The tattooed pazyryk mummies of the Altai Mountains
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One of the most incredible examples of ancient tattoos are the frozen mummies of the Iron Age Pazyryk nomadic culture. Discovered in the Altai mountains along the border of present-day Russia and China, their subterranean tombs built of wood were marked by kurgans (burial mounds) and were made possible to excavate due to melting permafrost. Six Pazyryk mummies were discovered and extracted from the archaeological record in the early to mid-1990's, but the tattoos of three mummies had never been seen before 2004. Anthropologists and forensic archaeologists studying at the Hermitage Museum took photographs of the mummies using reflective infrared light. The elaborate designs that cover their bodies display the earliest evidence of ritual tattoos that compare to modern tattooing, in craftsmanship and in beauty.
Discovered in 1993 by Natalia Polosmak, the 2,500 year old female Pazyryk mummy referred to as the Siberian Ice Maiden (also known as the Princess of Ukok) bares a full tattoo sleeve. The designs stained into her skin consisted of horses, stags, and mythical creatures resembling griffins. I couple decades earlier in 1948, archaeologist Sergei Ivanovich Rudenko excavated multiple kurgans and uncovered the 2,200 year old mummified body of a Pazyryk warrior chief who's wooden tomb was completely encased in ice. Despite how parts of the chief's body deteriorated, his skin was better preserved than the Maiden's and it is easy to see that almost his entire body was covered in elaborate tattoos. The chief was decorated in similar animal designs as the Ice Maiden; two griffins on his chest, a fish on his leg, and his arms displayed stags, goats, and mountain rams. Small circular tattoos on his lower back that lined up with his spine were likely for therapeutic use, a method of tattoo therapy that is still practiced today in Siberia.
Discovered in 1993 by Natalia Polosmak, the 2,500 year old female Pazyryk mummy referred to as the Siberian Ice Maiden (also known as the Princess of Ukok) bares a full tattoo sleeve. The designs stained into her skin consisted of horses, stags, and mythical creatures resembling griffins. I couple decades earlier in 1948, archaeologist Sergei Ivanovich Rudenko excavated multiple kurgans and uncovered the 2,200 year old mummified body of a Pazyryk warrior chief who's wooden tomb was completely encased in ice. Despite how parts of the chief's body deteriorated, his skin was better preserved than the Maiden's and it is easy to see that almost his entire body was covered in elaborate tattoos. The chief was decorated in similar animal designs as the Ice Maiden; two griffins on his chest, a fish on his leg, and his arms displayed stags, goats, and mountain rams. Small circular tattoos on his lower back that lined up with his spine were likely for therapeutic use, a method of tattoo therapy that is still practiced today in Siberia.
References:
- Della Casa, Philippe. Constanze Witt.
- Rush, John A..