Work
In 1993, Polosmak was searching over the barren land of the Ukok Plateau when she discovered a spectacular archaeological find, a mummy frozen in the plateau's permafrost which she associated with the Pazyryk on the basis of intact clothing remaining on the mummy. The Pazyryk were an ancient people who lived in the Altay Mountains on the Ukok Plateau. Many ancient Bronze Age tomb mounds have been found in the area and have been associated with the Pazyryk culture, a culture 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 finding by 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 buried with full ceremonial honors, a rare honor for a Pazyryk woman at that time. The mummy was intricately tattooed and estimated to date back to 5th century BCE. She was beautifully dressed with a black felt headdress which was found intact and decorated with figures that showed her 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 local people that disturbing the dead would cause bad things to happen. 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 deterioration to the Ice Maiden for lack of refrigeration. This was taken as another sign that the maiden did not like to be disturbed. An earthquake in September 2003 in Altay was also seen as bad fortune linked to the disturbing of the dead.
Read more about this topic: Natalia Polosmak
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