Ivory Wheel
Prestige good
Sungir type, Russia
Upper Palaeolithic
Around 30 000 years
The Sungir ivory discs have a fine openwork decoration reminiscent of a rose window
Y. Taborin, Langage sans parole. La parure aux temps préhistoriques. La maison des roches, 2004.
Commentary :
The working of mammoth ivory reaches its peak during the Upper Palaeolithic, south of Moscow, on the Russian Plain.
Beads, bracelets, ivory implements, spears, and portable art objects were discovered in a burial on the site of Sungir. Among these objects, several ivory wheels could be technical objects, whose function remains unknown, or decorative elements attached to weapons and clothing.
The ivory wheel from Sungir is unknown on other sites from the Russian Upper Palaeolithic.
It could be the emblem of a regional community, from about 30 000 years ago.