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Anat Cell Biol 2023; 56(3): 404-408
Published online September 30, 2023
https://doi.org/10.5115/acb.23.051
Copyright © Korean Association of ANATOMISTS.
Anthropological report of arctic people’s mummy found at a medieval grave of West Siberia
Sergey Mikhailovich Slepchenko1 
, Alexander Vasilyevich Gusev2 , Evgenia Olegovna Svyatova3 , Jong Ha Hong4 , Hyejin Lee5 , Dong Hoon Shin6
1Tyumen Scientific Center of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Tyumen, 2Sector of History and Archeology, Arctic Research Center of the Yamal-Nenets Autonomous District, Salekhard, 3Yekaterinburg Special Scientific and Restoration Design Workshop, Yekaterinburg, Russia, 4Institute of Korean Archaeology and Ancient History, Kyung Hee University, Seoul, 5Department of Forensic Medicine, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seoul, 6Institute of Forensic and Anthropological Science, Medical Research Center, Seoul National University, Seoul, Korea
Correspondence to:Dong Hoon Shin
Institute of Forensic and Anthropological Science, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seoul 03080, Korea
E-mail: cuteminjae@gmail.com
Sergey Mikhailovich Slepchenko
Tyumen Scientific Center of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Tyumen 625008, Russia
E-mail: s_slepchenko@list.ru
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
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: Arctic region, Radiography, Mummies, Siberia, Anatomy
