Mummies of a mysterious civilization found in the Siberian permafrost
The mummified bodies of an adult and a child, both wrapped in copper, were discovered in 2017 in the Siberian permafrost, after having remained frozen for centuries.
At the time, the announcement from the governor of the Yamalo-Nenets district states that the discovery includes two mummies wrapped in thick textile material, fur and tree bark, with the adult encased in copper plates and the child covered with kettle fragments copper. Copper is believed to have been used for its antimicrobial properties to help preserve the body. The remains were also naturally “chilled” by the permafrost of this notoriously cold part of the world.
Archaeologists came across the mummies near a centuries-old monument in a remote corner of Siberia just outside Salekhard. This city crosses the Arctic Circle and is located on the coast of the Kara Sea in the Arctic Ocean, so it is not surprising that the average annual temperature in this area is about -6 °C.
The larger of the two mummies is around 170 centimetres long, suggesting it is a fully grown adult. The smallest mummy is most likely a child no older than 6 months.
The bodies were supposed to be examined in a laboratory and subjected to a mixture of genetic, forensic and historical tests.
The age of the remains is not yet confirmed. However, the excavation site was known to have been most active around the Middle Ages in the 13th century. The bodies are the latest in a long line of mummies found at the Zeleny Yar archaeological site since 1997. Between 2013 and 2017 forty-seven graves where discovered, but little is known about the people who inhabited the area centuries ago. Previously, archaeologists found 10th-century bronze bowls originating from Persia, about 5,950 kilometers away in present-day Iran. The connection between this Siberian civilization and Persia is unknown, but with any luck, further work on the site will one day explain it.
As with many other sensational announcements in the past, this news was gradually forgotten and to date (2024) no further information has been provided about it.
The original article from 2017 is available at: https://siberiantimes.com/other/others/features/cocooned-in-copper-best-fur-fabric-and-birch-bark-an-adult-and-tiny-baby-from-the-8th-century/
