The first discovery of a skull trepanated by drilling on Middle Bronze Age materials from the North Caucasus.

Abstract


The paper presents the results of the perforation study of a female cranium fragment from burial 9, kurgan 1 of the Urukh II burial ground located near the village of Urukh, Leskensky area of the Kabardino-Balkarian Republic. The anthropological materials come from a burial that is attributed to the North Caucasian culture of the developed stage of the Middle Bronze Age. In the course of studying and describing the skull fragment defect, the Russian researchers` recommendations were used. The area of the trepanation was studied using a high-resolution video microscope ( x30 and x50) and a microfocus X-ray apparatus PRDU-02. As a result of the study, it was possible to establish that the defect on the female skull fragment from burial 9, kurgan 1 of the Urukh II burial ground is a trepanation case performed using the drilling method. The person survived the e procedure, as evidenced by the traces of denser skull bone-plates closure. The procedure might have been performed for therapeutic purposes. Analogies of this kind of manipulations were found in the Western Asian territory (Ikiztepe and Acemkhöyük) and date back to the Early and Middle Bronze Age. The trepanation performing skills using the drilling method in the North Caucasus population of in the Middle Bronze Age may be associated with the traditions common among the Mesolithic-Neolithic cultures in Anatolia and Ukraine.


Evgeniy Pererva

Волгоградский государственный университет

Author for correspondence.
Email: perervafox@mail.ru
ORCID iD: 0000-0001-8285-4461

Russian Federation, просп. Университетский, 100, 400062 г. Волгоград, Российская Федерация

кандидат исторических наук, доцент

Natalia Berezina

Московский государственный университет им. М.В. Ломоносова

Email: berezina.natalia@gmail.com
ORCID iD: 0000-0001-5704-9153

Russian Federation, ул. Моховая, 11, 125009 г. Москва, Российская Федерация,

кандидат биологических наук, старший научный сотрудник НИИ и Музея антропологии

Vasily Mataev

Волгоградский государственный социально-педагогический университет

Email: legenda@vspu.ru
ORCID iD: 0009-0005-4367-793X

Russian Federation, пр-кт им. В.И. Ленина, 27, 400005 г. Волгоград, Российская Федерация

кандидат педагогических наук, заведующий Научно-исследовательской археологической лаборатории им. В.И. Мамонтова

Anastasia Gushchina

Волгоградский государственный социально-педагогический университет

Email: legenda@vspu.ru
ORCID iD: 0009-0001-9681-2825

Russian Federation, пр-кт им. В.И. Ленина, 27, 400005 г. Волгоград, Российская Федерация

старший лаборант Научно-исследовательской археологической лаборатории им. В.И. Мамонтова

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