Horizon

Season 0, Episode 27

Episode Title: Ice Mummies: The Ice Maiden

Air Date: 1997-01-30

Overview:

Follows archeologist Natalya Polosmok as she journeys to the Altay Mountains in southern Siberia to search for traces of an ancient people known as the Pazyryk. * Polosmok and her team discover and unearth a wooden tomb surrounded by the frozen remains of six horses, uncovering a 2,400-year-old woman dubbed the Siberian Ice Maiden. * The Ice Maiden is buried alone, lying as if asleep, in a wood coffin with a headdress and a mirror. An afterlife meal, a yak horn vessel and a wooden table are also found outside the coffin. Archeologists record the Ice Maiden's height, and discover a hole in her skull and peat packed in her body. *They use radiocarbon dating, tree-ring chronology and biological testing to determine the age of the remains and time of death. *The body is excavated and taken to Moscow for preservation and facial reconstruction. Another mummy, and other skeletons, are discovered elsewhere. *The program concludes by raising the question of who has rights to the ancient graves.