Horn spoons of the Fofanovsky cemetery

Purpose : The Fofanovsky cemetery is one of the largest and oldest funeral complexes of the Baikal region. The aim of the present work is to study in details the four horn items from the archaeological collections of the Neolithic and Bronze Age found at the Fofanovsky cemetery, which are stored in the Museum of the Buryat Science Center of the Siberian Branch of Russian Academy of Sciences and the State Historical Museum (Moscow). In view of the purpose of the research, the following tasks were stated: to describe the items, to analyze them by means of the experimental-technological and the use-wear analysis, to search for analogies and generalize the results obtained. Results : In the course of the study, the four chosen artifacts were described. The horn spoon found in the Neolithic grave of the Fofanovsky cemetery has the flat reservoir. The three spoons from the Fofanovsky materials of the Bronze Age are characterized by poorly concave reservoirs. On the basis of the experimental use-wear analysis of the morphologically similar artifacts described in this article, the functional purpose of the two items was identified as tools for the extraction of relatively soft materials from presumably leather bags-storages. We found some analogues of the Fofanovsky spoons studied mainly in the materials of the Neolithic and the Bronze Age of the Cis-Baikal, where spoons of simple forms with flattened reservoir prevail. The spoon (item 1) from the Fofanovsky grave 5, which was discovered in 2013, analogues were found among the Neolithic materials on this territory. The horn spoon (item 2) from the materials of the Bronze Age of the Fofanovsky cemetery is somewhat similar to the spoons from the Neolithic graves of the Ust-Belaya cemetery. The Fofanovsky horn items (3 and 4) are similar in shape but differ in size. We found their analogues in the Cis-Baikal materials of the Bronze Age. Conclusions : As a result of our experimental use-wear analysis of morphologically similar products from antler, the functional purpose of two artifacts was identified as tools for the extraction of relatively soft materials from presumably leather bags-storage. The bigger quantity and the variety of forms of horn spoons in the materials of the Bronze Age in the region testifies to a generally high and relatively stable standard of living of the population in the region studied compared to previous eras. The Fofanovsky spoons studied have analogues in the materials of the Neolithic and the Bronze Age found in the Cis-Baikal. They appear to correspond well to the general cultural context of the region. Further research of the Fofanovsky cemetery materials using data of natural sciences will allow researchers to reconstruct models of adaptive strategies of the population of the Southeast Cis-Baikal common in the Neolithic and the Bronze Age.