The Ancient Pazyryk Culture and Its Mysterious Tattoos and Frozen Burials
By
Nisha Zahid
December 30, 2024
Horse harness of Siberian Ice Maiden from ancient Pazyryk culture. Credit: Sue Fleckney / CC BY-SA 2.0
The Pazyryk people, nomadic tribes who lived between the sixth and third centuries BCE, once roamed the Altai Mountains, a region now shared by Russia, Kazakhstan and Mongolia. Known for their elaborate burial practices and intricate tattoos, ancient Pazyryk culture discoveries have reshaped modern archaeology, offering new insights into the complexity of nomadic cultures.
Frozen tombs and preservation
In the late 1940s, Soviet archaeologist Sergei Rudenko led groundbreaking excavations in the Pazyryk Valley, located within the Golden Mountains of Altai. His team uncovered large burial mounds, known as Kurgans, which contained wooden chambers filled with bodies and belongings.
The cold climate caused moisture inside these tombs to freeze – a process called barrow congelation – preserving organic materials like textiles, wooden artifacts and even the mummies themselves for thousands of years.
Before placing the bodies in the frozen tombs, the Pazyryk people employed sophisticated embalming techniques. The deceased had their internal organs removed and replaced with horsehair and plants to maintain the body’s form.
More:
https://greekreporter.com/2024/12/30/ancient-pazyryk-culture-tattoo-frozen-burial/