Surprising toys in the ancient grave

A burial containing mysterious tiny figurines were discovered in the grave of an infant which, according to archeologists, dates back 4,500 years. One of the theories says that the figurines may have been used as rattling toys or charms to ward off evil spirits.

Live Science reports that the discovery was made on the northwest shore of Lake Itkul in the Minusinsk basin of Russia by researchers of the Russian Academy of Sciences and the Khakassian Research Institute of Language, Literature and History. The remains of the infant were found in a birchbark cradle. It suggests that the child was less than one-year-old at the time of death. On his or her chest archeologists discovered eight miniature horned figurines representing human-like characters and heads of elk, boar, birds and an unknown carnivore.