‘Alien’ found in 2,000-year-old Crimean tomb was a child Sarmatian fighter

An "alien boy" with a weirdly elongated skull found in a tomb in Crimea in 2017 was in fact a trainee warrior, say researchers. Elongated skulls were traditional in the Sarmatian culture. The elongated skull was a sign of a "true warrior". The deformation process began early in childhood when the bones were still soft, and no surgery was needed. Special wooden planks were tied to the skull, pressing the bones and gradually altering their shape. The boy warrior was from the second century AD and was aged between 18 months and two years old when he died.