Editing Pazyryk burials (section)

== Discoveries ==
[[File:Pazyryk barrows.jpg|thumb|upright|Pazyryk barrows]]
The first tomb at Pazyryk, barrow 1, was excavated by the [[archaeologist]] M. P. Griaznov in 1929; barrows 2–5 were excavated by [[Sergei Ivanovich Rudenko]] in 1947–1949.<ref>{{harvnb|Rudenko|1970|pp=18, 33}}</ref> While many of the tombs had already been looted in earlier times, the excavators unearthed buried horses, and with them immaculately preserved cloth saddles, felt and woven rugs including the world's oldest pile [[carpet]],<ref name="EB_Carpet">{{cite web |url=http://global.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/512386/rug-and-carpet/73762/Symbolism-of-overall-design#toc73765 |title=Rug and carpet: Oriental carpets |website=[[Encyclopædia Britannica Online]] |publisher=[[Encyclopædia Britannica (company)|Encyclopædia Britannica]] |access-date=March 2, 2015}}</ref><ref name="EB_Central_Asian_Arts">{{cite web |url=http://global.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/102325/Central-Asian-arts/13969/Altaic-tribes |title=Central Asian Arts: Altaic tribes |website=[[Encyclopædia Britannica Online]] |publisher=[[Encyclopædia Britannica (company)|Encyclopædia Britannica]] |access-date=March 2, 2015}}</ref> a 3-metre-high four-wheel funeral chariot from the 5th century BCE<ref>{{cite web |title=The State Hermitage Museum: Collection Highlights |url=http://www.hermitagemuseum.org/html_En/03/hm3_2_7e.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20000106182748/http://www.hermitagemuseum.org/html_En/03/hm3_2_7e.html |archive-date=6 January 2000 |date=1999}}</ref> and other splendid objects that had escaped the ravages of time.<ref name="EB_Stone_Age">{{cite web |url=http://global.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/567232/Stone-Age/52383/European-cultures |title=Stone Age: European cultures |website=[[Encyclopædia Britannica Online]] |publisher=[[Encyclopædia Britannica (company)|Encyclopædia Britannica]] |access-date=March 2, 2015}}</ref> These finds are now exhibited at the [[Hermitage Museum]] in [[Saint Petersburg]].

Cranial measurements from the Pazyryk burials performed in the 1960s suggested that the interred were largely of European ancestry with some admixture of Northeast Asian ancestry.<ref name="Rudenko45">{{harvnb|Rudenko|1970|p=45}} "Although in general the skulls in the series are of europeoid type, there are some among them with markedly mongoloid features."</ref> But genetically, the Pazyryk population was actually fairly balanced between western and eastern Eurasian ancestry: it was modeled to derive between c. 50% from the [[Khövsgöl_LBA]] source, c. 36% from [[Western Steppe Herders]] (Steppe_MLBA), and c. 14% from a [[Bactria–Margiana Archaeological Complex|BMAC]]-like source. One outlier specimen (Pazyryk_Berel_50BCE) could be modeled as c. 18% Pazyryk_IA and c. 82% additional Northeast Asian admixture, suggesting that this individual represents a migrant who arrived from further East.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Gnecchi-Ruscone |first1=Guido Alberto |last2=Khussainova |first2=Elmira |last3=Kahbatkyzy |first3=Nurzhibek |last4=Musralina |first4=Lyazzat |last5=Spyrou |first5=Maria A. |last6=Bianco |first6=Raffaela A. |last7=Radzeviciute |first7=Rita |last8=Martins |first8=Nuno Filipe Gomes |last9=Freund |first9=Caecilia |last10=Iksan |first10=Olzhas |last11=Garshin |first11=Alexander |last12=Zhaniyazov |first12=Zhassulan |last13=Bekmanov |first13=Bakhytzhan |last14=Kitov |first14=Egor |last15=Samashev |first15=Zainolla |date=2021-03-26 |title=Ancient genomic time transect from the Central Asian Steppe unravels the history of the Scythians |journal=Science Advances |language=en |volume=7 |issue=13 |doi=10.1126/sciadv.abe4414 |issn=2375-2548 |pmc=7997506 |pmid=33771866|bibcode=2021SciA....7.4414G }}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Unterländer|2017|ps=: Data available at [https://static-content.springer.com/esm/art%3A10.1038%2Fncomms14615/MediaObjects/41467_2017_BFncomms14615_MOESM2258_ESM.pdf Supplementary Information file], page 38, Table 7. West Eurasia (WEA): 48%, East Eurasia (EEA) 52%.}}</ref>

===Pazyryk-1===
Tomb number 1 at Pazyryk has numerous artifacts, including horses wearing deer antlers masks, or harnesses with human figures.<ref>{{cite journal |title=Эрмитаж.ОМП.Статья |journal=Edu.hermitage.ru |volume=State Hermitage Museum |url=https://edu.hermitage.ru/catalogs/1418203874/themes/1418492056/article/1418492060 |archive-date=2023-12-10 |access-date=2023-12-10 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231210144818/https://edu.hermitage.ru/catalogs/1418203874/themes/1418492056/article/1418492060 |url-status=dead }}</ref> The tomb is dated to the 4th century BCE.<ref>{{cite web |title=Эрмитаж.ОМП.Галлерея |url=https://edu.hermitage.ru/catalogs/1418203874/gallery |website=edu.hermitage.ru |publisher=State Hermitage Museum |access-date=2023-12-10 |archive-date=2023-12-10 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231210155439/https://edu.hermitage.ru/catalogs/1418203874/gallery |url-status=dead }}</ref> Its main content was looted, but the area with horse sacrifices remained intact. It was excavated by Griaznov in the 1930s.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Golomshtok |first1=Eugene A. |last2=Griaznov |first2=M. P. |title=The Pazirik Burial of Altai |journal=American Journal of Archaeology |date=1933 |volume=37 |issue=1 |pages=30–45 |doi=10.2307/498038 |jstor=498038 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/498038 |issn=0002-9114}}</ref>
<gallery widths="200px" heights="200px" perrow="4">
File:Ancient Siberian horse mask, Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg.jpg|Deer mask for a Pazyryk horse (Tomb 1).<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Jones |first1=Robert A. |title=Centaurs on the silk road: recent discoveries of Hellenistic textiles in western China |journal=Encyclopedia of Medieval Dress and Textiles |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/292017418}}</ref>
File:Pazyryk2.png|Horse harness with human figures, Pazyryk-1.<ref>{{cite web |title=Эрмитаж.ОМП.Статья |url=https://edu.hermitage.ru/catalogs/1418203874/themes/1418492056/article/1418492060 |website=edu.hermitage.ru |publisher=State Hermitage Museum |access-date=2023-12-10 |archive-date=2023-12-10 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231210144818/https://edu.hermitage.ru/catalogs/1418203874/themes/1418492056/article/1418492060 |url-status=dead }}</ref>
File:Pazyryk.png|Human figure from a harness, Pazyryk-1
File:Pazyryk-1, decorated horse saddle, 4th century BCE.jpg|Decorated horse saddle, Pazyryk-1, 4th century BCE.<ref>{{cite web |title=Эрмитаж.ОМП.Галлерея |url=https://edu.hermitage.ru/catalogs/1418203874/gallery |website=edu.hermitage.ru |publisher=State Hermitage Museum |access-date=2023-12-10 |archive-date=2023-12-10 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231210155439/https://edu.hermitage.ru/catalogs/1418203874/gallery |url-status=dead }}</ref>
File:Felt band with Achaemenid-derived lion design. Pazyryk-1 tomb.jpg|Felt band with [[Achaemenid Empire|Achaemenid]]-derived lion design. Pazyryk-1 tomb.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Pankova |first1=Svetlana |last2=Simpson |first2=St John |title=Scythians: warriors of ancient Siberia |date=1 January 2017 |publisher=British Museum |page=275, Item 189 |url=https://www.academia.edu/34533231}}</ref>
File:Pazyryk-1, horse harness, saddle and wood shield.jpg|Pazyryk-1, horse harness, saddle and wood shield
File:Hermitage Museum - 2015 Dec - IMG 2123 (r27).jpg|Sarcophagus from the burial chamber.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Golomshtok |first1=Eugene A. |last2=Griaznov |first2=M. P. |title=The Pazirik Burial of Altai |journal=American Journal of Archaeology |date=1933 |volume=37 |issue=1 |pages=30–45 |doi=10.2307/498038 |jstor=498038 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/498038 |issn=0002-9114}}</ref>
</gallery>

===Pazyryk-2 chief===
[[File:Ancient Siberian head, Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg.jpg|thumb|upright|Embalmed head of Pazyryk clan chieftain. Burial mound 2, Pazyryk. Circa 300 BCE. State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg, 1684/29.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Pankova |first1=Svetlana |last2=Simpson |first2=St John |title=Scythians: warriors of ancient Siberia |date=1 January 2017 |publisher=British Museum |pages=106-109, Items 31, 32, 33 |url=https://www.academia.edu/34533231}}</ref>]]
Rudenko's most striking discovery in 1947 was the body of a tattooed Pazyryk chief in burial mound 2: a thick-set, powerfully built man, 176cm tall, who had died when he was between 55 and 60.<ref name="SP106"/> His tomb was monumental and lavishly equipped.<ref name="SP106"/> He died violently, and was killed with a Scythian-type battle axe, and scalped. He was carefully embalmed, and his body was covered in [[animal style]] tattoos, but not his face.<ref name="SP106">{{cite book |last1=Pankova |first1=Svetlana |last2=Simpson |first2=St John |title=Scythians: warriors of ancient Siberia |date=1 January 2017 |publisher=British Museum |pages=106–109 |url=https://www.academia.edu/34533231}}</ref> Parts of the body had deteriorated, but much of the tattooing was still clearly visible (see [[:Image:Scythian tatoo.jpg|image]]). Subsequent investigation using reflected [[infrared photography]] revealed that all five bodies discovered in the Pazyryk kurgans were tattooed.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Barkova |first1=L. L. |last2=Pankova |first2=S. V. |title=Tattooed Mummies From The Large Pazyryk Mounds: New findings |journal=Archaeology, Ethnology and Anthropology of Eurasia |date=2005 |volume=2 |issue=22 |pages=48–59 |url=https://www.academia.edu/3640168 |access-date=21 December 2023}}</ref> No instruments specifically designed for tattooing were found, but the Pazyryks had extremely fine needles with which they did miniature [[embroidery]], and these were probably used for tattooing.

The chief was elaborately decorated with an interlocking series of striking designs representing a variety of fantastic beasts. The best preserved [[tattoo]]s were images of a [[donkey]], a [[argali|mountain ram]], two highly stylized [[deer]] with long antlers and an imaginary [[carnivore]] on the right arm. Two monsters resembling [[griffin]]s decorate the chest, and on the left arm are three partially obliterated images which seem to represent two deer and a [[mountain goat]]. On the front of the right leg a [[fish]] extends from the foot to the knee. A monster crawls over the right foot, and on the inside of the shin is a series of four running rams which touch each other to form a single design. The left leg also bears tattoos, but these designs could not be clearly distinguished. In addition, the chief's back is tattooed with a series of small circles in line with the vertebral column.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Pankova |first1=Svetlana |last2=Simpson |first2=St John |title=Scythians: warriors of ancient Siberia |date=1 January 2017 |publisher=British Museum |pages=106-109, Items 31, 32, 33|url=https://www.academia.edu/34533231}}</ref> 

His embalmed head, now in the Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg, suggests a rather "Mongoloïd type".<ref>{{cite book |last1=Pankova |first1=Svetlana |last2=Simpson |first2=St John |title=Scythians: warriors of ancient Siberia |date=1 January 2017 |publisher=British Museum |pages=106-109, Items 31, 32, 33|url=https://www.academia.edu/34533231}}</ref> He was crowned with a [[gold|gilded]] copper tiara decorated with six winged, horned and hoofed lions ("lion griffins"). The lion griffins were made of wood, but were originally covered in gold foil before the foils were looted by tomb robbers.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Pankova |first1=Svetlana |last2=Simpson |first2=St John |title=Scythians: warriors of ancient Siberia |date=1 January 2017 |publisher=British Museum |pages=110, Item 34 |url=https://www.academia.edu/34533231}}</ref> A false beard, made of hair, sinew thread and leather, was also discovered next to him in his tomb. Its significance remaining conjectural, as all mummies recovered from Pazyryk were clean-shaven.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Pankova |first1=Svetlana |last2=Simpson |first2=St John |title=Scythians: warriors of ancient Siberia |date=1 January 2017 |publisher=British Museum |pages=111, Item 35 |url=https://www.academia.edu/34533231}}</ref> An extraordinary male headgear, a carved wooden crest representing a bird of prey with a deer head in its beak, was also found at the head of the coffin, and is thought to be the headgear of the chieftain.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Pankova |first1=Svetlana |last2=Simpson |first2=St John |title=Scythians: warriors of ancient Siberia |date=1 January 2017 |publisher=British Museum |pages=112-113, Item 36, 37|url=https://www.academia.edu/34533231}}</ref>

<gallery widths="200px" heights="200px" perrow="4">
File:Pazyryk tatoo design with zoomorphic symbols, 4th century BCE.jpg|Tattoos of the chief's right arm, with zoomorphic symbols.<ref>{{cite journal |title=Siberian Princess reveals her 2,500 year old tattoos |journal=The Siberian Times |date=2012 |url=https://siberiantimes.com/culture/others/features/siberian-princess-reveals-her-2500-year-old-tattoos/}}</ref>
File:Pazyryk-2 man, back and left arm (circa 300 BCE).jpg|Tattoos of the chief's back and left arm.<ref>{{cite journal |title=Siberian Princess reveals her 2,500 year old tattoos |journal=The Siberian Times |date=2012 |url=https://siberiantimes.com/culture/others/features/siberian-princess-reveals-her-2500-year-old-tattoos/}}</ref>
File:Pazyryk-2 tattoos.png|Tattoos of the Pazyryk-2 chief.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Pankova |first1=Svetlana |last2=Simpson |first2=St John |title=Scythians: warriors of ancient Siberia |date=1 January 2017 |publisher=British Museum |pages=106-109, Items 31, 32, 33 |url=https://www.academia.edu/34533231}}</ref>
</gallery>

===Pazyryk-5===
[[File:Pazyryk-5 mummy.jpg|thumb|Pazyryk-5 mummy]]
Pazyryk barrow 5 also contained the remains of a Saka chief.<ref name="NK">{{cite journal |last1=Konstantinov |first1=N. |last2=Slyusarenko |first2=I. |last3=Mylnikov |first3=V. |last4=Stepanova |first4=E. |last5=Vasilieva |first5=N. |title= Results of repeated study of the frozen tomb of the Fifth Pazyryk Barrow in the Altai Mountains (Russia): 70 years after first excavations |journal=Archaeological Research in Asia |date=1 December 2022 |volume=32 |pages=1–8 |doi=10.1016/j.ara.2022.100410 |url=https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ara.2022.100410 |issn=2352-2267}}</ref> It was excavated by S.I. Rudenko in 1949.<ref name="NK"/> 

The grave was formed of an inner and an outer log sarcophagus, covered with five layers of logs and a layer of boulders.<ref name="NK"/> The tomb was looted in antiquity, but still contained the enbalmed remains of a man and a women, together with some artifacts, nine horses, either harnessed to chariot or back riding, a disassembled wagon with four large wheels on spokes, and various carpets.<ref name="NK"/>
<gallery widths="200px" heights="200px" perrow="4">
File:Hermitage Museum - 2015 Dec - IMG 2127 (r26).jpg|Inner log sarcophagus, Pazyryk-5.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Pankova |first1=Svetlana |last2=Simpson |first2=St John |title=Scythians: warriors of ancient Siberia |date=1 January 2017 |page=263, Fig. 150 |url=https://www.academia.edu/34533231}}</ref>
File:Pazyryk-5 tattoos.png|Tattoos of the man in Pazyryk-5. He has a large lion design over the left shoulder.
File:Hermitage hall 026 - 05.jpg|The wagon, Pazyryk-5
File:Ancient Siberian tapestry, Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg.jpg|Carpet, Pazyryk-5
File:Hermitage hall 026 - 02.jpg|Decorated felt piece, Pazyryk-5
File:Hermitage hall 026 - 03.jpg|Carpet from Pazyryk-5
File:Y1A2617 Hermitage, St. Petersburg (21409212769).jpg|Decorated carpet from Pazyryk-5, of Near-Eastern origin. This is the earliest surviving [[knotted-pile carpet]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Pankova |first1=Svetlana |last2=Simpson |first2=St John |title=Scythians: warriors of ancient Siberia |date=1 January 2017 |page=281 |url=https://www.academia.edu/34533231}}</ref>
File:Pazyryk-5 carpet, horsemen detail.jpg|Pazyryk-5 carpet, Near-Eastern horsemen detail
</gallery>

===Ice Maiden===
{{main|Siberian Ice Maiden}}
[[Image:Mummy of the Ukok Princess.jpg|thumb|upright|The Ice Maiden – fifth century BCE]]
The most famous undisturbed Pazyryk burial so far recovered is the [[Siberian Ice Maiden|Ice Maiden]] or "Altai Lady" found by archaeologist [[Natalia Polosmak]] in 1993 at Ukok, near the Chinese border. The find was a rare example of a single woman given a full ceremonial burial in a wooden chamber tomb in the fifth century BCE, accompanied by six horses.<ref name="nova" />
She had been buried over 2,400 years ago in a casket fashioned from the hollowed-out trunk of a Siberian [[Larch|larch tree]]. On the outside of the casket were stylized images of deer and [[snow leopard]]s carved in leather. Shortly after burial the grave had apparently been flooded by freezing rain, and the entire contents of the burial chamber had remained frozen in [[permafrost]]. Six horses wearing elaborate harnesses had been sacrificed and lay to the north of the chamber.<ref>Polosmak, Natalia (1994). "A Mummy Unearthed from the Pastures of Heaven." ''National Geographic'' 186:4, p. 91.</ref> 

[[File:Gorno-Altaysk Museum BurialComplex 014 4453.jpg|thumb|left|upright=1.5|Reconstruction of the tomb chamber of the Siberian Ice Maiden, in the [[Anokhin Museum]]. Sacrifical horses are visible to the left, while the princess lies in a wooden sarcophagus.<ref name="ST">{{cite journal |title=Legal bid fails to rebury remains of 2,500 year old tattooed 'ice princess' |journal=The Siberian Times |date=2016 |url=https://siberiantimes.com/other/others/news/n0574-legal-bid-fails-to-rebury-remains-of-2500-year-old-tattooed-ice-princess/}}</ref>]]
The maiden's well-preserved body, carefully embalmed with peat and bark, was arranged to lie on her side as if asleep. She was young, and her hair had been shaved off but she was wearing a wig and tall hat; she had been {{convert|167|cm|ftin}} tall. Even the [[animal style]] [[tattoo]]s were preserved on her pale skin: creatures with horns that develop into flowered forms. Her coffin was made large enough to accommodate the high felt headdress she was wearing, which was decorated with swans and gold-covered carved cats.<ref>Polosmak (1994), pp. 98-99.</ref> She was clad in a long crimson and white striped woolen skirt and white felt stockings. Her yellow blouse was originally thought to be made of wild "[[tussah]]" silk but closer examination of the fibers indicate the material is not Chinese but was a [[wild silk]] which came from somewhere else, perhaps [[India]].<ref name="atlas"/> Near her coffin was a vessel made of [[yak]] horn, and dishes containing gifts of [[coriander]] seeds:  all of which suggest that the Pazyryk trade routes stretched across vast areas of Iran{{Citation needed|date=October 2011}}. Similar dishes in other tombs were thought to have held ''[[Cannabis sativa]]'',  confirming a practice described by [[Herodotus]]<ref name="nova"/> but after tests the mixture was found to be coriander seeds, probably used to disguise the smell of the body.

Two years after the discovery of the "Ice Maiden" Dr. Polosmak's husband, Vyacheslav Molodin, found a frozen man, elaborately tattooed with an elk, with two long braids that reached to his waist, buried with his weapons.

Dr Anicua also noted that her blouse was a bit stained, indicating that the material was not a new garment, made for the burial.

===Pazyryk rug===
[[Image:Scythiancarpet.jpg|thumb|upright|The Pazyryk rug]]
One of the most famous finds at Pazyryk is the Pazyryk rug, which is probably the oldest surviving [[pile carpet]] in the world. According to some sources, it was manufactured in [[Ancient Armenia]], using the Armenian double knot and [[Armenian cochineal]] for the red color.<ref>{{cite book |author1=Ulrich Schurmann |title=The Pazyryk Its Use and Origin |date=1982 |page=46 |url=https://archive.org/details/ThePazyrykItsUseAndOrigin |quote=From all the evidence available I am convinced that the Pazyryk rug was a funeral accessory and most likely a masterpiece of Armenian workmanship}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |author1=Volkmar Gantzhorn |title=Oriental Carpets: Their Iconology and Iconography, from Earliest Times to the 18th Century |date=1998 |publisher=Taschen |page=51 |quote=Thus the Pazyryk rug will have to be regarded as one of the first testimonies to early Armenian work, quite possibly produced in the vicinity of the old textile centre of Ardashad in the south-western Caucasus.}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |author1=Barbara Brend |title=Islamic Art |date=1991 |publisher=Harvard University Press |page=43 |quote=Whether the Pazyryk carpet was made in Central or Western Asia is a matter of debate, but Armenia in particular has been mentioned as a possible place of origin. As it happens, Armenia is also quoted as the source of rugs among which the Umayyad Walid b. Yazid sat to receive guests, though the technique used to make these particular floor-coverings is not certain.}}</ref> According to another source, it is an imported [[Persian carpet|Persian work]] because of its decoration,<ref>{{cite book|author=Alois Riegl|title=Problems of Style: Foundations for a History of Ornament|publisher=Princeton University Press|year=2018|isbn=978-0691656588|page=395}}</ref> but also the horse type, which seems Nisean. It measures {{cvt|183|×|200|cm|ftin}} and has a knot density of approximately 360,000 [[knot density|knots per]] square meter, which is higher than most modern carpets. The middle of the rug consists of a ribbon motif, while in the border there is a procession with elk or deer, and in another border warriors on horses. When it was found it had been deeply frozen in a block of ice, which is why it is so well-preserved. The rug can be seen at the [[Hermitage Museum]] in [[Saint Petersburg]], Russia.<ref name="Carpet">{{cite web |url=http://www.carpetencyclopedia.com/pages/History-184.html |title=History of handknotted carpets |website=CarpetEncyclopedia.com |access-date=March 2, 2015}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Pile Carpet |url=https://www.hermitagemuseum.org/wps/portal/hermitage/digital-collection/25.+archaeological+artifacts/879870 |access-date=2023-09-25 |website=Hermitage Museum}}</ref>

===Other findings===
In a corner of one grave chamber of the Pazyryk cemetery was a fur bag containing coriander seed, a censer filled with stones, and the hexapod frame{{definition needed|date=February 2024}} of an inhalation tent{{definition needed|date=February 2024}} – these are believed to have been utilized at the end of the funerary ritual for purification.

Other undisturbed kurgans have been found to contain remarkably well-preserved remains, comparable to the earlier [[Tarim mummies]] of [[Xinjiang]]. Bodies were preserved using [[mummy|mummification]] techniques and were also naturally frozen in solid ice from water seeping into the tombs.  They were encased in coffins made from hollowed trunks of [[larch]] (which may have had sacral significance) and sometimes accompanied by sacrificed concubines and horses.  The clustering of tombs in a single area implies that it had particular ritual significance for these people, who were likely to have been willing to transport their deceased leaders great distances for burial.

As recently as the summer of 2012,  tombs have been discovered at various locations.{{citation needed|date=May 2014}}  In January 2007 a timber tomb of a blond chieftain warrior was unearthed in the permafrost of the [[Altai Republic|Altai mountains region]] close to the Mongolian border.<ref>{{cite news | title=Russian Archaeologists Discover Remains of Ancient Chieftain in Altai Permafrost | url=http://www.mosnews.com/news/2007/01/10/ancienttomb.shtml | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070302010403/http://www.mosnews.com/news/2007/01/10/ancienttomb.shtml | url-status=usurped | archive-date=2007-03-02 | date=2007-01-10 | access-date=2007-05-06 }}</ref> The body of the presumed Pazyryk chieftain is tattooed; his sable coat is well preserved, as are some other objects, including what looks like [[scissors]]. A local archaeologist, Aleksei Tishkin, complained that the indigenous population of the region strongly disapproves of archaeological digs, prompting the scientists to move their activities across the border to [[Mongolia]].<ref>{{cite news | author=Daria Radovskaya | url=http://www.rg.ru/2007/01/10/kochevnik.html | title=Кочевник был блондином | newspaper=[[Rossiyskaya Gazeta]] | date=2007-01-10 | access-date=2007-05-06 }}</ref>