She will be put on display in a special

A 2,500-year-old mummy of a tattooed Siberian princess is to go on public display for the first time, despite objections from local ethnic groups.

Preserved in permafrost in the Altai Mountains, her remains will be draped in a mock-fur cover to shield her modesty.

The 25-year-old woman, who is thought to be one of the earliest known victims of breast cancer, was excavated from her icy tomb almost 20 years ago.

The mummified remains of a Siberian princess (pictured) found buried in an icy tomb on the Ukok Plateau in the Altai Mountains are to go on public display for the first time despite objections from local ethnic groups who fear it will unleash evil spirits and want her to be re-interred in her tomb

THE SIBERIAN ICE MAIDEN The Siberian Ice Maiden, also known as the Princess of Ukok, is a mummy of a woman from the 5th century BC. She was discovered in 1993 in a kurgan of the Pazyryk culture in Republic of Altai, Russia. Analysis of her remains earlier highlighted sophisticated tattoos of 'great artistry' of fantastical creatures. Researchers discovered, among other things, clothing and headdresses, a make-up bag, and a stash of cannabis, buried with her. She had suffered from breast cancer, making her thin and weak at the time of her death. However, her actual cause of death may have been injury from falling from a great height. The ice maiden often sniffed cannabis, it is thought, and her altered state of mind gave her a special status in her society. This would explain the care her people took to care for her and not leave her to die, or hasten death. It also helps to understand the way her burial was conducted in a style similar - but different - to royalty. Advertisement

She had been buried on the 8,200 feet high Ukok Plateau with six horses and many treasures.

But the decision to put her on public display at a museum in Gorno-Altaisk, close to where her grave was found, has caused outrage among native ethnic groups in the Altai Republic, a Russian region bordering Mongolia, China and Kazakhstan.

They believe showing the mummy with her 'modern-looking' tattoos will unleash evil spirits.

Instead, they want her remains to be reburied at the site of her original tomb.

Local campaigner Akai Khan complained: 'The dead cannot be disturbed, and especially they cannot be held on public display and carried around the world.

'After she was dug out, we immediately saw earthquakes, floods, and hail which were not known previously.'

Yet, despite earlier promises her remains would not go on display, she is to be shown off to the public at the next new moon, in keeping with local superstitions.

Experts from a Moscow institute that maintain the embalmed corpse of Russian revolutionary Vladimir Lenin have advised on preserving the mummy of the woman.

They have developed a specially designed wood and glass sarcophagus for the exhibition, in which the Altai princess will be partially covered by a 'fur coat-style blanket'.

The ice princess's body art has won acclaim around the world, and will be visible on her shoulders and fingers.

Detailed scientific analysis has shown that the 'princess' - who lived five centuries before Christ - almost certainly died from breast cancer.

Researchers have also concluded that her illness may have caused her to suffer a fall, probably from a horse, which compounded her health problems.

The woman, who is thought to have been a princess in the ancient Pazyryk culture, is believed to have taken cannabis to ease her suffering.

Dug from her permafrost burial chamber on the high Ukok Plateau in 1993, analysis of the princess' remains highlighted sophisticated tattoos of 'great artistry' of fantastical creatures (shown)

The 2,500-year-old remains were unearthed almost 20 years ago in the Ukok Plateau in Russia (pictured)

The princesses shoulders, arms, wrist and fingers were found to be covered in intricate tattoos (pictured). She will be partially covered with a fur cover to help hide her modesty when her remains go on display

Buried around her were six horses, saddled and bridled as her spiritual escorts to the next world, along with a meal of sheep and horse meat.

Archaeologists also found ornaments made from felt, wood, bronze and gold as well as a small container of cannabis and a stone plate on which coriander seeds were burned.

From her clothes and possessions including a 'cosmetics bag', scientists were able to recreate her fashion and beauty secrets.

Her head was completely shaved, and she wore a horse hair wig on top of which was a carving of a wooden deer.

Researchers found the woman's tattoos were designs based on fantastical-looking animals (illustrated)

Scans of the remains conducted by Russian scientists Andrey Letyagin and Andrey Savelov revealed a primary tumour in the right breast (shown in red above) and in the right axial lymph nodes (green arrows)