Anat Cell Biol.  2023 Sep;56(3):404-408. 10.5115/acb.23.051.

Anthropological report of arctic people’s mummy found at a medieval grave of West Siberia

• Slepchenko SM
• Gusev AV
• Svyatova EO
• Hong JH
• Lee H
• Shin DH

• KMID: 2546471
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.5115/acb.23.051

Abstract

In arctic zone of West Siberia, native people’s bodies were sometimes mummified inside the medieval graves. In 2013 to 2017, we conducted the excavations of medieval graves at Zeleny Yar cemetery in Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug. Among the burials, current report deals with the mummy grave #79. During the investigation, bronze plate and strips, woven or fur clothing, leather strap, beads, bronze bracelets, and iron knife etc. were collected. Anatomical and radiological research showed that the mummy was found intact with hair, skin, and skeletons, but the preservation status of soft tissue differed greatly depending on the area. The brain and eyes were well preserved, but the chest and abdominal organs almost disappeared. The arms were preserved to some extent, but only the bones remained in the legs. The West Siberian mummy could be a great resource for anthropologists to reveal the biological aspects of arctic indigenous people.

Keyword

Arctic region; Radiography; Mummies; Siberia; Anatomy

Figure

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  Fig. 1 The cemetery of the Zeleny Yar (Z-Y) site in Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug. Yellow shadow box in (A) is magnified as (B). (C) The burial #79 of Z-Y cemetery. Bronze plate and strips placed upon the birchbark cocoon: 1, a rectangular plate above the head part. Long bronze strips at 2, chin and neck; 3, the lower part of chest; 4 and 5, abdominal region; 6, pelvic area; 7 and 8, lower extremities; 9 and 10, the foot.

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  Fig. 2 Radiological images of #79 burial of Zeleny Yar cemetery. (A) The bronze plate and strips (1–11) on radiological image. Numbers represent the bronze plate and strips described in results of this paper. (B) Radiography of mummy head. Lateral view. 1 is for bronze plate covering the face. (C) Mummy head axial view. Br and Ey remained inside the skull. (D) Lower part of mummy head. Br remained in the cerebellar fossa. Yellow arrow indicates the bronze plate covering mummy face. (E) and (F) The skeletons of lower extremity. S, skull; Br, brain; Ey, eyeball; Fm, femur; Tb, tibia; Fl, fibula.

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  Fig. 3 A mummy of #79 burial of Zeleny Yar cemetery. (A) Fur products (white asterisk) covering the mummy face. (B) Mummy’s face (red asterisk) under the fur product. (C) The mummy’s face and upper body were preserved. Note copper bracelets (yellow arrows) around the forearms.

Reference

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