Archaeology, Ethnology & Anthropology of Eurasia 46 (2) 2018   DOI: 10.17746/1563-0110.2018.46.2.140-148

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Animal Bones in Ritual Accumulations at Monkys Uriy

T.V. Lobanova¹ and O.V. Kardash^{2, 3}

¹Institute of Plant and Animal Ecology, Ural Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences, 8 Marta 202, Yekaterinburg, 620144, Russia

²Surgut State University, Lenina 1, Surgut, 628412, Russia

³Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography, Siberian Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences, Pr. Akademika Lavrentieva 17, Novosibirsk, 630090, Russia

At Mon kys Uriy, a late 16th to early 17th century fort on the Bolshoy Yugan River, in the taiga zone of the Ob basin, Western Siberia, bones of wild animals (reindeer, elk, brown bear, and wolf) and those of domestic dogs were found, together with artifacts, in residential areas. We describe ten ritual accumulations of bones, species composition, that of skeletal elements, types of fragmentation, and the ages of the animals. Seven accumulations of bones were found at residential quarters. Six of these contained complete or partial skeletons of reindeer and cranial bones of elk. These accumulations may indicate construction sacrifices and those marking childbirth. Three bone accumulations found outside the residential area include bones of dog and brown bear, evidently sacrificed during funerary rites. Ethnographic and folkloric evidence suggests that such sacrifices were practiced by the Yugan Khanty as late as the 19th and 20th centuries and had been rooted in ancient traditions of Ugrians and Samoyeds.

Keywords: Taiga zone, Western Siberia, bones, ritual accumulation, funerary rite, Yugan Khanty