Evil-Thwarting 'Rattles' Found in Prehistoric Infant's Grave

1/3. This infant lived around 4,500 years ago and was buried in a birchbark cradle with eight intricately carved figurines. The infant also wears headgear made from 11 copper plaques sewn together. Credit: Image courtesy Yury Esin

Tiny figurines that may have been used as rattling toys or charms to ward off evil spirits were discovered in the grave of an infant dating back 4,500 years, archaeologists say.

The burial was discovered on the northwest shore of Lake Itkul in the Minusinsk basinin Russia. The infant's remains, which were found in what appears to be a birchbark cradle, suggest he or she was less than a year old at death. On the infant's chest, archaeologists found "eight miniature horn figurines representing humanlike characters and heads of birds, elk, boar and a carnivore,"wrote archaeologists Andrey Polyakov and Yury Esin, in an article published recently in the journal Archaeology, Ethnology & Anthropology of Eurasia. [...] livescience.com


Link 2: Enterramiento infantil de hace 4.500 años con numerosos amuletos
Arqueólogos rusos han publicado un interesante enterramiento infantil documentado en la orilla del lago Itkul, en la región de Minusinsk (Rusia), en el que se han documentado ocho amuletos de asta de ciervo representando figuras antropomorfas y distintos animales. El enterramiento, sobre una especie de cuna de abedul, pertenece a un individuo infantil que no habría alcanzado el año de edad, y falleció hace unos 4.500 años. Se encuentra en el interior de un túmulo colectivo o kurgan...