In the twin burial were the bodies of two teenage boys, and not a boy and a girl, as previously believed.
Sungir is a world famous archaeological site of the Paleolithic era. In the middle of the last century, excavations carried out on the edge of the city of Vladimir gave archaeologists some of the most sensational finds of that time, and the "Sungirskaya horse" became one of the symbols of the region.
Sungir is the northernmost site of the Upper Paleolithic ancient man in Europe. When it was discovered in 1955, scientists were overjoyed - they could examine almost the entire skeleton of an adult Cro-Magnon and more than 50,000 objects that were used by people 34,000 years ago.
And the general public was especially touched by another priceless find - the paired burial of 9-13 year old teenagers. Anthropologists have suggested that this is a girl and a boy from different tribes. The children were buried in the center of the dwelling, in the place of the hearth. They lay with their heads to each other in full ceremonial vestments, and next to them they found a stone horse, which became the symbol of Sungir. What tragedy could lead to their death? Unknown. There even appeared the story "Sungirskaya Horse" by Lyubov Fomintseva about the life of a young couple.
And now, finally, paleogenetics examined in detail all the remains found in Sungir. And lovers of romance will be disappointed. Judging by the materials that were published in the journal Science, Y chromosomes were found in all five of the buried, that is, they were men. Including “primitive Romeo and Juliet”. Yes, these are not lovers from different tribes, but two boys! The age is really 10-13 years old.
All these Cro-Magnons lived at about the same time, and they also had a small percentage of Neanderthal blood, which confirms that Neanderthals and Cro-Magnons were not different biological species, but could interbreed.
All primitive people buried in Sungir were not close relatives among themselves. This is evidenced not only by genetic analysis, but also by household items, clothing and jewelry. This fact may indicate that even in those days, the ancestors of modern man tried to avoid closely related marriages, in contrast to the Neanderthals. Perhaps this useful attitude helped people avoid extinction, although scientists are wary of such assumptions.
MARINA ALEXANDROVA
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