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Dog molars as personal ornaments in a Kura-Araxes child burial (Kalavan-1, Armenia)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 July 2016

Modwene Poulmarc'h ,
Rozalia Christidou ,
Adrian Bălășescu ,
Hala Alarashi ,
Françoise Le Mort ,
Boris Gasparyan  and
Christine Chataigner
Modwene Poulmarc'h
Affiliation:
UMR 5133, Archéorient: Environnements et sociétés de l'Orient ancien, CNRS-Université Lumière Lyon 2, Maison de l'Orient et de la Méditerranée, 7 rue Raulin, 69365 Lyon cedex 07, France (Email: rozalia.christidou2@gmail.com)
Rozalia Christidou
Affiliation:
UMR 5133, Archéorient: Environnements et sociétés de l'Orient ancien, CNRS-Université Lumière Lyon 2, Maison de l'Orient et de la Méditerranée, 7 rue Raulin, 69365 Lyon cedex 07, France (Email: rozalia.christidou2@gmail.com)
Adrian Bălășescu
Affiliation:
National History Museum of Romania, Calea Victoriei 12, Sector 3, Bucharest 030026, Romania
Hala Alarashi
Affiliation:
UMR 5133, Archéorient: Environnements et sociétés de l'Orient ancien, CNRS-Université Lumière Lyon 2, Maison de l'Orient et de la Méditerranée, 7 rue Raulin, 69365 Lyon cedex 07, France (Email: rozalia.christidou2@gmail.com)
Françoise Le Mort
Affiliation:
UMR 5133, Archéorient: Environnements et sociétés de l'Orient ancien, CNRS-Université Lumière Lyon 2, Maison de l'Orient et de la Méditerranée, 7 rue Raulin, 69365 Lyon cedex 07, France (Email: rozalia.christidou2@gmail.com)
Boris Gasparyan
Affiliation:
Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography, National Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Armenia, Charents Street 15, Yerevan 0025, Republic of Armenia
Christine Chataigner
Affiliation:
UMR 5133, Archéorient: Environnements et sociétés de l'Orient ancien, CNRS-Université Lumière Lyon 2, Maison de l'Orient et de la Méditerranée, 7 rue Raulin, 69365 Lyon cedex 07, France (Email: rozalia.christidou2@gmail.com)
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Abstract

Two perforated dog molars were found directly associated with a Kura-Araxes child burial from the third millennium BC in Armenia. Both teeth show trimming of the root ends and boring of a biconical hole through the lingual root with a hand-held stone tool. Expedient manufacture, the anatomical location of the hole and use-wear suggest that the molars were suspended in order to display their crowns as part of a necklace that also included two stone beads. This is an unusual type of personal ornament and the first of its kind reported in the South Caucasus. Its use in a Kura-Araxes burial is interpreted as an active modification of the funerary symbolism during this period.

Keywords

ArmeniaEarly Bronze AgeKura-Araxes burialperforated dog molarmicro-wear analysis
Type
Research
Information
Antiquity , Volume 90 , Issue 352 , August 2016 , pp. 953 - 972
Copyright
Copyright © Antiquity Publications Ltd, 2016 

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