MOSCOW, November 22. /TASS/. A detailed analysis of the treasure, found in a skull of a mammoth during excavations at the Zaraysk Kremlin State Museum, showed that it had been left by an ancient craftsman who had the skill of making tools and hunting equipment, expedition head of Russian Academy of Sciences Archaeology Institute, Sergei Lev told a news conference on Thursday.

"From a typological point of view, things (found in the skull of a mammoth) are a spear-tip and a cutting tool used for bone processing. Scraping and bow-shaped blades used for scouring animal skin, and a fragment of an ancient knife, in addition to many other things. (This is) quite a big set of tools. So here it is, the craftsman’s set, that people hid in the skull of a mammoth," he added.

However, researchers cannot say for sure why the treasure had been left in the skull, suggesting that early humans could have just forgotten about it, saved it for some specific work, or those objects might have been sacred to them.

The Zaraysk site is the most ancient human settlement in the Moscow Region. Earthworks here have been conducted for several years with this year’s dig having kicked off in August.