The Story Behind the Siberian Ice Maiden and Her Tattoos

A princess with a tattoo of a griffin like creature buried with a cosmetic bag and six horses

In 1993, Russian archaeologists discovered an intriguing find in the Ukok plateau near the Russia-China border. They had got information about a grave robbery. Digging at the grave site they stumbled upon a giant block of ice.

The team, led by Dr Natalya Polosmak of Novosibirsk’s Institute of Archeology and Ethnography, began melting the block.

They found the mummified body of a 25-year-old princess known as the Siberian Ice Maiden. Polosmak and her staff found the princess had tattoos!

Her well-preserved body revealed an ancient culture’s rituals.
When I first learned about her, I was curious about the meaning of her tattoos.

What about her belongings and her companion horses? How did she die at such a young age? Was it a suicide or a human sacrifice?

These questions drove me to explore more about this mysterious woman who died over 2500 years ago.

As the archaeologists began to melt the ice with buckets of boiling water, they discovered harnesses, saddle pieces, and a table where a meal of fatty mutton had been kept for 2500 years.

The mutton was rotting and gave a foul stench.

There were six horses in total. The marks of a pickaxe on their heads indicated that they had been executed.

Then there was only more ice.

The archaeologists worked painstakingly to melt the remaining ice and at last found some sable fur. When they removed the fur, a shoulder appeared with a “brilliant blue tattoo of a magnificent griffin like creature” in the words of Polosmak.

It was the body of a young woman, between 25 and 28 years old. She came to be known as the Ukok Princess or Siberian Ice Maiden.

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