An accessory found from the two-millennia-old grave of an ancient fashionista in Siberia has been dubbed “iPhone” by researchers for its striking resemblance to the smartphone. The black rectangular object was discovered in a burial site known as ‘The Russian Atlantis’ in mountainous Republic of Tuva, according to Siberian Times.
Archealogists have named the woman whose skeleton was found in the grave as ‘Natasha’. “Natasha’s burial with a Xiongnu-era iPhone remains one of the most interesting at this burial site," Pavel Leus from the Institute for the History of Material Culture, Russian Academy of Sciences, said while detailing results of several years of recent archaeological expeditions to the Ala-Tey burial site.
The 18cm by 9cm belt buckle is made of gemstone jet with inlaid decorations of turquoise, carnelian and mother-of-pearl. Chinese wuzhu coins adorning the woman’s belt helped scientists date it back to 2,137 years when such coins were first minted.
The find was made in 2016 at the Ala-Tey necropolis, a manmade reservoir on the Yenisei River upstream of Russia’s largest power plant Sayano-Shushenskaya Dam.
Previously, graves dating from the Bronze Age to the time of Genghis Khan have been found at the reservoir when drainage of water turns it into a vast desert in May and June every year. Other finds include two partly-mummified “prehistoric fashionistas,” buried with the tools of their trade.
“This site is a scientific sensation,” Dr Marina Kilunovskaya from the St Petersburg Institute of Material History Culture was quoted as saying. “We are incredibly lucky to have found these burials of rich nomads that were not disturbed by (ancient) grave robbers,” Kilunovskaya, who leads the Tuva Archeological Expedition, added.
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