Miniature sculpture of a teenager in overalls

Miniature sculpture. The statuette is covered with carved transverse circular (26) lines . Elongated proportions, the head ends with a cone-shaped protrusion, separated from the body by a slight bend. The face is flat, eyes, nose and mouth are marked. The body is almost equal in length to the head with a hood, tapers down, the legs go down on a cone. On the front lines are marked separating the arms from the body. There are triangles on the front and back, which separate the body from the legs. The legs are separated by a deep line. There is a clear hole in the lower part of the legs.

Manufacturing technique

A knife was used as the main tool, with the help of this knife the front side of the item was flattened, all the elements of decor - transverse circular cuts - were also made with it. The face and its details (eyes, mouth, nose) were drawn with a knife used as a cutting tool. The contours of the legs, arms (internal lines) were also made with it. The slits, as well as the ornament (cross strips), are made with the same tool (knife). Gender elements are identical on the back and front sides, are made likely with a cutting tool. Drilling is two-sided and manual with a turn less than 180 degrees, it is made with a drill. The edge flaring was probably made with the same cutting tool. The drilling is biconical. Flaring (expanding) the edges of the hole are made only on the front.

Use-wear traces

Use-wear traces are not found, polishing is over the entire surface.

Storage location

The State Hermitage Museum

Inventory number

370/753

The Museum KAMIS

https://www.hermitagemuseum.org/wps/portal/hermitage/digital-collection/25.+archaeological+artifacts/1401516

Size

(mm)
	General parameters of the item	Head	Body	A lower part of thighs	The face part	Womb	The diametr of the hole
Length	41.75	9.59	9.90	22.75	5.95	4.38	1.80
Thickness	4.60	5.14	4.35	4.02
Width	8.07	6.95	7.82	6.60	5.42	4.11

Material

Ivory

Dating

19-23 th years BP

Culture

Mal'ta-Buret' archaeological culture

The author of the excavations

Gerasimov M.M.
1930

Publications

Abramova Z. A. Izobrazhenie cheloveka v paleoliticheskom iskusstve Evrazii / AN SSSR. IA. - L.: Nauka, 1966, S. 197, tabl. VIII, 5 (In Russ.)

Abramova Z. A. Paleoliticheskoe iskusstvo na territorii SSSR. – M.-L.: Izd-vo AN SSSR, 1963. – S. 46, tabl.. XLIV, 3 and XLVII, 2 (In Russ.)

Gerasimov M.M. Raskopki paleoliticheskoj stoyanki v s.Mal'ta // Paleolit SSSR: Materialy po istorii dorodovogo obshchestva. M.- L., 1935. - Izv. GAIMK - Vyp. 118 - S.113, ris.31 (In Russ.)

Gromov V.I. Nekotorye novye dannye o faune i geologii paleolita Vostochnoj Evropy i Sibiri // Izv. GAIMK, 1935. Vyp. 118., S. 246-270 (In Russ.)

Lbova L.V. Simvolicheskij interrakcionizm mal'tinskoj antropomorfnoj paleoliticheskoj skul'ptury // Iskusstvo Evrazii. - 2018. - №2(9). - S. 18-32 (In Russ.)

Lbova L. Technological Features of Decorated Ivory Artifacts in the “Classic” Collection from the Mal’ta Site (Siberia, Upper Paleolithic). Annales d’Université Valahia Targoviste, Section d’Archéologie et d’Histoire. – Tome XIX. – 2017. – p. 7-17