Terrible finds from the early Neolithic period were found in the Vengerovsky district of the Novosibirsk region. In a canning pit, human bones were found prepared as "canned food", which proves the existence of cannibalism in Western Siberia.
In the 19th century, between Spassky (Vengerovo) and Turunovka, there were 122 mounds that made up the famous Ust-Tartassky burial ground. Now there are only a few dozen of them left. Some were plowed up, some were plundered by "black archaeologists". Archaeologists have been excavating this site for several years in a row.
Vyacheslav Molodin, Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Deputy Director for Research of the Institute of Archeology and Ethnography of the SB RAS, spoke about the most striking finds and discoveries of the archaeological season - 2018.
- Work was going on at two sites. The first is Tartas-1. We have been exploring this monument for the fifteenth year. There is a huge necropolis with burial grounds of different eras - from the moment of the appearance of man to the Late Middle Ages. In addition to the burials, a settlement complex was discovered, very early, as it turned out, of the Neolithic era - the new Stone Age, until recently unknown culture anywhere.
This year, about 2000 square meters were explored, about 30 burials of the developed Bronze Age were revealed, this is the first half of the second millennium BC.
“On Tartas, we found utility pits for fermenting fish,” said Vyacheslav Molodin. - Such pits are still used by the northern peoples of Eurasia. The depth is more than two meters. After the rains, water accumulates in any pit, but from these it immediately leaves. Because there are sandy loam layers below, water seeps through the sand and leaves.
Work at Ust-Tartas began last year. The household pits of the early Neolithic were dug up. In such pits, in addition to fish bones and scales, we found animal skeletons, which were apparently used as some kind of ritual butts.
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Such a pit was also discovered this year. And in it, at a depth of about two meters, they found the bones of two people, an adult and a child, which were prepared as "canned food". Cannibalism then probably existed, scientists suggest, because the bones of an adult were hacked, and traces of fire were visible on the bones. Nowhere else in Western Siberia have such ancient anthropological remains been found. If the date is confirmed, it will turn out to be the bones of the earliest people in Western Siberia. What matters is that new data has been obtained to better understand the mentality of those people.
Here, on Ust-Tartas, they found very interesting burial complexes. The funeral rite is clearly traced.
For example, six people were buried in one grave at once. It is interesting that two or three are laid, as it should be, on the back, in an extended position, and several are presented in the form of secondary burials. In this case, three adult male skulls were buried at the woman's feet.
One might think that it was these men who were sacrificed, but the explanation is much simpler. If a person died in winter, he was not buried. They were waiting for the warmth. During the winter, as a rule, several such deceased were recruited.
Another early Neolithic complex was discovered. This is a quadrangular ditch, in it a series of pits, in these pits fragments of ceramics were found, in one - a wolf's skull. Apparently, some mystical actions were also performed here.
An unusual person may, if not be frightened, then fall into a stupor: dug graves, in them - skeletons, piles of bones, some sticks, stones, shards … Nearby - strange depressions in the ground, oval, rectangular; dark spots stand out on yellowish soil. A human skull bares its teeth right there. But the Hungarians and residents of neighboring districts, Kyshtovsky and Chanovsky, are already accustomed to such an environment. Every year, at the end of the field season, they expect new discoveries.
Nadezhda Tiskanova