Timur's body was exhumed from his tomb on 19 June 1941 and his remains examined by the Soviet anthropologists Mikhail M. Gerasimov, Lev V. Oshanin and V. Ia. Zezenkova.
Gerasimov reconstructed the likeness of Timur from his skull and found that his facial characteristics displayed "typical Mongoloid features" ( the correct modern classification term being changed to East Asian ).
A anthropology study on the cranium of Timurs shows that he belongs predominately to the South Siberian Mongoloid type.
At 5 feet 8 inches (173 centimeters), Timur was tall for his era.
The examinations confirmed that Timur was lame and had a withered right arm due to his injuries.
His right thighbone had knitted together with his kneecap, and the configuration of the knee joint suggests that he had kept his leg bent at all times and therefore would have had a pronounced limp.
He appears to have been broad-chested and his hair and beard were red.

It is alleged that Timur's tomb was inscribed with the words, "When I rise from the dead, the world shall tremble."
It is also said that when Gerasimov exhumed the body, an additional inscription inside the casket was found, which read, "Whomsoever  [sic] opens my tomb shall unleash an invader more terrible than I." In any case, three days after Gerasimov began the exhumation, Adolf Hitler launched Operation Barbarossa, the largest military invasion of all time, upon the Soviet Union.
Timur was re-buried with full Islamic ritual in November 1942 just before the Soviet victory at the Battle of Stalingrad.

The first supposed victim of the curse was the Afsharid ruler of Persia Nader Shah, who took the slab of jade from Timur's final resting place to Persia in 1740 and broke it in two halves.
Nader Shah's son fell ill almost immediately after the jade arrived to Persian capital, and things started to go wrong to such an extent that Nader's advisors begged him to return it to the tomb.
It was sent back to Samarqand, and Nader's son recovered, though the Shah himself was assassinated just a few years later.
Timur's body was exhumed from his tomb on 19 June 1941 and his remains examined by the Soviet anthropologists Mikhail M. Gerasimov, Lev V. Oshanin and V. Ia. Zezenkova. Gerasimov reconstructed the likeness of Timur from his skull and found that his facial characteristics displayed "typical Mongoloid features" ( the correct modern classification term being changed to East Asian ). A anthropology study on the cranium of Timurs shows that he belongs predominately to the South Siberian Mongoloid type. At 5 feet 8 inches (173 centimeters), Timur was tall for his era. The examinations confirmed that Timur was lame and had a withered right arm due to his injuries. His right thighbone had knitted together with his kneecap, and the configuration of the knee joint suggests that he had kept his leg bent at all times and therefore would have had a pronounced limp. He appears to have been broad-chested and his hair and beard were red.
It is alleged that Timur's tomb was inscribed with the words, "When I rise from the dead, the world shall tremble." It is also said that when Gerasimov exhumed the body, an additional inscription inside the casket was found, which read, "Whomsoever  [sic] opens my tomb shall unleash an invader more terrible than I." In any case, three days after Gerasimov began the exhumation, Adolf Hitler launched Operation Barbarossa, the largest military invasion of all time, upon the Soviet Union. Timur was re-buried with full Islamic ritual in November 1942 just before the Soviet victory at the Battle of Stalingrad.
The first supposed victim of the curse was the Afsharid ruler of Persia Nader Shah, who took the slab of jade from Timur's final resting place to Persia in 1740 and broke it in two halves. Nader Shah's son fell ill almost immediately after the jade arrived to Persian capital, and things started to go wrong to such an extent that Nader's advisors begged him to return it to the tomb. It was sent back to Samarqand, and Nader's son recovered, though the Shah himself was assassinated just a few years later.
Timur