Researchers have published a new study on elk teeth dances and ritual clothing from Stone Age Russia that reveals the hypnotic dance soundscape of the ancients.
Rattling Noise Made by Prehistoric Ornaments Investigated
Friday, June 4, 2021
HELSINKI, FINLAND According to a statement released by the University of Helsinki, auditory archaeologist Riitta Rainio and artist Juha Valkeapää danced for six consecutive hours while wearing elk tooth ornaments sewn in rows on an apron, and then examined the microscopic wear marks left behind on the teeth as they clattered against each other. The researchers then compared these wear marks to elk teeth recovered from four graves at Yuzhniy Oleniy Ostrov, a Late Mesolithic cemetery in northwestern Russia. More than half of the 177 burials at Yuzhniy Oleniy Ostrov contained elk tooth ornaments. Some of the burials contained more than 300 teeth. The study suggests that the distinctive marks on the prehistoric teeth were made over years or even decades of dancing. Rainio says the rattlers offer a clue to the soundscape experienced by Mesolithic hunter-gatherers. To read more about Mesolithic Russia
The researchers found no evidence to connect the pendants to any type of genetic markers. Genetic studies have revealed multi-ethnic origins for the Yuzhniy Oleniy Ostrov (YOO) people, but the similarity in manufacturing techniques used to make the elk teeth pendants, and the physical characteristics of those pendants, indicate a cultural homogeneity that contrasts with the genetic variations.
In other words, the YOO hunter-gatherer culture seems to have been unified by their cultural practices more than by their genetics, suggesting they were an inclusive society that sought unity-in-diversity through a shared cultural heritage.
The oldest artifact ever found in Eurasia is an elk tooth pendant. It was discovered in the Altai region of Russia in an Denisovan cave. (