A girl's skull with an "alien" head shape has been found in Iran

The peculiarity of the find is that its skull has a pronounced cone-shape, indicating artificial modification. The article with details of the study was published in the International Journal of Osteoarchaeology.

The excavations were conducted at the ancient cemetery of Chega Sofla, where both individual and group burials have been found for many years. Some of them, according to archaeologists' assumptions, belong to family members. Remarkably, it was at this site that the oldest known brick crypt was previously found.

The centre of attention was the skull of a young woman (provisionally designated BG1.12), who was less than 20 years old at the time of her death. Researchers Mehdi Alizadeh and Hamed Vahdati Nasab found that her skull had been bandaged since childhood, a technique in which an infant's head is tightly bandaged to form an elongated shape. Such a ritual existed in many cultures around the world, more often applied to girls.

Using CT scans, experts found that the bones of the skull had become thinner than usual - making the head more vulnerable to injury. Alas, it was from such an injury that the girl died. In the front part of the skull scientists found a crack that stretches diagonally to the left parietal bone. No signs of healing were found, suggesting that the blow was the cause of death.

Based on the nature of the injury, the blow was delivered with a broad blunt object. Although the bone was not penetrated, its thinning allowed the force of the blow to reach the brain. The researchers emphasise that this was no accidental fall - the injury is too extensive and too precise.

The rest of the girl's skeleton has not yet been found - the burial site is extremely dense, the bones are intertwined with the remains of other people, and painstaking work is required.

This find is not only of archaeological interest, but also of cultural interest. Skull modification in antiquity could denote status, membership of an elite, or be performed for aesthetic reasons. At the same time, such practices increased the risk of fatal injury.