Male Figurine
Ust-Garevaya, Perm Region
1st-3rd century AD
Bronze
H 8 cm
This flat figure of a bear/man was cast in an
open-sided mould. Its disproportionately large head
with round eyes, a heavy nose and a line for a mouth,
ends with the face of a bear whose forepaws hang
down over the man's shoulders, as if a bearskin had
been thrown over the man's head.
The male figure was linked with the cult of the bear,
the strongest animal in the north, who embodied the
totem ancestor and was called ‘Master of the Forest'.
The cult of the bear was widespread in the region
around the River Kama.
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