Yuri Serikov

The 20 000 arrowheads found in the unique cave sanctuary at Kamen’ Dyrovaty (river Chusovaya) include an extensive series (over 600) of miniature items which can be interpreted as votive objects. Those are encountered among all the groups of arrowheads: stone, bone, bronze and iron. The votive arrowheads date to a wide chronological range, from the Mesolithic to the Middle Ages. The size ratio of the ordinary arrowheads to their miniature copies is 2-3:1 for the stone items and 3-5:1 for the bone and iron ones. Votive items could also include the stone arrowheads which are of untypical color and manufactured of rare types of minerals, and the ornamented bronze arrowheads. The votive arrowheads are an indicator of the sacrifi cial nature of the rituals that took place at Kamen’ Dyrovaty.