A Stone Age Warrior Buried Beneath A Bone Shield In Siberia Had His Face Reconstructed
In 2004, the remains of a warrior were unearthed from the permafrost during an archaeological survey of the Kerdugen area, which is located about 87 miles east of the city of Yakutsk in Russia’s Sakha Republic.
The remains were discovered near the surface, along with pottery, household goods, several arrowheads, and plates of animal bone that would’ve served as a large shield.
Radiocarbon dating determined that the burial was about 4,000 years old. As the finds came to light, the site became home to one of the most remarkable prehistoric burials ever found in the region.
Now, a new reconstruction has revealed what the face and weapons of the late Stone Age warrior would’ve looked like.
Work on the reconstruction began in 2023. It is the result of a multi-institutional project called “Face to Face with the Past.”
Recently, the model went on display in the archaeology museum at the Northeastern Federal University in Yakutsk.
An analysis of the warrior’s remains suggested that he was around five feet and five inches tall. He died between the ages of 40 and 50, which was considered old age for people in the late Stone Age.
The shape of his skull indicated that he was of the same ethnicity as people native to Siberia’s Arctic regions. Additionally, the healed injuries on his bones show that he had lived an active life full of combat, which meant that he was most likely a warrior and archer.
Researchers used photogrammetry, combining many digital images to create a virtual 3D model based on the man’s skull.
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They also utilized techniques to create faces from skulls that were pioneered by the Soviet anthropologist Mikhail Gerasimov.
In addition, the researchers reconstructed the large shield the warrior once carried in battle. It was originally made from plates of animal bone, likely from a type of elk known as an Altai wapiti (Cervus canadensis sibiricus).
The bone plates appeared to have been glued onto a leather base. Fragments of arrowheads were found in six of the bone plates, indicating that the shield had offered protection while in battle.
The warrior was from Yakutia’s prehistoric Ymyyakhtakh culture, which has left traces of their pottery and other artifacts across the region. The Ymyyakhtakh people were Neolithic and from the New Stone Age.
In some areas, this includes farmers, but in this case, the Ymyyakhtakh were nomadic hunter-gatherers who used advanced weapons, tools, and materials.
The warrior’s burial was surprisingly well-preserved. It also held pieces of bone from a second human body. The other individual could be evidence of a human sacrifice that took place during the burial ceremony at the time.
Possibly, the ceremonial sacrifice was accompanied by ritual cannibalism, as signs of this have been reported at other ancient sites in Siberia.
You can see the recreation of the warrior here.
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