МАЭ № 7630-6

Woman from ancient Khorezm (6th century AD)

before 1943

plaster cast with patina

Khorezm is a large oasis region in the lower reaches of the Oxus (Amudarya). During the Early Middle Ages, its predominant religion was Zoroastrianism. According to the Zoroastrian rite described in the Avesta, bodies of the dead were not buried but exposed to the sun and to birds of prey. After the soft tissues decomposed, bones were placed into ossuaries—oval clay vessels with lids. Crania from ossuaries are owned by the Tashkent Historical Museum. Their distinctive feature is antemortem circular deformation. Children’s heads were tightly bandaged; as a result, the cranial vault stretched upward and eventually became tower-shaped. The physical type of this elderly woman, who died at the age of 55-60, is Southern Caucasoid with a slight Mongoloid admixture, close to that of urban Uzbeks.

Anthropological plastic reconstructions, lifetime masks. 19th - 20th centuries