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Ivory Bead Ornaments from the Sungir Paleolithic Site
https://doi.org/10.17746/1563-0110.2025.53.3.036-044
Abstract
This article presents the results of a study of composite ornaments made of ivory beads from burials of a man and two adolescents, discovered by O.N. Bader at Sungir, a site dating to the Final Early Upper Paleolithic (30–26 ka BP). The burials are excessively rich in such ornaments, which were made by stringing many beads on a sinew or thread made of organic material. Strings of beads preserved in burials and retaining the order of constituent elements were used as a source for identifying typologically meaningful forms of beads. Owing to the alternation of elements of various shapes or similar in form but made from different blanks, a specific rhythmic structure was generated. The composition of strings suggests that eight types of ivory bead were employed. Two main techniques of stringing were used: by isolating the central group of beads, and by arranging them in the order of size gradually decreasing from one end to the other. The search for cultural parallels has revealed that the principle of combining different types of beads to create strings was similar to that used at contemporaneous sites in southern Germany dating to the Final Aurignacian.
Keywords
Supporting agencies: This study was supported by the Russian Science Foundation, Project № 24-28-00436 «Multipart Mammoth Tusk Adornments Found in the Burials of the Sungir Upper Paleo lithic Settlement: Forms, Bead Manufacturing Technology, Beads Stringing Patterns, Cultural and Chronological Analogies» (https://rscf.ru/project/24-28-00436/). The authors express their deep gratitude to the members of the RSSDA Laboratory (Moscow) Y.M. Svoisky, E.V. Romanenko, A.N. Uralskaya, and E.S. Komakova for creating 3D-models of Sungir beads and software for their study, as well as for their assistance in preparing illustrations.
About the Authors
G. A. Khlopachev
Peter the Great Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography (Kunstkamera), Russian Academy of Sciences
Russian Federation
Russian Federation
Khlopachev G.A., Department Head
Universitetskaya nab. 3, St. Petersburg, 199034
K. N. Gavrilov
Peter the Great Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography (Kunstkamera), Russian Academy of Sciences; Institute of Archaeology, Russian Academy of Sciences
Russian Federation
Russian Federation
Gavrilov K.N., Senior Researcher
Universitetskaya nab. 3, St. Petersburg, 199034;
Dm. Ulyanova 19, Moscow, 117292
L. O. Bazilevich
Peter the Great Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography (Kunstkamera), Russian Academy of Sciences; State Vladimir and Suzdal Museum-Reserve
Russian Federation
Russian Federation
Bazilevich L.O., Junior Researcher; Department Head
Universitetskaya nab. 3, St. Petersburg, 199034;
Bolshaya Moskovskaya 43, Vladimir, 600000
A. Y. Saifieva
Peter the Great Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography (Kunstkamera), Russian Academy of Sciences
Russian Federation
Russian Federation
Saifieva A.Y., Lead Curator
Universitetskaya nab. 3, St. Petersburg, 199034
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Review
For citations:
Khlopachev G.A., Gavrilov K.N., Bazilevich L.O., Saifieva A.Y. Ivory Bead Ornaments from the Sungir Paleolithic Site. Archaeology, Ethnology & Anthropology of Eurasia. 2025;53(3):36-44. https://doi.org/10.17746/1563-0110.2025.53.3.036-044
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