Archaeologists are wondering why the elongated skull was needed
Archaeologists of the State Historical Museum have found burials of people with elongated skulls in Kabardino-Balkaria.
“In the ancient necropolis over the village of Zayukovo, excavations have been going on since 2011,” says Viktor Kotlyarov, head of the Russian Geographical Society in the KBR. - This year a burial was opened, in which there was a human skeleton with a deformed skull. It belongs to a girl of about 16 years old. The skull is very well preserved: even all the teeth are present. The burial is Sarmatian, dates back to the 3-4th century AD. It is impossible to say who the skull of the second long-headed one belongs to - its condition is much worse. It is worth recalling that a couple of years ago, several long-headed skulls were found just below - on the right side of the village of Kendelen.
According to Kotlyarov, Hippocrates wrote about long-headed people. The custom of swaddling a baby's head tightly so that it had an elongated shape appeared among people because an elongated head was considered a sign of the noble class.
- In the National Museum of the KBR, these are not the first elongated skulls. There are many long-headed burials in Kabardino-Balkaria. Konstantin Chkheidze, the author of books about Kabarda and Balkaria, believed that this indicates a connection between Kabarda and ancient Egypt, where such a practice also existed, says Viktor Kotlyarov. “But it was in both South and North America. And among the Maya people it was practiced at all until recently.
According to archaeologist Ismail Miziev, among many tribes of the Azov region, the Volga region and the North Caucasus, the skull deformation rite existed from the first centuries to the seventh century of the new era. It was brought to the Caucasus - until that time, such skulls were not found here.
According to Viktor Kotlyarov, it is impossible to say unequivocally why the tribes sought an elongated head shape. According to one version, this was done in order to cause an altered state of consciousness and "foresee" the future. The price of such an operation was terrible headaches, human insanity, and often early death.
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