Once again on early head trepanations in the stone age: a find from Telmanovskaya site and its probable interpretation

The publication is devoted to description and interpretation of a specific superficial injury on the Upper Palaeolithic human calvarium. Skeletal remains attributed to Homo were discovered in 1959 by the expedition headed by A. N. Rogachev at the Telmanovskaya site (Kostenki 8). Microfocus radiography has established intravital character of the operative intervention, most probably a symbolic trepanation. Closest analogies of the Telmanovskaya find are known among the Moravian Cro-Magnon population in Dolni Vestonice, which point to similarity of ritual practices in the two population groups.