Mummy "Altay Princess" to be given to Gorny Altay in the summer of 2012
The mummy of "Altay Princess," a young woman from the Pazyryk culture, found by archaeologists on the Siberian Ukok Plateau in 1993, will be transported in a glass sarcophagus to the Anokhin National Museum (Gorno-Altaysk) this summer, along with log cabins and a deck.
As Deputy Director of the Siberian Branch of Russian Academy of Sciences’ Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography, academic Vyacheslav Molodin, said in an interview with RIA Novosti, "A few days ago at a meeting with the Minister of Culture of the Altai Republic, Vladimir Konchevym, and the Director of the Vladimir Anokhin Sakpachakovym Museum we decided to give several more items originating from the Ukok Plateau burial mound to the museum: a larch wood frame and deck, as well as a glass sarcophagus specially made for its display and storage, in which the mummy has been displayed since 2010 at the Museum of History and Culture of the Peoples of Siberia and the Far East."
Gorny Altai: "Princess Ukok": The deck, in “Princess Ukok” was buried. The decision regarding the transport of additional equipment and artifacts was made due to the mutual interest of Siberian archaeologists and the Altai Museum in the well-preserved and aesthetically favorable exhibition of the female mummy, as Vyacheslav Molodin explained. The deck and the frame will soon be restored in preparation for the acquisition of the exhibition entourage and will be sent to the Altai by automobile before the end of May. The weight of these wooden pieces is a just under a ton. The mummy itself will be transported by helicopter after a special room is constructed for its keeping. The mummy will be kept in a closed alcove.
"A mannequin dressed in identical replicas of the mummy’s clothing, made by our institute’s restorers, will be placed in the museum’s hall. However, for special occasions and distinguished guests, the alcove will be opened and visitors will have the opportunity to behold the mummy itself. If the need arises to examine the mummy again, we will also be able to access it, which is fully stipulated by the contract," the scientist explained.
Note: The ancient woman’s mummy was found on Novosibirsk archeologist Natalya Polosmak’s 1993 expedition of the burial mound from Scythian times in Altai's Ukok Plateau near the Mongolian border. The age of the discovery made is estimated to be over two and a half thousand years old and was named one of the most important discoveries in recent archeology.
The “princess'” appearance was restored in 2010, scientists and specialists from Moscow’s Gerasimov Laboratory were able to use the skull’s bone to perform a complete reconstruction of the face and create a sculpture that is currently kept at the Museum of the Novosibirsk Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography, next to its prototype.
Reconstruction of the A. V. Anokhin National Museum in Gorno-Altaisk continues from 2009 with funds allocated by OAO Gazprom. Earlier it was reported that after the reconstruction of the museum's in fall of 2012, a sculpture of the "Ukok Princess" will greet visitors on horseback.
