According to specialists, the grave found near the village of Yakovenkovo in the eastern part of the Crimean Peninsula dates back to the second century AD. The boy's cranial deformation is an artificial body alteration, which was practiced by many ancient cultures and was typically carried out on infants, whose skulls were more flexible.
The archaeologists' group said that such skull deformations were typical for an errant tribe of the Sarmatians, who once inhabited modern-day Crimea. They believed that a stretched skull makes a man aggressive, making him a good warrior. However, some adherents of "ancient astronauts" theories consider such skulls to be proof that aliens once visited Earth.
