Anthropomorphic head ("beetle")
The face part of the head is flattened; the volume of the head is expressed by the relief; the boundary between the facial and occipital part is not clearly expressed; on the back of the head there are 7 lines that accompany the rows of indentations (9-14 indentations in the same row); parietal area highlighted by a small bulge with twisting lines (helicity not traced); the line of the face from the neck is separated by a deep relief; the neck is flattened. The line of points has an independent ornamental value.
Manufacturing technique
The process of shaping is most likely made with a burin; the head is separated from the neck by irretrievable one-way forward movements of a knife; traces of a burin are found on the left side. Ornamentation: triangular channels in profile are made with a knife; indentations / caverns on the head were made with a reamer, the drilling points do not coincide with the lines of the channels.
Use-wear traces
Use-wear traces were not noticed in the neck, which excludes the possibility of hanging the item, however, the general strong polishing of the surface suggests that the item was carried in a pocket / leather pouch.
Storage location
The State Historical museum of RussiaInventory number
1822/619Size
Height – 30,4 mm;
Thickness - 20,75 mm.
Details:
Thickness of a neck: 6.42 mm;
Diametr of indentations: ~2 mm.
Material
IvoryDating
19-23 th years BPCulture
Mal'ta-Buret' archaeological cultureThe author of the excavations
Gerasimov M.M.1957
Publications
Gerasimov M. M. Paleoliticheskaya stoyanka Mal'ta (raskopki 1956–1957 gg.)// SE. – 1958. - № 3. – S. 28-52.
Lipnina Е. A. Mal'tinskoe mestonahozhdenie verhnepaleoliticheskih kul'tur: Sovremennoe sostoyanie izuchennosti i perspektivy issledovaniya: dissertaciya na soiskanie uch. stepeni kandidata istoricheskih nauk: 07.00.06. – Irkutsk, 2002. –310 s. S. 157-163
