Flying bird (with traces of pigment)

This is an image of a flying waterfowl. The item is symmetrical and has elongated proportions. Both surfaces of the figurine are flattened in the same way, the neck is horizontal and has the same length as the body. The statuette has a cone-shaped head and small trapezoidal wings. In the round tail part there is a double-side hole which was used for hanging. From both sides of the figurine we can see legs, also in the central part there are some traces of dye. 



Manufacturing technique

A push-plane was used as the main tool when shaping the relief of the statuette. Also a planning knife was used for shaping. Grinding was made with abrasive tool. Legs were made with a cutting tool after grinding. The hole was made with a reamer from two sides. 

 


Use-wear traces

There are some traces of polishing that tells us about using the figurine as a pendant. 


Storage location

Peter the Great Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography (The Kunstkamera)

Inventory number

5412-409

The Museum KAMIS

no

Size

Length – 49.81 mm

Width – 14 mm

Thickness – 4 mm

Wings: length – 15.40 mm

Neck: length - 5.49 mm

Tail: length – 10.07 mm

Hole: diameter – 2.25 mm


Material

Ivory

Dating

19-23 th. years BP

Culture

Mal'ta-Buret' archaeological culture

The author of the excavations

Gerasimov M. M.
1934

Publications

Verhnij paleolit. Obrazy, simvoly, znaki. Katalog predmetov iskusstva malyh form iz arheologicheskogo sobraniya MAE RAN. / Otv. redaktor G.A. Hlopachev. – SPb.: Ekstraprint, 2016. – S. 193 - 194.

Kamennyj vek YUzhnogo Priangar'ya. Bel'skij geoarheologicheskij rajon. / Medvedev G.I., Slagoda Е.A., Lipnina Е.A., Berdnikova N.Е., Generalov A.G., Rogovskoj Е.O., Oshepkova Е.B., Vorob'eva G.A., SHmygun P.Е. – Irkutsk: Izd-vo IGU, 2001. – T.II. – S. 77. Ris. 27-8.

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. Ris. 73 - 9.

Pankina A.I. Ornitomorfnaya skul'ptura stoyanki Mal'ta: klassifikaciya na osnove tekhnologicheskogo analiza // Sovremennye problemy izucheniya drevnih i tradicionnyh kul'tur narodov Еvrazii: matly 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.

Formozov A. A. Pamyatniki pervobytnogo iskusstva na territorii SSSR. – M.: «Nauka». – 1980. – Ris. 2.