Anatomy and Cell Biology

Korean Association of Anatomists (대한해부학회)
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Anthropological report of arctic people's mummy found at a medieval grave of West Siberia

  • Sergey Mikhailovich Slepchenko (Tyumen Scientific Center of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences) ;
  • Alexander Vasilyevich Gusev (Sector of History and Archeology, Arctic Research Center of the Yamal-Nenets Autonomous District) ;
  • Evgenia Olegovna Svyatova (Yekaterinburg Special Scientific and Restoration Design Workshop) ;
  • Jong Ha Hong (Institute of Korean Archaeology and Ancient History, Kyung Hee University) ;
  • Hyejin Lee (Department of Forensic Medicine, Seoul National University College of Medicine) ;
  • Dong Hoon Shin (Institute of Forensic and Anthropological Science, Medical Research Center, Seoul National University)
  • Received : 2023.02.21
  • Accepted : 2023.03.29
  • Published : 2023.09.30
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Abstract

In arctic zone of West Siberia, native people's bodies were sometimes mummified inside the medieval graves. In 2013 to 2017, we conducted the excavations of medieval graves at Zeleny Yar cemetery in Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug. Among the burials, current report deals with the mummy grave #79. During the investigation, bronze plate and strips, woven or fur clothing, leather strap, beads, bronze bracelets, and iron knife etc. were collected. Anatomical and radiological research showed that the mummy was found intact with hair, skin, and skeletons, but the preservation status of soft tissue differed greatly depending on the area. The brain and eyes were well preserved, but the chest and abdominal organs almost disappeared. The arms were preserved to some extent, but only the bones remained in the legs. The West Siberian mummy could be a great resource for anthropologists to reveal the biological aspects of arctic indigenous people.

Keywords

Acknowledgement

This work was supported by the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) grant funded by the Korea government (MSIT) (No. 2020R1A2C1010708) and Ministry of Education of Korea (2020R1I1A1A01073501). This work was also performed under Government Order No. 121041600045-8, "Western Siberia in the Context of Eurasian Connections: Human, Nature, and Society" project.

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