Russian media outlets have recently covered a story about yet another mystery of the ancient period of human civilization, when archaeologists discovered plates with drawings in South America. The plates or the so-called Iki stones are about 70 million years old. The drawings show people with disproportionately large heads. There are skulls of the same shape in the local museums. But archeologists find the elongated skulls in Russia too, in the North Caucasus. The Pyatigorsk museum of regional studies has them on display. Do those skulls have anything in common? And who started "the fashion?""The Pyatigorsk skull was found at the excavation site of the Khasaot burial ground in the vicinity of Kislovodsk," says Doctor of Historical Sciences Vladimir Kuznetsov, the author of numerous studies of history of the North Caucasus. "The skull is part of culture of the ancient Alani. Approximately, it dates back to the 3rd - 5th centuries A.D.

These strange skulls appeared at the same time when the Sarmatian and Alani hordes came around. Some of the nomads moved for the North Caucasus in 15th century.""Researchers have repeatedly proved that the skulls had been deformed on purpose," says Mr. Kuznetsov. "Ropes or special blocks were tied tightly round the heads of infants, over the temples. The custom went out of fashion by 17th century. The reason behind the deformation phenomenon is still unknown. It is hard to say whether the methods worked effectively or not since nobody ever conducted scientific experiments regarding the binding of the infants' heads. But "aliens" are not likely to be involved in this case," says the researcher.

View: Full Article | Source: Pravda.ru

Hmm northern Caucasus, then it must have been a part of the Georgian Empire, those guys ruled the north.

What I find incredible is that for the first time Pravda is publishing a serious article

Good point...

Pravda is about as credible as the Weekly World News. It is a joke.

It's a new form of propaganda called "Keep them distracted from real events" and it seems to work.
'The World of the Huns- Studies in Their History and Culture' by Otto J. Maenchen-Helfen C.1973 explains the whole binding process and the fact that is was practiced into the 'Dark Ages'. I think it is the most credible source.

Lapi'che

plates with drawings on them 70 million years old? BULLSHIT!!

I would have to agree. Where is the unbiased scientific corroboration of this outrageous claim?

Considering even the latest theories say humans did not reach the Americas until about 50,000 years ago and that is a stretch and how do you date inorganic material accurately.


Lapi'che

I was trying to find info on the IKi Stones mentioned. All I could find is some company having bad cut diamonds. Any one else heard of them?

teehee mos def

i think that the dating technology for that was incorrect...i can understand them being about 12th century possibly...maybe 13th??

and this deformity might be a practise in a few cultures, where the skull is bound to make it protrude from the back...Egyptian wall carvings have depicted people like this too...and i think Mayan civilization has had a few bones recovered that look like this, if i'm not mistaken..

but what i think is amazing is THE SIZE of these skulls...they are much larger than humans...they are almost giant-like.....possibly intelligent design by extraterrestrials?..or maybe an advanced race that decended here??

hmmmmmmmm

Well the article says it got nothing to do with E.T. but personally I do think your right, maybe there some kinda weird human aliens

The article said that these long heads are found on lots of digs. Now I have seen one on a UFO sight , but didn't think they were that common. We have all seen the South American tribe that puts rings around thier Female kids necks so when they are older thier necks are very long. And one tribe that puts a round plate in thier lower lip causing it to expand. But these are Isolated peoples.
The misshapen heads are found on a number of sights? That makes the practice a large cultural interaction of peoples.

All I have to say is... "Monkey see, Monkey do"

Once again, this Pravda is equal to Weekly World News. They make up stories to sell papers.

Why would they purposely change the shape of the skulls of their children? What ultimate purpose does that represent?

What woudl be the purpose of expanding the lips, or necks that was previously mentioned? They find them attractive, or use them as symbols. Such as those that view them as signs as virility, or power. Or, look at todays. What's the purpose of tattoos, or all of the various bodily piercings? There are any number of reasons why they'd decide "Hey! This will look good!"

your right![color=#FF0000]

True, but none of the other bodily "art" would cause brain function disorders. Changing the shape of the skull would invariably cause changes to the shape of various sections of the brain. These changes would probably cause problems with brain function if not death to the poor child subjected to these skull shape manipulations.

As for damage done to the brain when the skull is wrapped say at birth I dont think it would change the intellect of the individual . When babies are born thier heads are not finished growing. In fact a soft spot at the top you can damage very easily. On another tread it was said that the human brain is not fully developed till the age of the mid 20's.

So the adult would have the same brain as the normal , only a different shape. Like making cheese. The shape of the container doesnt change the cheese in side.

Some one make a joke about Wisconsin Cheese Heads! I dare you!

Actually, changing the shape WOULD damage the brain. Sure, the brain isn't fully formed at birth, it is this fact which makes NOT touching the soft spot so important. Damaging the skull before it hardens would change the shape of the brain and change the development of the brain in unknown, but most probably NOT good ways. The brain cell connections which are the most important part of brain development would be changed by changing the shape of the skull. Parts of the brain would have the space to develop while others wouldn't. Maybe at birth, the brain would be sufficiently adaptable enough to compensate so all function would be normal, but I wouldn't take the chance, would you?

This is the first I've seen of this - have a hard time believing it was a wide spread practice.

But it could be a birth defect too.

I seriously doubt the groups that did this understood the brain damage effect, some could argue that the mere fact they were doing this would demonstrate their already impaired judgement.

Perhaps it did harm them, perhaps they were lucky and escaped any serious/noticeable effects. Even if it did it could be quite a few generations at least before they decided to stop doing it, since people would be doing it because that's what was done to them, or their elders told them they should do.

Hmm maybe they had their own religion and this was how they were honouring their Gods?

In recent years there is a whole generation of babies growing up with heads that are flat in the back.....due to the new ridiculous notion that allowing a baby to sleep only on its back prevents SIDS. New parents are now instructed not to place their baby on its tummy or its sides while sleeping. Old wisdom was that changing the baby's position each time it was put to bed would help create an evenly formed skull. So far...though I've seen a lot of babies and toddlers with heads that are flat in back, I've not heard any mention of reduced brain function because of it.

1) This skull, while misshapen, is not that far out of normal variation in our species.

2) The is no medical evidence that altering the shape of the skull in this fashion effects brain function.

3) While this has been practiced by several cultures they are often widely spaced in geographic distance and historical era.

Earthchick -- true about babies heads. My son has a flat side to the back of his head. No matter what side I laid him on, he would turn so that part was down.

I remember seeing a documentary about an African? or South America? (I think African but could be wrong) tribal society that wrapped babies heads in tight bands of leaves to get that elongated look.

Well, having a altered head has nothing to anything. I have a flat back head but it does not mean i have any falts in intelligence or anything. SIDS justs happens. In my family when a baby has anything wrong we take them to a special person where they fix the prob. So having a flat head is not a bad thing.

I blame it on the cone heads!

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They have obviously visited us before!

Ive seen that same documentry. The childrens heads were terribly elongated, but they're brains were not affected by this in later life they matured as naturally as you or I.