Dog molars as personal ornaments in a Kura-Araxes child burial (Kalavan-1, Armenia)

• Autores: Modwene Poulmarc'h, Rozalia Christidou, Adrian Balasescu, Hala Alarashi, Françoise Le Mort, Boris Gasparyan, Christine Chataigner
• Localización: Antiquity, ISSN 0003-598X, Vol. 90, Nº 352, 2016, págs. 953-972
• Idioma: inglés
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• Resumen

  • Two perforated dog molars were found directly associated with a Kura-Araxes child burial from the third millennium BC in Armenia. Both teeth show trimming of the root ends and boring of a biconical hole through the lingual root with a hand-held stone tool. Expedient manufacture, the anatomical location of the hole and use-wear suggest that the molars were suspended in order to display their crowns as part of a necklace that also included two stone beads. This is an unusual type of personal ornament and the first of its kind reported in the South Caucasus. Its use in a Kura-Araxes burial is interpreted as an active modification of the funerary symbolism during this period.