Exhibit type: copy
Archaeological site: Dolní Věstonice II (Dolní Věstonice, Moravia)
Collection: Institute of Archaeology of the CAS, Brno v.v.i., Czech Republic
The skeletons were laid out horizontally, in a slightly excavated grave “bed”. The three skulls and the pelvis of the central individual are covered in pigment. Around the grave are concentrated traces of fire and whole pieces of spruce roundwood, indicating that the bodies may have been protected from the elements and against predators by a wooden structure.
The excavated context seems to resemble a scene from a drama: it narrates a story.
The man on the left (DV 13) has his hands placed upon the pelvis of the central figure (DV 15) and it appears as if pouring red ochre pigment into his lap. The man on the right (DV 14) is lying face-down. The positioning of the bodies is deliberate and their gestures may be descriptive or symbolic. Both the outer individuals are strong and healthy young men. The middle figure at the centre of the tableau had a more graceful body, one however marked by a disease which must have been manifest in his appearance and behaviour. He is suggestive of a sexually indeterminate person, a “liminal individual”, such as those enjoying special attention in fourth world cultures and who carry out religious or healing practices.
It took the latest Palaeogenetic techniques before the sex of the central figure could be identified as male. An analysis of the archaic DNA of the three individuals revealed that the central and right-hand figure were related in the maternal line, perhaps even siblings.
Description of the individual skeletons:
Dolní Věstonice 13 − male, 21-25 years old, height 168−169 cm, weight approx. 65 kg, lying on the left of a triple burial, on his back, slightly crouched towards DV 15, south-southwesterly orientation, pigment on skull, with twenty perforated predator teeth and mammoth ivory pendants. The skeleton is reasonably powerful, with marked tendon insertions on the bone; the cranial cavity is medium length, with a volume of 1481 cm³. The cranium has two well-healed oval scars caused by blunt blows to the head, although these did not endanger man’s life.
Dolní Věstonice 14 − male, 16-20 years old, height 179−180 cm, weight approx. 68 kg, lying on the right of a triple burial, on his front, southerly orientation, pigment on skull, with three perforated wolf cuspid teeth and mammoth ivory pendants. He was tall, slim and of average strength. The cranial cavity was exceptionally long, with a volume of 1538 cm³.
Dolní Věstonice 15 − male, 21-25 years old, height 159 cm, weight 66−68 kg, lying in the centre a triple burial, on his back, southerly orientation, pigment on skull and pelvis, with four perforated fox cuspids. The figure is averagely built with a long skull, a low-set face and cranial capacity of 1378 cm³.
