From SignOnSanDiego.com: Threads of old.
In 1993, Russian archaeologist Natalia Polosmak discovered an undisturbed kurgan, or tomb, in the rugged Ukok Plateau of Siberia, just inside a strip of no-man's land between Russia and China. It belonged to the Pazyryks, Iron Age horsemen who inhabited the steppes of western Asia up until the second century B.C.
The first kurgans discovered in the 1940s contained meticulously embalmed bodies with internal organs and muscles removed and the skin sewn back together with horsehair thread.
After weeks of digging through 20 feet of ice, Polosmak's team discovered the frozen remains of six horses. Below was a wooden chamber.
"You feel you are about to unveil a secret when you open the lid," she remembers. "A face, or something else, might appear through the ice."
Polosmak's team pried four heavy copper nails off the lid. By dripping cupfuls of heated water into the coffin, they began to melt the ice. As it thawed, the team sniffed. An unmistakable smell arose.
Wet wool.
Fabric remains are exceedingly rare in archaeological sites, but here was a young woman beautifully preserved in finely sewn clothes. The ice maiden's thigh-high riding boots were still supple. Her dress, woven 2,400 years ago of sheep's wool and camel hair, was held at the waist by a braided cord banded in colors and hung with tassels. She wore a 3-foot black felt headdress adorned with griffins and birds. [continue]
Related:
Natalia Polosmak - mnsu.edu
Society through Textiles - lu.se
The Siberian Ice Maiden - explorenorth.com
Siberian Ice Maiden - pbs.org
Pazyryk and The Ice Maiden - Wikipedia