Timber from a potentate’s log cabin was superbly persevered in permafrost, allowing us to see how ancient man lived. The house itself, that has been extracted from permafrost and reconstructed, was not built as a dwelling but nevertheless is seen by archaeologists as showing the style of domestic architecture more than two millennia ago.

Pazyryk Log Cabin Tomb Discovered

The attractive log cabin was a prefabricated construction by the prehistoric Pazyryk culture to house an elite tomb – in which was buried a mummified curly-haired potentate and his younger wife or concubine. The mound in the Altai Mountains was originally 138 feet (42 meters) in diameter, and this tattooed couple went to the next life alongside nine geldings, saddled and harnessed.

This structure was the outer of two wooden houses in the large burial mound in the valley of the river Bolshoy Ulagan at an altitude of around 5250 feet (1600 meters) above sea level.