1,300-year-old mummy in a cocoon in Siberia

Russian scientists discovered the mummified remains of an adult and a nearly 6-month-old baby buried 1,300 years ago in Siberia.

A cocoon containing the mummified body of an adult covered from head to toe in copper plates in Siberia. Photo: Alexander Gusev.

Scientists at Russia's Arctic Research Center discovered a 1,300-year-old mummy wrapped in bronze and fur in the Zeleniy Yar cemetery in Siberia, on the edge of the Arctic, the Sun reported on July 16. It is likely that this person was a resident of an ancient civilization with ties to Persia. Next to this mummy, the research team also discovered the remains of a baby.

"The two mummies were lying side by side along the north-south direction. The feet of the deceased were turned towards the nearby Gorny Poluy river. The adult mummy was covered with copper plates. The baby mummy, younger than 6 months old, was found in small fragments of a copper cauldron," said Alexander Gusev, a member of the research team.

The bodies were placed in cocoons made of thick fabric and liquid derived from the distillation of birch bark, Gusev said. The composition of the embalming compound will be revealed after laboratory tests.

According to the Siberian Times, the cocoon wrapped around the adult mummy is 170 centimeters long. Therefore, the person inside could be about 165 centimeters tall. The research team will take the mummy to a laboratory in Tyumen, Russia, to determine the exact gender and age as well as the type of fur used to warm the deceased on the way to the afterlife.

The archaeological complex where the two new mummies were discovered was first discovered in 1997 during the joint US-Russian project “Living Yamal”. Researchers found many Persian artifacts in the area.

According to VNE