8,200-year-old burials in Russia contain pendants crafted from human bone
By Stephanie Pappas published about 18 hours ago
A century-old archaeological excavation in Russia turns up a new surprise.
An illustration depicting the burial of an adult male on the island of Yuzhniy Oleniy Ostrov in Russia. (Image credit: Tom Björklund)
Nearly a century ago, archaeologists excavating a 8,200-year-old graveyard in northwestern Russia took note of a number of bone and animal-tooth pendants buried with the Stone Age people entombed there. But when researchers recently began to re-analyze the bone pendants to determine which species of animal each came from, they were in for a shock.
Some of the pendants weren't made from animal bone at all. They were human.
"When we got the results, I was first thinking that there must be some mistake here," said Kristiina Mannermaa, an archaeologist at the University of Helsinki in Finland, who led the research.
But it was no mistake, Mannermaa told Live Science. Mixed in with ornaments made of bear, elk and beaver teeth were grooved fragments of human bone, including at least two pendants made from the same human femur, or thighbone.
More:
https://www.livescience.com/human-bone-pendants-russia
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