LIRA ARTEFACT - Virtual Archeology

   A unique antler sculpture was discovered during the excavation performed by the Yamal Archaeological Expedition led by Andrey Gusev in 2009. The sculpture shows a seated man with his legs tucked up to his stomach and arms folded over his knees. It was found at about 80 cm under the present-day surface. No traces of constructions or somehow arranged patches of artifacts were found around. 
  The sculpture was carved from a reindeer antler with an iron knife. It depicts a full-face man sitting with his legs tucked up to his stomach and his arms folded over his knees, with two braids—a typical hairstyle of West-Siberian northern peoples. The man has tridactyl hands and feet. His head is dressed in a smooth cap changing into braids reaching his stomach. His face is flat and wide; his eyebrows are slightly protruded and form a single curve with the straight nose. His large almond eyes are double-outlined. Deeply-carved lines connect the alae of the nose and the cheekbones. The mouth is flat and wide; the chin is also wide and square. There is a small hole between the left braid and the neck with traces of rubbing inside—probably left by a lace. Around his waist is a belt with large rectangular plaques. 
  A couple of questions arise while analyzing the iconography of the sculpture. First, what is depicted—a human face or a mask? It is not impossible that the Ust-Polui bone man is wearing a mask, which is indicated by the huge double-outlined eyes, the unnaturally symmetric face contours, the sharp lines connecting the nose and the cheekbones, the square chin and the long slot like mouth. 
  Second, the character's posture is somewhat bewildering: he is sitting with his knees pulled to his stomach, while normally anthropomorphic figures are depicted standing, full face. The 1994 and 2011 excavation works in the sanctuary of Ust-Polui revealed burials in postures unusual for this region—lying crouched on one side, with knees drawn up to the stomach and arms folded at the same level. One can suggest that the “seated” posture may turn out to be imitating the posture of being buried “crouched on one side”. 
  If we accept these hypotheses as viable, we can conclude that the Ust-Polui antler sculpture in particular and bronze figures/masks from this monument as a whole are related to the veneration of the dead, perhaps of warrior ancestors. The body of the bone man still has some traces of “feeding” with fat or blood. To the present day, Khanty people arrange such rites with icons of their ancestral or guardian spirits. In this case, we can suggest that rites of ancestor worship were of primary importance for the peoples of the ancient sanctuary of Ust-Polui.  

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PUBLICATIONS
one.     Federova N. (2014) Anthropomorphnye obrazy Ust'-Poluya: tekhnologiya izgotovleniya, ikonografiya, kompozitsii stsen [Ust-Polui Anthropomorphic Imagery: Manufacturing Techniques, Iconography, Scenic Compositions]. Uralskiy istoricheskiy vestnik, no 2 (43), pp. 63–71. 
2.     Fedorova N. (2009) Territoriya predkov [The Territory of the Ancestors]. Nauka iz pervykh ruk, no 6, Novosibirsk, pp. 70–81. 
3.     Fedorova N. (2011) Kostyanaya anthropomorphnaya skul'ptura so svyatilishcha Ust'-Poluy [The Anthropomorphic Bone Sculpture from the Sanctuary of Ust-Polui]. Arkheologiya, etnografiya i antropologiya Yevrazii, no 1 (45), pp. 77–81. 
4.     Gusev A., Federova N. (2012) Drevneye svyatilishche Ust'-Poluy: konstruktsii, deystviya, artefakty. Itogi issledovaniy planigrafii i stratigrafii pamyatnika: 1935 – 2012 gg. [The Ancient Sanctuary of Ust-Polui: Constructions, Actions, Artifacts. Outcomes of Planigraphic and Stratigraphic Studies of the Monument: 1935–2012], Salekhard: Severnoye izdatelstvo, Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug State Institution.  

Author: Fedorova N.

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