2,500 Year Old Mummy Found

A team of scientists from Germany, Russia and Mongolia have unearthed a 2,500 year old Scythian mummy from a difficult to reach area in the Altai Mountains. The find is remarkably well-preserved as the area is permafrost and the burial mound was intact. A number of artifacts were also found (link has a good photo gallery).

The mummy, which is believed to be about 2,500 years old was a 30-to-40 year-old man with blond hair, and was found in very good condition, Patzinger said. It's too delicate for exhibition, but new techniques developed following other recent discoveries of frozen mummies will enable scientists to study the remains in detail. The newly discovered Altai mummy has been compared to the discovery of Ötzi in southern Tyrol in 1991 and a tattooed Siberian ice princess in 1993.

The mummy was found in a difficult to access part of the Altai mountain region at an altitude of 2,600 meters (8,500 feet) in an area bordering Mongolia, China and Russia. Scientists from Germany, Mongolia and Russia came across the intact burial mount of the Scythian warrior in permafrost ground at the end of July. The Scythians were a nomadic people who lived around 700 years BC in a region that spanned from southern Russia and the Ukraine to the Dnieper River.

The warrior, whose cause of death has not been determined, was buried in full dress. "He wore a fur coat made of marmot fur with sheep's wool lining and adorned with sable," Parzinger said. Beneath the fur coat, traces could be found of woven wool pants. The man's feet were covered by knee-high felt boots. "There could be more surprises when we remove the clothing from the partly mummified body," he added. Parzinger said researchers believe the decorations indicated he was a man of nobility.

The remains are being studied in Ulan Bator, the capitol of Mongolia.