What happened after the burial is the key to understanding the preservation.

In the Altai Mountains, the summer thaws and winter freezes cycle repeatedly, and water — from rain, from snowmelt, from groundwater — can infiltrate the burial mounds.

At the Ice Maiden’s kurgan, a specific sequence of events created exceptional conditions.

An earlier burial had been placed in a secondary shaft above the Ice Maiden’s original tomb.

Through this secondary shaft, water and snow entered the burial chamber over the years following the interment.

This water collected around and within the larch coffin, and eventually froze — and stayed frozen, because the insulating properties of the stone mound above, combined with the altitude and climate of the Ukok Plateau, maintained temperatures cold enough to keep the water permanently iced.