Shamans of Gorny Altai performed a ritual ceremony at the place where 19 years ago archaeologists unearthed the mummy of the “Altai princess”. The other day, the mummy was finally returned "home".
The mummy of an ancient woman was found by an expedition of the Novosibirsk archaeologist Natalya Polosmak in 1993, in a mound of the Scythian time on the Altai Ukok plateau near the border with Mongolia. The age of the find is estimated at more than 2.5 thousand years, it was called one of the most important recent discoveries in archeology.
Scientists took the mummy to Novosibirsk for research and until recently did not want to return it, despite the requests and demands of not only the government of the republic, but also the indigenous population, devoted to their pagan mythology and considering the mummy to be the guardian of the Earth.
According to Keene, the ceremony was carried out in connection with the delivery of the mummy by helicopter from Novosibirsk to Gorno-Altaisk last Thursday.
The knowledgeable Altaians ascended the Ukok plateau, a remote, inaccessible place in the south of the Altai Mountains, where at dawn they performed a ceremony in accordance with the beliefs of the Altaians. The ceremony was associated with an appeal to spirits. “They asked her to calm down,” he said. Shamans from Tuva and Khakassia also participated in the ceremony.
This is the second rite that the knowledgeable Altaians carried out in connection with the delivery of the "Altai princess" to their native land. They performed the first ceremony in one of the sacred places of Gorny Altai a few days before transportation, and during the transportation itself, the Altai lit a ritual fire.
Irina Salnikova, director of the museum of the Novosibirsk Institute of Archeology and Ethnography of the SB RAS, where the mummy was kept, said that the mummy was transported in an armored sarcophagus to protect it from possible damage.
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When 19 years ago, the mummy was just taken to Novosibirsk, there were engine problems, and a helicopter with a unique artifact made an emergency landing. Now, when the mummy was being returned, the representatives of the Altai delegation assured that they did not believe in mysticism. The mummy flew safely. It was placed in the Anokhin National Museum in Gorno-Altaysk, where a global reconstruction was carried out for 750 million rubles.
The authorities of the Altai Republic called the return of the mummy "a great event", which they had long waited for and prepared for.
Due to a conflict with scientists who had previously refused to return the mummy to the Altai, the regional government had previously banned any excavations in the south of Altai, where the mummy was found. In 2010, Novosibirsk scientists announced that they were ready to transfer the mummy, since all the necessary scientific work with it was completed.
Scientists have repeatedly stated that the mummy is not a princess and belongs to a different ethnic population, not Altaians. The fact that they call her that is the fruit of modern myth-making. However, these statements did not in any way affect the desire of the Altai people, who have their own mythology, to see the mummy on "their land."
Reconstruction of the appearance
Local authorities are confident that the mummy as a museum piece will be in great demand among tourists.
The global reconstruction of the National Museum of the Altai Republic cost 750 million rubles, the work was financed by OAO Gazprom. The reconstruction doubled the area of the museum - from 8 thousand square meters to 16.5 thousand. The reconstruction project provides for the construction of an annex to the museum building, a kind of mausoleum made in the form of a burial mound, going down inside which visitors can see the sarcophagus with the mummy of the "Altai princess". The necessary conditions have been created here for storing the mummy, including as a biological object. To maintain and control the special temperature and humidity conditions in the room, special German equipment is used.
The grand opening of the national museum is scheduled for September 26. In honor of the opening of the museum on the Chuisky tract at the entrance to the Altai Republic from the Altai Territory, it is planned to erect a memorial stone specially brought from the burial place of the "princess" - the Ukok fee. The hall where the most valuable exhibit of the museum will be kept will also be named after the Ukok plateau.
At one time, it was the disturbed spirit of the Altai princess that was called the cause of the Siberian earthquakes and many more mystical phenomena and incidents.