In the summer of 1993, a team of Russian archaeologists led by Natalia Polosmak made an extraordinary discovery high in the Altai Mountains near the Mongolian border. In a sacred area known as the Pastures of Heaven, they uncovered a 2,500-year-old tomb with the bodies of 6 horses, and a woman preserved in a block of ice inside her coffin.

      The Ice Maiden has become a source of great controversy. Improper care after removal from the ice resulted in extremely rapid decay of the body, and since the breakup of the U.S.S.R., the Republic of Altai has been demanding the return of "stolen" artifacts, including the Ice Maiden, who has been "pickled" in Novosibirsk.

Siberian Ice Maiden
A brief illustrated report from PBS.

To The Yukon Iceman