Prehistoric Old World Scalping: New Cases from the Cemetery of Aymyrlyg, South Siberia

@article{Murphy2002PrehistoricOW,
  title={Prehistoric Old World Scalping: New Cases from the Cemetery of Aymyrlyg, South Siberia},
  author={Eileen M Murphy and I. I. Gokhman and Yuri Chistov and L. S. Barkova},
  journal={American Journal of Archaeology},
  year={2002},
  volume={106},
  pages={1 - 10}
}
Evidence for three definitive cases of scalping have been identified among the corpus of human skeletal remains excavated from the Iron Age south Siberian cemetery of Aymyrlyg in Tuva. The osteological evidence for scalping that is apparent in these individuals is presented here, as are the results of a recent reexamination of a previously known south Siberian case from the royal burial in Kurgan 2 at Pazyryk. These four Iron Age Siberian cases of scalping are important in part because they… 
View on U Chicago Press
24 Citations
Highly Influential Citations
1
Background Citations
4

24 Citations

Intentional cutmarks on an early mesolithic human calvaria from Margaux Cave (Dinant, Belgium).
  • M. Toussaint
  • Medicine
    American journal of physical anthropology
  • 2011
TLDR
The CR3 cranium presents numerous cutmarks on both zygomatic processes, on the frontal squama and along the two coronal sutures, as well as on the left part of the posterior cranium that may be interpreted as part of a mortuary ritual.
Osteoarchaeological evidence for leprosy from western Central Asia.
TLDR
This is the first skeletal evidence of leprosy from Central Asia and raises questions not only about the spread of the disease in the past, but also about the living conditions of what traditionally were thought of as nomadic peoples.
Troubles in Tuva: Patterns of perimortem trauma in a nomadic community from Southern Siberia (second to fourth c. CE).
TLDR
New data on violence among steppe nomads during the first-centuries CE is provided by analyzing the type, anatomical distribution, and demographic distribution of perimortem trauma at Tunnug1 (Tuva, Southern Siberia-second to fourth c. CE).
RITUAL AND CEREMONIAL DISMEMBERING BONES IN A BURIALS IN BRONZE AND IRON CENTURIES FROM ARMENIAN PLATEAU
In this article, we would like to highlight the religious and funerary practices in the Armenian Plateau. Since the first discovered in the XIV century, the ossuaries from Lori Berd have attracted…
The warriors of the steppes: osteological evidence of warfare and violence from Pazyryk tumuli in the Mongolian Altai
Warriors from the East. Skeletal evidence of warfare from a Lombard-Avar cemetery in Central Italy (Campochiaro, Molise, 6th–8th Century AD)
Injuries on a skull from the Ancient Bronze Age (Ballabio, Lecco, Italy): a natural or an anthropic origin?
Evidence for weapon-related traumas in medieval Japan: observations of the human crania from Seiyokan
TLDR
The results demonstrate that the traumas on the crania have morphological features consistent with human-induced cut marks, suggesting that a militarily organized society was founded by force and that the rise to political power of the warrior class and the establishment of a military government resulted in continuous disturbances, armed conflicts, and violent death.
Making skull cups: Butchering traces on cannibalised human skulls from five European archaeological sites
Spiritual and religious aspects of torture and scalping among the Indian cultures in Eastern North America, from ancient to colonial times
Only a few decades ago a common perception prevailed that the historic­al Native Americans were very prone to violence and warfare. Scalping and torture were seen as a specific custom attached into…
...
...

References

SHOWING 1-10 OF 27 REFERENCES
Frozen Tombs of Siberia: The Pazyryk Burials of Iron-Age Horsemen
Frozen Tombs of Siberia The Pa yryk Burials of Iron-Age Horsemen Sergei I. Rudenko Translated and Edited by M. W. Thompson The most spectacular archaeological discovery of our time was made at…
The world of the Scythians
Part 1 The land of the Scythians: reconstruction of the ancient topography the Siberia of the Greeks. Part 2 Death and burial: the "pyramids" of the steppe the king is dead! - the waggon journey to…
The Unkindest Cut, or Who Invented Scalping
tTt HE traditional wisdom of American history asserts that the "savage" Indians scalped "civilized" whites in their resistance to the "taming" of the continent. Accordingly, when the invasion of…
Nomads of South Siberia. The pastoral economies of Tuva.
Preface: an introduction to the peoples and history of Tuva Introduction: Tuva - the natural setting 1. Pastoralism and forms of nomadism 2. Forms of travel and migration 3. Sayan reindeer-herding…
The archaeology of disease
Mechanical surface analysis of bone: a case study of cut marks and enamel hypoplasia on a Neolithic cranium from Sweden.
  • E. During, L. Nilsson
  • Medicine, Environmental Science
    American journal of physical anthropology
  • 1991
TLDR
The results of this case study demonstrate that the stylus method can obtain high-resolution measurements of fine surface details directly on the original bone without preparation of or damage to the specimen.
Herodotus and the cannibals
Herodotus' 5th-century BC Histories provide us with one of the earliest written accounts for the practice of cannibalism. This paper examines the references concerning cannibalism contained in…
The Royal Hordes: Nomad Peoples of the Steppes
The development of sedentary and nomadic civilizations : 700 B.C. to A.D. 250
Notes on Scalping
...
...