And they ask the Supreme Court to protect Russia from the curse of an ancient woman
Public activists ask the judges to allow the princess of Ukok to be buried. They promise: then the crisis will end in the country and the ruble will strengthen! In the Altai Republic, a court was held, which decided the issue of burying the mummy. Representatives of the Ministry of Culture, Novosibirsk scientists, and even local shamans spoke there. The latter insist that since the excavations in 1993 a curse has come to Altai: a surge of earthquakes, suicides in villages, floods in the spring … Why Altai, the whole country has been sausage since the 1990s! They say, here, bury the princess and the end will come immediately to the economic crisis, sanctions and a weak ruble … But the court sided with Novosibirsk scientists who do not believe in mysticism.
The battle of shamanism against science has not yet been completely lost - the Supreme Court is ahead. So who should give the mummy, Komsomolskaya Pravda journalists figured out.
VIRUS SUICIDE AT THE VILLAGE
It all started in 1993, when archaeologists from Novosibirsk visited the Altai Republic. Excavating another mound, they found the remains of a girl. She was buried at least three centuries BC. But much has survived underground. A silk shirt worn by an ancient lady, a woolen skirt, a fur coat, a horsehair wig.
Scientists were even able to see the lady's tattoos: a griffin with a deer body and antlers was depicted on her hands. Six horses were buried with the girl. Local residents interpreted all these signs as a sign of honor and christened the found girl Princess Ukok. Ukok is the name of the plateau where the excavations took place.
- When the excavations were carried out, the locals were friendly to us. And there was no hint of any problem that we disturbed their shrine, or something else, - recalls archaeologist Vyacheslav Molodin.
Promotional video:
Even tattoos can be seen on the remains of "Princess Ukok".
Photo: provided by the SB RAS
Some time passed and everything changed. Now the locals are in court trying to get the princess back into the land. These litigations began with the filing of an Altai public figure - Akay Kine.
- What are these moral norms that one can freely dig up the ashes of our ancestors, without a twinge of conscience - he is unhappy.
But it's not just about respect for the ashes of the deceased. Some Altaians believe that scientists angered the spirit of the sacred person when they disturbed her mortal remains. And first the troubles fell on the Republic, and then on the whole of Russia. They say that the "princess", also called Ak-Kadyn (White Lady), was the keeper of the peace of people, stood guard over the gates of the underworld, preventing the penetration of evil to the earth from the lower worlds.
- Altai survived severe earthquakes, hail, floods. Suicide even increased. In the village of Beltir, in the late 90s, 27 children laid hands on themselves during the year, and then the village was destroyed by a powerful earthquake. Therefore, I said at the trial: the life of even one child is more valuable than your arguments that the princess is an archaeological site,”Akai Kine laments. “If you bury her now, you can still fix it. And in the country everything will gradually get better: the crisis will go away, the ruble, not immediately, but it will begin to strengthen, life will become easier!
Shamans say that the first village to suffer from the mummy was Beltir.
Photo: Vlad KOMYAKOV
The earthquake mentioned by the Altai was indeed powerful. It fell on the republic ten years after the excavations. The epicenter fell just on the Kosh-Agach district, where archaeologists worked. Then about 2 thousand home suffered, and the village of Beltir was almost razed to the ground. But the shamans cannot provide any documents that on the eve of the disaster there were mass suicides in it. As for the floods, Altai periodically drowns every 8 years from the moment of observations, that is, since 1920. Then the mummy was still sleeping peacefully in the depths of the earth.
Akai Kine intends to go to the Supreme Court.
Photo: facebook.com
THE PRINCESS COMES TO ME AND ASKS FOR HELP
The Altai shaman Slava Cheltuev also attended the court hearings.
- I warned everyone for a long time, but no one listened: all these cataclysms are associated with the girl who was dug up. It was not only nature that suffered, the wreck of cars began, - the shaman allegorically says.
He recalls a helicopter crash in the same Kosh-Agach region. Then, in the 2009 plane crash, seven people died. Cheltuev is persistent. Let's, they say, return the mummy to the earth and the disasters will stop. She says this is the request of the dead girl herself. Like, she appears to him. Either in dreams, or in visions:
- Four years ago she came to me. I asked for help, but I could not understand what she was saying. Her voice echoed, as if speaking into a microphone. Besides, she spoke some ancient language, probably Chinese. I didn't understand anything, but I realized that she needed help!
The village was destroyed by an earthquake in 2003.
Photo: Vlad KOMYAKOV
Even a Public Committee on the Burial of the Mummy has been created in the Republic. There is no official membership in it - whoever wants it is with the committee. But he has a chapter - the already familiar activist Akai Kine. Deputy Minister of the Altai Republic Natalya Saymina dislikes him. He believes that a man in a fur hat is aiming at politics.
- Populism of some kind, he earns himself points on this. He has not worked for us all his life, he works only for such moments. Either he is a great Turk, who protects the Turkic world, or a great Altaist, protects the Altaians, then unites with chauvinist leaders against someone. This is his whole life, - Natalya Karuevna considers. - Now he is fixated on the mummy, because it is of global importance. Until the 1990s, the Pazyryk mound was also dug here, and these findings can now be seen in the Hermitage. They may even be more valuable, the whole Scythian culture is there.
- But what about the disaster? What about disasters? Is it really not important for the Ministry of Culture to stop them?
- Doesn't it flood Europe? Japan is not shaking? - says the deputy minister. - And with us, of course, the mummy is to blame for everything. I, as a simple citizen and purebred Altai, believe that such things should not be speculated at all!
We also phoned the administration of the village of Kosh-Agach. Maybe they noticed some changes after the excavations?
- It seems like we lived before the excavations, so we live. I didn’t notice any dramatic changes, and what shakes us - so the mountains, although such a strong earthquake, as in 2003, has never happened in my lifetime, - Asylbek Usenov, Deputy Head of Administration of Kosh-Agach, answered briefly.
Vyacheslav Molodin has known the mummy for almost 23 years
Photo: Vlad KOMYAKOV
The mummy turned out to be a childless shaman-healer
Vyacheslav Molodin, Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Deputy Director of Archeology and Ethnography of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, also believes that Akai Kine is playing a dishonest game, simply promoting himself on a loud topic, rocking Altai society. Vyacheslav Ivanovich remembers the "princess" from the last century. It was he, together with his wife and colleague Natalya Polosmak, who presented the mummy to the scientific world.
But maybe give in to the shamans, since the find has become a bone of contention? What is the actual problem? The girl's remains have already been studied. And God is with her. Return to the ground, and disputes will end. But it's not that simple.
- Why should we follow the opinion of shamans and not adhere to the opinion of the scientific community? Russia will simply be laughed at. This is some kind of Middle Ages, we must think about the image of our country, - Molodin categorically expressed himself on the air of the Komsomolskaya Pravda radio. - The mummy is an object of historical and cultural heritage, which is protected by the state. It can be exhibited in museums where it is now kept. But this is not the most important thing: the mummy must be constantly studied.
It would seem that everything about this princess is known - the girl was 25 years old, she was a good rider …
So, according to scientists, a woman looked like during her lifetime.
- Research continues, - says the academician. - In 2014, this object was first examined under a tomograph. And the most interesting facts were received. For example, what was she sick with - she was sick with cancer. This is important not only for the reconstruction of the historical and cultural process, but also for you and me, because this data is very valuable for modern medicine. And we don't know what the opening will be tomorrow!
Our interlocutor, by the way, clarifies that Princess Ukok is just a beautiful nickname. No girl, they say, and not a princess. Altaians consider her to be their progenitor. But this archaeologist also denies:
- At first we were very indignant about this. She is not a member of the nobility! At best, it belongs to the middle stratum of Pazyryk society. Most likely, she was a healer, perhaps a shaman, but by definition she could not be a princess - then there were no kings, - Molodin dispels the myths. - And what is she the progenitor of the Altai people, when she did not give birth? And now we can say for sure about this. And she was not an Altai! There were no nationalities at that time, but if we talk about an ethnic group, then it is closest to the Somadians - these are the Selkups and Nenets, who still live in Siberia. It also has an Iranian alien component. She has nothing to do with any Altaians who are descendants of the Altai Turks. And of course, all these earthquakes, supposedly suicides in the villages, have nothing to do with excavations. It's just that people make their own image on this topic. As if Altai didn't shake before!
The local servants of Themis took the side of the scientist and the Ministry of Culture: the mummy should not be returned to Earth.
But the head of the burial committee, Akai Kine, is not giving up. He says that I have been dealing with this issue for twenty years, and I will not quit! Now he is preparing an appeal to appeal the decision and await the court of a higher instance - the Supreme.