A zoomorphic pendant made of mammoth tusk from settlement Byki-7

The paper by N.B. Akhmetgaleeva is devoted to the publication of a zoomorphic pendant - the first work of the early figurative art known from site Byki 7 in Kursk region (16 thousand years BP). The object is made in the shape of a big ring made of mammoth tusk and surmounted by the terminal showing a sculptured horse head. Sculpture images of horse dating from the late period of the Upper Palaeolithic were not known before from the territory of the Russian plain. Unlike many camps of the mammoth followers typical of this region, Byki 7 may be defined as a camp of short stay left by the ungulate animals' herds followers. Investigation of the unique zoomorphic object provides us with an opportunity of inquiries into the spiritual life of the inhabitants of seasonal camps. Special attention should be paid to the combination of a big ring decorated with crosswise incisions with the horse image.