SALEKHARD, SIBERIA—A 2,000-year-old bronze ring, with a diameter so tiny that a human would be unable to wear it, has been unearthed at the ancient spiritual center of Ust-Polui. “We concluded that it was used in a ritual connected with a bear cult and was put on the bear claw,” said Alexander Korchagin, a student at Novosibirsk State University. The scientists think that after a bear was killed, its head and front paws may have been removed and decorated to honor its memory in the sanctuary.
Siberian Bronze Ring May Have Adorned Bear Claw
News August 28, 2013
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