to the ninth centuries.

The researchers found by one of the adult mummies an iron combat knife, silver medallion
and a bronze bird figurine [Credit: Natalya Fyodorova]

Unlike other burial sites in Siberia, for example in the permafrost of the Altai Mountains, or those of the Egyptian pharaohs, the purpose did not seem to be to mummify the remains, hence the claim that their preservation until modern times was an accident. The soil in this spot is sandy and not permanently frozen. A combination of the use of copper, which prevented oxidation, and a sinking of the temperature in the 14th century, is behind the good condition of the remains today.

Natalia Fyodorova, of the Ural branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, said: 'Nowhere in the world are there so many mummified remains found outside the permafrost or the marshes.

'It is a unique archaeological site. We are pioneers in everything from taking away the object of sandy soil (which has not been done previously) and ending with the possibility of further research.'

'Nowhere in the world are there so many mummified remains found outside the permafrost
or the marshes' [Credit: Kate Baklitskaya/Go East]

In 2002, archaeologists were forced to halt work at the site due to objections by locals on the Yamal peninsula, a land of reindeer and energy riches known to locals as 'the end of the earth'. The experts were disturbing the souls of their ancestors, they feared. However, work is underway again, including a genetic study of the remains headed by Alexander Pilipenko, research fellow of Institute of Cytology and Genetics, Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

Fyodorova suggests that the smashing of the skulls may have been done soon after death 'to render protection from mysterious spells believed to emanate from the deceased'.

With work underway again, archeologists hope for clearer answers.

[Renfield]

Ping

[Puppage]

How cool is THAT?

[Red Badger]

Will wait for expert opinion...................

[BenLurkin]

Mark this down as a place and time which I will NOT be visiting once I get a time machine.

[Bizhvywt]

“...the smashing of the skulls may have been done soon after death....”

Uh oh! TWD.

[Lazamataz]

You know, if I were a single man, I might ask that mummy out. That’s a good-looking mummy!

[Migraine]

The bird-figurine is a fairly obvious belt buckle. About 20 years ago in the Tien-Shan Mts portion of the Silk Road, a tall Scotsman, kilt and all, dating from the same period, was found in mummified condition. It was surmised then that these guys were making some hay on these trade routes to the East. If you just turn people loose, they can find and exploit markets!

[Flick Lives]

Mummy seems to have “Donald Trump” hair.

[Viiksitimali]

Modern historians suppose that the wealth of the Bjarmians was due to their profitable trade along the Dvina, the Kama River and the Volga to Bolghar and other trading settlements in the south. Along this route, silver coins and other merchandise were exchanged for pelts and walrus tusks brought by the Bjarmians. In fact, burial sites in modern Perm Krai are the richest source of Sasanian and Sogdian silverware from Iran
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bjarmaland

[BigEdLB]

That pic 2nd from the bottom resembles Harry Reid...

[Theoria]

Relics Of Ancient Burial Rites Reveal Siberian Trade Route[FR]

[353FMG]

We live long enough and we all look like that.

[pax_et_bonum]

Mummy seems to have “Donald Trump” hair.

---

Rofl!!

[OldNewYork]

Very interesting.

[uglybiker]

Fyodorova suggests that the smashing of the skulls may have been done soon after death 'to render protection from mysterious spells believed to emanate from the deceased'. to keep 'em from coming back as zombies.

Geez! Everybody knows that!

[ExCTCitizen]

Hello Mr. William Jefferson Clinton...

[fishtank]

Did someone say “mummy”?

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks Renfield.

[BenLurkin]

It really paints an odd picture.

"Here, grandpa. We are laying you to rest in your finest furs, and here's that pottery from Persia you always treasured. Oh and...KAPOW!"