She is one of the most extraordinary individuals to have emerged from the ancient past into the modern world’s awareness.

And in the museum in Gorno-Altaysk, preserved in the temperature-controlled environment that maintains the conditions that have kept her intact, she is still there.

What Remains Unknown

The Ice Maiden’s tomb revealed an extraordinary amount.

It revealed the material world of a high-status Pazyryk woman — her clothing, her adornment, her grave goods, the horses that accompanied her.

It revealed her physical characteristics — her age, her height, her health, her tattoos.

It revealed the ceremonial practices that surrounded her burial — the embalming, the post-mortem ceremonial use of the body, the elaborate preparation of the grave goods.