The Ice Warrior was discovered in 1995 by Vyacheslav Molodin.
After various discoveries of human remains, Vyacheslav Molodin found a frozen man in a Pazyryk burial mound is Siberia. This Ice Mummy is elaborately tattooed with an elk covering his right shoulder. He has two long platted braids reaching to his waist. He was found buried with his weapons.
According to the information of Siberian department of Russian Academy of Sciences, the research of the man’s mummy found by academician Viacheslav Molodin shows that he had been an ordinary soldier.
the following is an extract of Paul G. Bahn's work, outlining the find of the mummy in detail and the ethical issues that arose due to the finding of the body:
"A 2,500-year-old man has been found in Siberia's Altai Mountains. Scholars from the Archaeological Institute of Russia's Academy of Sciences in Novosibirsk have moved the mummy to a Moscow lab for preservation, prompting Altai Republic officials to accuse them of spiriting away a piece of their national heritage and to ban further Russian exploration.
Known as the Horseman because he was buried with his mount, the mummy is the second such find in recent years. A richly attired woman called the Princess, discovered in 1993, was also taken to Moscow. Believed to be Scythians, a nomadic central Asian tribe, both mummies had been buried beneath low mounds in log-lined chambers under more than seven feet of permafrost. Both had had their internal organs removed and had been embalmed by a method that scientists do not yet fully understand
The Horseman, 25 to 30 years old, had been impaled by an enemy's weapon or animal's horn. this was evident by the markings and the wounds found on his body. His face and hands have not survived well, but the rest of his skin and muscles and his braided hair are in good condition, as is a tattoo of a deer on his right shoulder. He was wearing a thick wool cap, high leather boots, and a marmot and sheepskin coat. The Horseman was buried with his bow, arrows, axe, and knife (this, being the reason for his warrior status). The horse wore a harness richly decorated with griffins and animals carved in wood and covered in gold foil.
Anatoly Kurbatov, the Archaeological Institute's deputy director, responded to objections from Altai officials by noting that the preservation work at Moscow's Biological Structures Research Institute was the only way to save the mummies from decomposition: "We are willing to return them to the Altai Republic if they can guarantee their preservation," he said."