GORNO-ALTAISK, RUSSIA—The Siberian Times reports that a 2,500-year-old grave from the Pazyryk culture has been found in the Altai Mountains. The grave was looted in antiquity, but still contained the remains of an adult and a child or teenager, who had been buried with two small bronze mirrors, ceramics, gold foil, and wearing fur garments. Their heads, however, had been removed and placed at their knees. Nikita Konstantinov of Gorno-Altaisk State University said the Pazyryks often buried defeated enemies without their heads, since they made the skulls into bowls. “But this is obviously a different case,” he said. It is possible that the heads were detached when the grave was looted, but the rest of the skeletons remained undisturbed. Konstantinov and his team will try to determine the age and sex of the skeletons, and study the cervical vertebrae to try to learn more about how the heads were removed. “We have no similar cases, so we need to investigate this one very thoroughly,” he said. To read more about the Pazyryk culture, go to "Iron Age Mummy."
