In contrast to the many mummies that have been studied from other parts of the world, only a few mummified bodies from the Arctic have been subjected to paleopathologic examination. The frigid climate of Alaska proper has resulted in the production of frozen mummies with remarkable preservation of histologic detail. In contrast, the cool damp climate of the Aleutian Islands would seem to be poorly suited to mummification but cultural practices have supervened in this area to produce artificial mummies.

The oldest preserved bodies from Alaska are mammals of the late Pleistocene (15000–25000 Years BP) from the area of Fairbanks, recovered during gold mining in the late nineteenth century. Studies of a mammoth and other animals revealed gross preservation of the organs, with some preservation of histologic structure, including cross-striations in the skeletal muscle of the mammoth and the fibrous tissue framework of a rabbit liver (Zimmerman and Tedford 1976). The preservative effect of freezing and subsequent mummification by desiccation was thus demonstrated to last much longer than had previously been suspected. The degree of tissue destruction did indicate that a significant period of time had elapsed between the death of the animals and their entombment in the permafrost, countering a popular notion that Arctic mammals were killed and preserved instantaneously by a catastrophic climate change (Sanderson 1960).