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Direct AMS Radiocarbon dates for the Sungir mid Upper Palaeolithic burials

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2015

P. B. Pettitt  and
N. O. Bader
P. B. Pettitt
Affiliation:
Research Laboratory for Archaeology & the History of Art, University of Oxford, 6 Keble Road, Oxford OX1 3QJ, England
N. O. Bader
Affiliation:
Institute of Archaeology, Russian Academy of Sciences, ul. D. Ulyanova 19, Moscow 117035, Russia
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Extract

The site of Sungir (alternatively Sounghir) lies east of the town of Vladimir, about 200 km northeast of Moscow. It is a large mid Upper Palaeolithic ('Eastern Gravettian' sensu lato) cultural accumulation on the left bank of the Kliazma river, of which some 1500 sq. m was excavated in several seasons between 1957 and 1964 (Bader 1965; 1967; 1978; 1998).The single burial (Grave 1/Sungir 1) was excavated in 1964. It is that ofan adult male in extended, supine position, with his head oriented to the northeast and hands placed over his pubis (Figure 1). The second grave was discovered in 1969 and contained two adolescents — one male (Sungir 2) and one (probably) female (Sungir 3) — both extended, supine and lying head to head (Figure 2). All three burials were covered in red ochre and Sungir 1 was possibly associated with fires in a manner intriguingly similar to the DVXVI male burialat Dolní Větonice, Moravia (Svoboda et al. 1996).

Type
News and notes
Information
Antiquity , Volume 74 , Issue 284 , June 2000 , pp. 269 - 270
Copyright
Copyright © Antiquity Publications Ltd. 2000

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