Human remains dating back to the Bronze Age were found on the territory of the Gamurziev settlement, which occupies the summit and slopes of a hill between the Nazranka and Sunzha rivers. The archaeological center named after Evgeny Krupnov of the republic reports.
According to the center, a large number of household pits were revealed during the excavations. They contain human remains, which, along with numerous bones of wild and domestic animals, ceramics, bronze arrowheads and women's jewelry, date from the Bronze Age, according to preliminary data.
Of greatest interest is a unique find - a female skeleton with an artificial deformation of the skull and neck, which dates back to the 4th-6th centuries. n. e.
This tradition, as finds from different continents show, was widespread among many peoples of the world, including the Sarmatians, Alans, Huns and others. History knows many examples of purposeful changes in the shape of the head. We are talking about bandage, ring and other deformities of the skull, when in infancy, through repeated bandaging, the head of the child was given an elongated shape. Children wore such bandages for at least the first few years of life. Deformation of the head could serve as a sign of a special status of a person, his noble birth, which endowed him with privileges in society. This is confirmed by the fact that among the Alans (ancestors of the Ingush), skull deformities are common among the elite.
For a person of archaic culture, who did not have the knowledge and ability to record history in writing, study and weigh the facts, the most authoritative was the past of his ancestors, the conviction of the sacredness of everything that they did and what they created. Therefore, everything that the representative of the younger generation followed was a copy of the behavior of his ancestors. The same residual social “standard” was the deformation of the skull, which is evidenced by archaeological finds today.
The household pits discovered during the excavations of the Gamurziev settlement have an irregularly rounded shape and different sizes. Their diameter ranges from 0.5 m to 2 m, and their depth reaches from 40 cm to 2.4 m. They were located both inside dwellings and next to them. At the moment, about 250 household pits have been discovered that had various functional purposes. They were used to store grain, food, items needed on the farm; for pouring ash and household waste. ⠀
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Human remains in several household pits attract attention. One of the skeletons lies on the right side in a crumpled position; its skull is oriented to the southwest. The rest of the burials were made without observing the funeral rites.
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The research of the mentioned settlement is carried out by the GKU "Archaeological Center named after E. I. Krupnov" of Ingushetia since November last year together with the staff of the "Institute of Archeology of the Caucasus" LLC.
Magomet Evloev