Abstract

The three male skulls recovered from burial mounds of the Pazyryk culture in the Ak-Alakha valley (the Ukok Plateau, Corny Altai) show traces of well-healed injuries in the form of shallow grooves at the left frontal tubercle. The microscopic analysis of these defects showed that the bone surface was subjected to the effect of a hard pointed object. The skulls injuring was carried out by strikes of a relatively equal strength without the intention of bone perforation. To ensure the accuracy of repeated shocks at one point with the same force and direction, additional striking tool might have been used to transmit a force impulse onto the tool in contact with the surface of the skull. The ritual nature of manipulation and the possibility of classifying these injuries as symbolic trepanations is assumed.

Keywords

Pazyryk culture, ritual, trauma, skull, traceological analysis

Chikisheva T.A.

https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1985-1369

Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography SB RAS

Volkov P.V.

Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography SB RAS
Novosibirsk State University

References

Mednikova M.B. Ritual’noe posvyashchenie u drevnikh narodov Evrazii po dannym antropologii: simvolicheskie trepanatsii. Archaeology, Ethnology and Anthropology of Eurasia. 2003, No. 1 (13), pp. 147-156 (in Russ.).

Mednikova M.B. Trepanatsii v drevnem mire i kul’t golovy. Moskow: Aleteiya, 2004, 205 p. (in Russ.).

Volkov P.V. Opyt eksperimenta v arkheologii. - St. Petersburg: “Nestor-Istoriya”, 2013, 416 p. (in Russ.).

Список литературы

Волков П.В. Опыт эксперимента в археологии. -СПб.: Нестор-История, 2013. - 416 с.

Медникова М.Б. Ритуальное посвящение у древних народов Евразии по данным антропологии: символические трепанации // Археология, этнография и антропология Евразии. - 2003. - № 1 (13). - С. 147-156.

Медникова М.Б. Трепанации в древнем мире и культ головы. - М.: Алетейя, 2004. - 205 с.