Natalia Polosmak facts for kids

Natalia Viktorovna Polosmak (Russian: Наталья Викторовна Полосьмак; born 12 September 1956) is a Russian archaeologist specialising in the study of early Metal Age Eurasian nomads, especially those known as the Pazyryk Culture, an ancient people, often glossed as "Scythian", who lived in the Altay Mountains in Siberian Russia. She is best known for her discovery and analysis of the Ice Maiden mummy which is now the focus of an ethnic political debate between Russian scientists and the Altay people living there.

Work

In 1993, Polosmak was conducting archaeological reconnaissance of the high and barren Ukok Plateau when she discovered a spectacular archaeological find; a female mummy frozen in permafrost which she associated with the Pazyryk on the basis of intact clothing remaining on the well-preserved corpse. The Pazyryk were an Iron Age people who lived in the Altay Mountains and on the Ukok Plateau. Many tomb mounds (kurgans) have been found in the area and have been associated with the Pazyryk culture; a group that closely resembled that of the legendary Scythian people to the west. The term kurgan is in general usage to describe the barrow burials found in the area. Excavations of this site yielded fascinating archaeological artifacts.

This famous find by Natalia Polosmak is known as the Ice Maiden. She discovered the mummy in an ancient, and previously undisturbed, burial mound. The mummy was unusual in that it was a woman interred with full ceremonial honors; a rare distinction for a woman at that time. The mummy was intricately tattooed and is estimated to date back to the 5th century BCE. She was beautifully dressed with a black felt headdress which was found intact and decorated with figures that indicated her high social status. She wore a necklace of wooden camels and high boots of leather. Her dress was of woven camel hair and sheep's wool with braided tassels and colored red with insect dye. More tattooed mummies (c. 300 BC) were also extracted from the permafrost at the site.

While Polosmak and her team were excavating the site and defrosting the artifacts with water from a nearby lake heated with blow torches, rumors circulated among the indigenous Ukok people that disturbing the dead would have dire consequences. The engine of the helicopter that Polosmak used to fly the remains of the maiden to Russia failed, resulting in an emergency landing and some damage to the Ice Maiden for lack of refrigeration. This was taken as a sign that the maiden did not like being disturbed. An earthquake which occurred in the Altay in September 2003 was also seen as bad fortune linked to disturbing the dead.

Articles by Polosmak

• The First Report on a Burial of a Noble Pazyryk Woman on the Ukok Plateau

See also

• Tarim mummies
• Pazyryk culture
• Siberian Ice Maiden