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The oldest art of the Eurasian Arctic: personal ornaments and symbolic objects from Yana RHS, Arctic Siberia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2015

Vladimir V. Pitulko ,
Elena Y. Pavlova ,
Pavel A. Nikolskiy  and
Varvara V. Ivanova
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Extract

The excavated site termed Yana RHS is dated to about 28000 BP and contained a stunning assemblage of ornamented and symbolic objects—the earliest art to be excavated in the Arctic zone. Decorated beads, pendants and needles connect the site to the Eurasian Upper Palaeolithic; but other forms and ornaments are unparalleled. Shallow dishes and anthropomorphic designs on mammoth tusks find echoes among hunting practice and shamanistic images of the indigenous Yukaghir people recorded in the early twentieth century.

Keywords

SiberiaArcticStone AgeUpper PleistoceneUpper PalaeolithicPalaeolithic artPalaeolithic ivory artefacts

Information

Type
Research article
Information
Antiquity , Volume 86 , Issue 333 , September 2012 , pp. 642 - 659
Copyright
Copyright © Antiquity Publications Ltd. 2012 

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Footnotes

Dedicated to the memory of Edmund Carpenter.

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