'Burying The Mummy Will Stop The Earthquakes' ("Altai Princess")

Moscow - Residents of Russia's Altai region say that a 25-century-old mummy that was dug up 11 years ago is causing earthquakes in their corner of Siberia and have demanded that it be reburied.

"We must calm people down and bury the Altai Princess," which is being studied by researchers at an institute 600km away, said Aulkhan Jatkambayev, the administration chief in the area where the mummy was discovered.

"We are having tremors two or three times a week, sometimes measuring up to four (on the Richter scale). People think this will go on as long as the Princess' spirit is not allowed to rest in peace," Jatkambayev said.

Jatkambayev said he wrote a letter to the Altai authorities, asking that the mummy be buried.

'Burying it is out of the question' The 25-century-old Altai Princess was discovered on the Ukok plateau, in the South Siberian republic of Altai, and was then sent to the Archaeological and Ethnographic Institute of Novosibirsk.

The mummy is that of a girl bearing tattoos on one arm and believed to have belonged to an aristocratic family.

It has been exceptionally well preserved, as it was buried deep in frozen earth typical for this region. Six horses, saddled and bridled, were buried together with her.

The controversy surrounding the mummy has reached such proportions that even some ethnographers are of a split mind.

"This is a very painful issue. Altai's native people worry about their forbear. The Princess must return to us," said the director of Altai's capital Gorno-Altaisk's ethnographic museum, Rima Yerkinova.

However, Yerkinova does not want the mummy to be buried, saying it should instead be exhibited in her museum, where a mausoleum could be built for the Princess, thanks to 2-million rubles (about R450) already paid in advance by the local authorities.

"We shall put (the Princess) in a glass sarcophagus, so that everybody can come and bow before her," Erkinova said.

But archaeologists who are studying the Princess in Novosibirsk so far refuse to send her back, arguing that they are not yet done with examining the rare find.

And even when they are through with their work, there are limits to what they are prepared to concede, said archaeologist Vyacheslav Molodin.

"We are prepared to discuss the mummy's possible transfer to the museum, but burying it is out of the question," the Novosibirsk Ethnographic Institute's Molodin told the Izvestya daily.

(UKOK)Altai Princess

In 1990-1995, South Altai troop of the North Asia complex expedition of Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences conducted research at the Alpine plateau Ukok, situated near the Chinese, Mongolian and Kazakh borders. In the course of excavations of one of the mounds of Ak-Alakh sepulchre, a unique burial of a woman was discovered.

Her remains were found lying in a wooden framework (3,3m õ 2,3 m) made of larch and rough-hewed smoothly from inside. The framework was set at the bottom of the sepulchral pit. The whole space of the sepulchral cell - right from the ceiling made of eleven closely fitted logs down to the very bottom - was filled with ice.
A linen - several strips of black felt sewed together - was spread instead of a floor right over the previously laid out pebbles. There was a massive trough in the southern corner of the sepulchre.
Its lid was hammered in by copper nails with round heads. Leather ornaments presented as figures of deer were found in the trough as the ice inside of it melted. There were dishes with food near the trough.
Two flat-bottomed ceramic jugs, destroyed by ice, lied on the floor. Pieces of meat remained lying on the dishes. There was even an iron knife stuck into a piece of meat, the handle of the knife representing symmetrically arranged effigies of the upper part of a wolf's snout with Capricorn's horns.
Thus, wolf's sharp-toothed jaws appeared to be the center of the composition adorning the handle.

Six horses were laid in the northern part of the sepulchral pit just like in all other Pazyryk burials. Horses' hair, plaited tails, wooden harness ornaments, components and felt covers of saddles were preserved.

The woman was lying on her right side in a sleeping pose with her legs bent slightly in her knees and hands crossed on her belly; she was lying over double-folded thick strip of felt, her head on a felt pillow-bolster. She was covered with a fur counterpane with appliques representing vegetable ornament, made of golden foil.

Her clothes were well preserved. All seams of her ample silk yellowish shirt with long sleeves covering her fingers were trimmed with thin red cord, while its hem, neck, the edges of the sleeves and the center of the shirt were decorated with a red ribbon; her lengthy two-colored (red and white) woolen skirt had a thick red belt wound of woolen thread; on her legs she had long white felt stockings decorated with patterns of felt appliques in the upper part.

The dead woman had her personal things in the sepulchre. A mirror in the form of a square piece of bronze plate framed by a round wooden setting with a handle and with a deer effigy cut on its back side, laid over the skirt near the woman's left hip.
The polished surface of the bronze plate was rubbed with mercury, which not only made the surface shine, but also imparted the plate with the properties of a real mirror. The amulets - beads, bronze pendants - were threaded and tied together. There was also a "vanity case" - horse hair brush; some spread out blue and green powder-like substance - vivianite - a mineral used in manufacturing of blue paint; components of a peculiar pencil - a rod made of iron rings where vivianite served as a slate.
Such pencil could be used for ritual face painting. There was also a stone saucer with coriander seeds.

It is obvious, that this is a sepulcher of an outstanding woman. The spacious sepulchral cell, body embalming and the body's laying over a decorated trough, the six horses with extremely beautiful and recherche harness - all these speak for the fact that this was a wealthy woman of a special society position.

The woman's shirt may be considered the real evidence of her wealth and high social status - a real value for the Pazyryks: it could be come across only in "tsar" mounds. It is noteworthy, that it was the first time when Pazyryk clothing made of silk was discovered. According to ethnographic sources, the difference in clothing between the rich and the poor among Pazyryk cattle-breeders was very often reflected in the materials used.

The Ukok young woman had tattoos on her arms - from shoulders down to her wrists. There are also tattoos on some phalanxes of her hands. The blue-color "pictures" can be quite distinctly seen on her white skin, but they preserved only on her left hand, while there are only fragments of tattoos on her right wrist and thumb.
Her right shoulder bears an effigy of a fantastic animal - a deer with gryphon's beak, and horns of a deer and a Capricorn. The horns are decorated with gryphons' heads, the latter can also be seen at the back of the animal, whose body is depicted "twisted". Below there is an effigy of a ram in the same pose with his head thrown back; closed jaws of a spotted ounce with long and twisted tail are depicted at the ram's hoofs.

There are some signs indicating that the dead woman, buried by her fellow-tribesmen with such profound respect, was remarkable for a certain gift that she possessed. This does not obligatory imply that she was a shaman or a priestess. The young woman could be a healer, a story-teller, a fortune-teller. In the ritual practice of Sayan Altai, there are known over 30 titles for various specialists - those possessing certain secret knowledge - who always existed behind shamans serving an obligatory background for them.

The image of the young woman, who had died 2,5 thousand years ago, astounded imagination of many people. "I write to tell you that the spirit of Pazyryk woman turned out my life. When I saved money, I made a tattoo in the form of a she-deer on my left wrist… I made a tattoo of a male deer on my shoulder for my 39th birthday… I am a 1/8 Lenan - this is a North American Indian people, who once lived down the Delaware River… Once they lived southward of Lake Baikal (it's about 1000 km from the place, where the Lady is buried), and then moved to the North America through the Bering Straits…" - these are lines from Rosa Donnam's letter (California, USA).
And Elizabeth Johnson (California, USA) sent a slide to Novosibirsk depicting a quilt decorated with the figure of fabulous animal from the Altaian Lady's tattoo.

A Spaniard, Migel Anhel Gordilio Urkuia, is going to fly above those places where the Pazyryks were buried, and he decorated the tail of his airplane with depiction of a deer-gryphon. An ancient symbol of extinct people starts a new life…

A man and his horse

A Siberian man and his horse who were discovered after the Ice Princess (below), have stirred up some anger. After Russian archaeologists found him, they took him to their lab in Moscow for preservation and research.
This angered the Altai Republic officials. They accused the Russians of “spiriting away a piece of their national heritage.” Officials have banned any further Russian digging.
Since his horse is buried with him, he has been nicknamed the Horseman. This is the description given in “Archaeology Online”:

“The Horseman, 25 to 30 years old, had been impaled by an enemy’s weapon or animal’s horn. His face and hands have not survived well, but the rest of his skin and muscles and his braided hair are in good condition, as is a tattoo of a deer on his right shoulder.
He was wearing a thick wool cap, high leather boots, and a marmot and sheepskin coat. The horseman was buried with his bow, arrows, ax and knife. The horse wore a harness richly decorated with griffins and animals carved in wood and covered in gold foil.”

The Ice Princess

Russian archaeologists found an ancient Pazyryk tomb. Time stood still inside because water had seeped in and froze everything perfectly into one big tomb-cicle.

In 1993 the Ice Princess, also known as "Ledi" for lady, was found near the border of Mongolia in Russia. She is said to be around 2,500 years old! She was buried in a 20 foot underground loghouse. The Pazyrak's believed that when you die you have an afterlife so they buried food water and anything else you would need with you.
Apparently wealthy, her headdress was so high, her coffin was 8 feet long. Also found with Ledi, were 6 horses and a 40 year man.
The six horses buried with her are believed to be warriors with some relationship to each other and the horses were meant to carry them into battle in their next life.

Six horses were laid in the northern part of the sepulchral pit just like in all other Pazyryk burials.

The mention of horse burial reminded me of something:

The Horses of the Scythians

The Scythians, the first to domesticate the horse and possibly the first to make their living through the practice of archery on horseback. . .Buried and subsequently frozen Scythians found in places such as the Pazyryk kurgans show some people with strong Mongolian features, and others who were blond and had quite European-looking faces. "Genes from ancient tissue are compared with genes from modern-day groups. Research with tissue from a number of burials suggests that the Pazyryks were ethnically diverse" (Nova). . .The most elaborate Scythian mound-graves or kurgans contained many horses. There may be only one or two or up to over a dozen Yabou-type horses, but in every instance so far discovered, there was only one thoroughbred horse. The fact that there was, in fact, only one in the grave, and that so far all these horses have been either old or lame, whereas the more "common" horses have been of all ages and states of health, is taken to show the great value, and possibly the rarity, of the thoroughbred. Honor or not, in great numbers, this horse could not be spared. The horses were either strangled or killed with one--or in at least one case several--blows to the head.

A Brief history of the Celts

The Celts love and respect for horses and their use for transportation, farming and war, which are all similar to the ancestors of the Cossacks who later populated the Steppes, appear to be the basis for this theory. Were the people of the Steppes really ancestors of the Celts? Or, did the Celts learn their horsemanship skill from those people when they met in trade? No clear answer is available at this time. . .They added ornamentation to many of the items they made. Decorative scabbards and sword hilts, bridles and trappings for their horses, even ornate chariots were discovered in some of the burial sites. . .They may have buried horse equipment, but no evidence has been found to indicate that horses were buried. Perhaps, they believed that horses would be available in the after-life or, maybe, they just loved horses too much to sacrifice them that way.

What We Don't Know About the Ancient Celts

In addition to dedicated sanctuaries, the entrance to a city seems to have been a particularly important ritual area as well. In many British hillforts, ritual pits have been found at the entrance and along the principal roadway with horses, humans, and more rarely dogs, are buried there. . .An interesting sidelight on animals as sacrifice -- at Gournay-sur-Aronde there is an enormous deposition of animal bones. The horses and cattle are both elderly specimens and do not show signs of butchering. Pigs and sheep at the site are young and were eaten. Were horses and cattle revered and brought here for ritual and burial? And at South Cadbury in England there are horse skulls all carefully buried right side up. . .Among sacrificial animals we find horses, cattle, lambs, pigs, and dogs, also stags, hares, birds and wild pigs as well as other wild animals. Young animal often show signs of butchering, older cattle and horses mostly do not.

History of The Celts

THE BATTLE-AXE PEOPLE

A second precursor group to the Celts emerges late in the 3rd Millennium BC in Central Europe. They are identified by their practice of burying their dead individually, with grave goods, in a circular barrow or earthen mound (tumulus) enclosed with a timber mortuary house. This method of burial has been traced to the Pontic Steppes of Southern Russia. Thus, these later settlers came into Central Europe via migration across the Steppes, bringing new ideas and practices with them. . .The Battle-Axe culture carried another important development into Europe. For the first time, horse bones are found in grave sites from this period. The species of horse is the tarpan, a small Eurasian breed that would have been more useful as a pack animal than as a mount for riding. The riding horse evolved somewhat later through selective breeding and better feeding. The point is, here we find the horse domesticated for the first time in pre-history.

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