ANIMAL BONES IN RITUAL ACCUMULATIONS AT MONKYS URIY

Abstract

At Monkys Uriy, a late 16th–17th century fort on the Bolshoy Yugan River, in the taiga zone of the Ob basin, Western Siberia, bones of wild animals (reindeer, elks, brown bears, and wolves) and those of domestic dogs were found in residential areas together with artifacts. We describe ten ritual accumulations of bones, species composition, that of skeletal elements, fragmentation types, and the age of animals. Seven accumulations of bones were found at residential quarters. Six of them contained complete or partial skeletons of reindeer and cranial bones of an elk. These accumulations may indicate construction sacrifi ces and those marking childbirth. Three bone accumulations found outside the residence area include bones of a dog and a brown bear, evidently sacrifi ced during funerary rites. Ethnographic and folkloric evidence suggests that such sacrifi ces were practiced by the Yugan Khanty as late as the 19th and 20th centuries and had been rooted in ancient traditions of Ugrians and Samoyeds.