Flying bird

This is an image of a flying waterfowl. It is made of black ivory. The item has elongated proportions. One side of the figurine is flat, the other one is convex. The head is not clearly defined, it has a semi-oval shape and elongates the neck. On the body we can notice legs and wings that have an oval shape. In the semi-oval tail part there is a through-hole. 



Manufacturing technique

The surface is made with a burin. Also a planning knife was used when shaping. We can notably see its traces on wings. A cutting tool was used for shaping the legs. Double-sided drilling was made with a reamer. 


Use-wear traces

Obscure traces of contact with soft organic material can tell us that the item was used as a pendant. 


Storage location

The State Historical museum of Russia

Inventory number

1830 - 473

The Museum KAMIS

no

Size

Length – 77.19 mm 

Width: body – 13.89 mm

Wings – 20.56 mm

Neck – 6.15 mm 

The thickness of the body – 6.15 mm

Diameter of the hole - 5.24 mm


Material

Ivory

Dating

19-23 th. years BP

Culture

Mal'ta-Buret' archaeological culture

The author of the excavations

Gerasimov M. M.
1958

Publications

Lbova L.V., Volkov P.V., Pankina A.I. Tekhnologicheskie aspekty proizvodstva mobil'noj plastiki v verhnem paleolite (zoomorfnaya skul'ptura Mal'ty) // V (XXI) Vserossijskij arheologicheskij s"ezd: sbornik nauchnyh trudov / otv. red. A.P. Derevyanko, A.A. Tishkin. – Barnaul: FGBOU VO «Altajskij gosudarstvennyj universitet», 2017. – S. 608.

Lipnina Е. A. Mal'tinskoe mestonahozhdenie verhnepaleoliticheskih kul'tur: sovremennoe sostoyanie izuchennosti i perspektivy issledovaniya. – Dissertaciya na soiskanie u. stepeni kand. ist. nauk. – Irkutsk, 2002. S. 148, 165, 183, 227. Ris. 73 - 8.

Pankina A.I. Ornitomorfnaya skul'ptura stoyanki Mal'ta: klassifikaciya na osnove tekhnologicheskogo analiza // Sovremennye problemy izucheniya drevnih i tradicionnyh kul'tur narodov Еvrazii: mat-ly LVII Ros. (s mezhdunar. uchastiem) arheol.-etnogr. konf. studentov, aspirantov i molodyh uchenyh, g. Surgut, 17–21 aprelya 2017 g. – Novosibirsk: Izd-vo IAET SO RAN, 2017b. – S. 291.