Archaeologists have discovered a well-preserved human skeleton with an elongated skull during excavations three kilometers from the Arkaim reserve in the Chelyabinsk region. About this corr. TASS was told by the head of the museum of the reserve Maria Makurova.
“We carried out excavations on the territory of the burial ground of 2-3 centuries AD, where 15 mounds of unusual horseshoe shape are concentrated. Our first find was the skeleton of a nomad, presumably a woman, with a pronounced deformation of the skull - it is strongly elongated in the upper part,”she said.
It is possible that the woman belonged to the late Sarmatians - an ancient tribe that roamed the territories of modern Ukraine, Kazakhstan and southern Russia.
The head of the museum explained the deformation of the skull by ancient traditions, when the heads of children were tied tightly with ropes and plaques, after which the bones took an elongated shape.
Historians have not yet given an unambiguous answer to the question - what this tradition meant among the nomadic tribes. It is known that the ancient Egyptians, as well as the Indians, had the custom of pulling the skulls out.
The study of fifteen kurgans discovered near the village of Polotskoye back in 1990 was first started by scientists in 2004, but excavations began only this year. Scientists of the Chelyabinsk State University, employees of the Arkaim reserve, as well as students of history went on the expedition; they are going to get to two more burials.
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Arkaim is a fortified settlement of the Bronze Age, discovered in 1987 in the south of the Chelyabinsk region during the construction of a reservoir. The settlement was created 4 thousand years ago according to a well thought-out plan, with a clear urban planning idea, complex architecture. Here they were engaged in metallurgy, weaving, pottery, cattle breeding.
In 1991, by the decision of the Council of Ministers of the RSFSR, the territory of the Arkaim valley, as well as 15 more surrounding areas with archaeological monuments of ancient culture, were declared protected. The historical and cultural reserve "Arkaim" was created here, which is a structural subdivision of the Ministry of Culture of the Chelyabinsk region and carries out museum, security, scientific and tourist activities.