awed-frog:

taibhsearachd:

historyarchaeologyartefacts:

2300 years old Scythian woman’s boot preserved in the frozen ground of the Altai Mountains[750x451]

So I was mobile when I reblogged this earlier, but re: the adornment on the soles. These shoes undoubtedly belonged to the Pazyryk Ice Maiden, given the date, culture, and location. (I love her, I care about her so much, and I will never not ramble about her given the chance.)

The woman who wore these boots was 30 years old, at the oldest. She was probably a priestess, a storyteller. She was from a horseriding culture, and it’s unclear if stirrups had been invented at the time. She suffered from chronic pain, and she died from breast cancer and/or complications from a fall (probably from horseback).

This is the first time I’ve seen her boots, but I’m entirely unsurprised by it. She may not have had to walk much, given her status and riding culture. She may not have been ABLE to walk much, given her apparent disabilities. She was valued in her community, despite these limitations, to the point that they created these beautiful, less-than-functional objects for her, that they buried her with ceremony befitting royalty, that she and her belongings are the best and most solid example of this culture we have. Disabled people have inherent worth in a society, and always have.

Actually, these boots didn’t belong to the Ice Maiden. They are a couple of centuries more recent and were found about fifty years before. And they might have been ceremonial (made for the burial only), hence the unpractical decorations on the soles.

But, yeah - the Ice Maiden must have been a remarkable woman. Here is what she looked like:

(via the-barefoot-hatter)