Elongated skulls found in Siberia

A one-minute video showing skulls excavated near Omsk, Siberia. The skulls show prominent deformation that obviously was induced by skull clamping or binding of newborns with malleable crania. A couple related videos are here. The skulls are said to date from the 4th century A.D., although I haven't yet seen a proper scientific paper with these data.

Skulls similar to these are well-known artifacts of Maya civilization. It is truly interesting that simiilar skulls should be found in Asia (and reportedly also in Europe). One wonders whether this represents coincident parallel cultural developments or whether there was more communication in the prehistoric world than we conventionally give them credit for.

I'll check some archaeology sites later this week to see if I can find more information.