'Alien in Chelyabinsk': 2,000-yo skeleton with cone head dug up at Russian Stonehenge

Archeologists are puzzled over the ancient remains of a woman discovered on a site near Chelyabinsk, a Russian city to the east of the Ural Mountains. The approximately 2,000 year old skeleton boasts an oddly shaped skull. The “conehead” skeleton of a woman from the Sarmati tribe, unearthed at the archaeological site of Arkaim, a 4000-year-old settlement, has totally thrilled UFO hunters who have taken it as solid proof that aliens have visited Earth. Photos and videos of the dig may indeed remind one of the aggressive, dangerous extraterrestrial creature from the 1979 sci-fi movie, Alien, directed by Ridley Scott.


However, archeologists say this idea is off the table, attributing the skull’s unusual shape to traditional head bonding.

In an interview with the Russian news agency TASS, Maria Makurova, head of the Arkaim Nature Reserve, said:

“Her skull was elongated because the tribe did so by tying up the heads of their children with rope. It was clearly a tradition in the tribe.”

Scientists are still lost in conjecture as to why such a tradition evolved.

The settlement, twice as old as the skeleton itself and, thus, having no historical connection to it, was discovered in 1987 and is believed to have been built in the 17th century BC.

Arkaim, situated in Russia’s Southern Urals, is often compared to England’s Stonehenge because it was also used for star observations. The Russian observatory, however, is said to have been more technologically advanced and have more favorable conditions for astronomical observation.

The settlement, occupying an area of around 20,439 square meters, consisted of two circles of dwellings separated by a street and a central square. The site was surrounded by high walls built to protect the 1,500 to 2,500 people who lived there.

Since its discovery, Arkaim has become an important location for Bronze Age study, attracting a great deal of public and media attention in Russia, including a significant number of esoteric and pseudoscientific organizations.