'Accidental' Siberian Mummies Part of Mysterious Ancient Arctic Civilization 34
concertina226 (2447056) writes "Russian archaeologists are trying to discover the origins of a group of 800-year-old bodies found just 29 km from the Arctic Circle, which were accidentally mummified by copper when they were buried. The mummies were discovered at Zeleniy Yar in Siberia, in 34 shallow graves, and 11 of the bodies found in the medieval burial place had either smashed skeletons or missing and shattered skulls. They may have been damaged by their peers deliberately to prevent spells emanating from them. There is only one female, a child, who is buried with her face masked by copper plates, and three male infant mummies, who wear copper masks and were bound in four or five copper hoops that each measure several centimetres wide."
Or... (Score:5, Funny)
Putin is going to claim they were Russian speakers, and therefore Russia has a natural right to everything north of the Arctic circle.
Then Fox News... (Score:2)
will talk about how Obama is such a "wimp" for not invading the Arctic Circle immediately.
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Actually, that would be Canada's prerogative. And Canada is taking steps to enhance its presence in the Arctic Circle . . . precisely because they are concerned that Russia plans to lay claim to the emerging shipping lanes there.
And Obama has never seen "Ice Station Zebra": http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I... [wikipedia.org]
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So we can then have Stephen Harper establish his credentials as the leader of the Free World, by taking on Putin. It may seem a lot, except that Russia is as sparsely populated as Canada.
One idea - move all unemployed Americans - or USians, as /.ers like to call it - to Ellesmere & Baffin Island, so that the Western claims on the North Pole is established. There would be enough to take on the entire Russian army - and I'd bet that most of them are there on their borders w/ Ukraine, as well as the Ca
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Dont mock or bully people who suffer from it!
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Oh, here's a burger.
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Uh oh (Score:4, Informative)
I sure hope they're not stupid enough to remove those copper restraints. They were put there for a reason...
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt00... [imdb.com]
you know, this Arctic Circle is a nice place (Score:2)
Ancient? (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Ancient? (Score:5, Insightful)
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The other term that is out of place is 'civilization' when refering to copper jewelery.
Also, the fact that these bodies were preserved might have something to do with the coldness of the location, (like froaen mammoth carcasses found also in siberia)
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Bah, you young whipper snappers, back in my day Ancient was reserved for before God said Let their be light!
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I don't know what you're talking about. My old flip phone is ancient, and that was only 10 years ago. 'Ancient' is a subjective and contextual term.
Bet On Vikings (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Bet On Vikings (Score:5, Informative)
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but vikings are more ancient than this.
however, if this is what they used their copper for it might explain why they(northern tribes) had to start using reindeer parts for everything.
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Probably not Vikings, more likely the same red haired people who lived between Persia and the western gates of the Great Wall. There are many mummies with similar features from the Tarim Basin, preserved by high salinity soils rather than copper and permafrost. They appear to have been of eastern European origin, and their textiles and genetics indicate that they are of the same people who also moved westward and became the Celts. These mummies are much later than the Tarim mummies, who did not make such
Wasn't this a film with Lee and Cushing? (Score:4, Informative)
Terror Train has Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing as archeologists bringing back a mummy from China via train through Siberia. Then, it wakes up.
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"Terror Train has Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing as archeologists bringing back a mummy from China via train through Siberia. Then, it wakes up."
What wakes up? Siberia? China? Or the train...
Reminds me of something... (Score:1)
Mysterious ancient Arctic civilization? Mummies? Ph'nglui mglw'nafh C'thulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn !! The Shoggots ! Those eyes! Run, run!
True (Score:2)
> They may have been damaged by their peers deliberately to prevent spells emanating from them
Same thing we do in my family.
It's hard to get a good night's sleep with all those spells emanating from grandpa's shallow grave.
Medieval battle? (Score:2)
Perhaps the 11 were battle casualties? In which case...where did the victors go?
How about some better links, with more pictures? (Score:3)
As soon as I see an "ibtimes" domain, I know better than to RTFA. I don't understand why /. ever posts links to their crappy sites unless they're getting kickbacks on click-throughs.
So how about looking for some alternate sources? Googling "Zeleniy Yar mummies" suggests that this isn't some ibtimes hoax after all.
This Siberian Times article seems to have the most information with lots of great pictures, the fewest ads, and other sites credit it as their source:
http://siberiantimes.com/scien... [siberiantimes.com]