Archeologists say a 2,500-year-old mummified princess set for display this month at a Russian museum has some of the most complicated and beautiful ancient tattoos ever discovered.

The well-preserved mummy, known as the Ukok princess, was found by a scientist in the permafrost of the Altai Mountains near the border of Russia and China in 1993 with tattoos on her arms, shoulders and hands.

Despite being thousands of years old, the tattoos look remarkably modern.

The mummy was found buried alongside two men, possibly warriors, all believed to be ancient nomadic Pazyryk people, and six horses.

"Compared to all tattoos found by archeologists around the world, those on the mummies of the Pazyryk people are the most complicated, and the most beautiful," Russian archeologist Natalia Polosmak, who discovered the female mummy, told the Siberian Times.

She said more ancient tattoos have been found, such as those on the Ice Man found in the Austrian Alps, but the quality wasn't as good.

The Ukok princess's cause of death is unknown, although she is believed to have died at the age of 25.

One of the men had tattoos on his chest, arms, back and lower back that feature intricate images of animals such as a panther, deer and sheep.

"Tattoos were used as a means of personal identification - like a passport now, if you like," Polosmak said. "I think we have not moved far from Pazyryks in how the tattoos are made. It is still about a craving to make yourself as beautiful as possible."

The female mummy will be displayed in a glass capsule at the Republican National Museum in Gorno-Altaisk.