A vos agendas, l’archeolunch reprend du service ! Yury Esin nous présentera ses travaux sur la culture Okunev (Sibérie), lundi 27 novembre 12h15, salle Leroi-Gourhan, ARTEHIS. Venez nombreux… avec vos gamelles !
Heads Without Bodies: Evidence of Bull Sacrifice in the Rock Art and Burials of the Okunev Culture in Southern Siberia
Yury N. Esin, PhD, invited researcher, ARTEHIS, UMR CNRS 6298, Université de Bourgogne–Franche Comté
This talk will examine the role of cattle in the rituals and beliefs of early pastoralists in the eastern Eurasian steppe. I will present and analyze two types of materials associated with the Okunev culture of the Minusinsk Basin during the middle of the 3rd – early 2nd millennium BCE: 1) images of bull heads and full animal figures with isolated heads on rocks, stelae, and slabs; and 2) bull skulls in ritual pits discovered mostly within the Okunev cemeteries. Hope to demonstrate that both materials represent different manifestations of the same sacrificial ritual, in which the removal and burial of the animal’s head was an essential part. Their combined study allows the reconstruction of the ritual’s content and purpose.
