Buttfranklin

CURRENT

Item #: XXXX

Object Class: Safe

Special Containment Procedures: SCP-XXXX is to remain sealed with infrared cameras installed in the surrounding cave system. Automated systems will notify personnel if movement is ever detected.

Description: SCP-XXXX is a carving on the wall of an unnamed cave in eastern Siberia depicting the head and torso of a stylised humanoid.

When a human being places their bare hand on any part of the sculpture, around 600 mL of a mixture comprising human blood and breast milk manifests in the anomaly’s mouth and eyes and flows down its face1.

The cavern containing SCP-XXXX is small and roughly rectangular, around 4 m x 6 m in footprint, with height lower than 2 m in most places. The only access from the surface was achieved by walking and crawling through 720 m of subterranean passages, although these collapsed approximately 16,000 years ago.

In the floor of the west corner, a narrow vertical shaft 33 m long connects to deeper section of the cave system. Originally too tight for adult humans to pass through, subsequent exploration revealed a large cavern containing, directly beneath the shaft’s lower aperture, a midden of stone tools, corpolites, leather made from human skin, and around ten thousand human skeletons. 44% of the remains are of infants, many of which show evidence of severe birth defects.

History: SCP-XXXX was carved at least 23,800 years ago by a local human population which appears to have used the object for ritual purposes until about 16,000 years ago. From 16,000 to 110 years ago, it was the sole food source of a descendent human population designated SCP-XXXX-A.

The following timeline of the SCP-XXXX cavern has been inferred through archaeological analyses.

Date (BP ) Event
27,000–16,000 Signs of transient visits by local humans: butchered animal remains, stone tools, ivory figurines, carvings in passages leading to SCP-XXXX.
23,800 Earliest sign of SCP-XXXX use: juvenile mammoth skullcap stained with SCP-XXXX’s blood-milk secretion, possibly used for libation.
16,500 Final outside material brought to cave system: birch bark container found in entrance passage, filled with small colourful stones and snail shells; possibly a child’s trinket collection.
ca. 16,000 Intense earthquake collapses passage leading to SCP-XXXX, sealing it.
15,957 (average)

Death date of earliest known skeletons. Consist of two anatomical males and two females, all markedly taller and healthier than later remains. All four were found interred in an alcove behind the south-eastern “bone throne”.

One of the two males was killed violently with a stabbing instrument. Genetic analysis shows that the three remaining individuals are the sole ancestors of all subsequent SCP-XXXX-A individuals in the bone throne and midden.

15,700 Final sign of fire use. Past this point, no light sources are believed to have existed in the cave, and air temperature would never have exceeded 7 °C.
ca. 15,000 Final attempts to dig out the collapsed entrance passage.
14,800 Relief carved into northern wall: lines and stick figures that appear to depict vague folk memories of aspects of nature such as the sun, plants, animals, and rain.
14,200 First tools made from human bone: knives, scrapers, skull drinking vessel.
14,000 First components of bone throne built.
14,000–13,500 Several adult females at this time show skeletal changes that suggest long periods of immobility with wrists and legs bound together, possibly for years.
13,500–11,300 Period characterised by frequent and increasingly ritualised human sacrifices, especially of male infants.
11,450 All skulls after this point exhibit an inherited deformity in which both optic foramina are missing, indicating failed development of eye structures and total blindness.
10,200–7,600 “Skin cult” period. Characterised by production of flayed human skins treated with urine, faeces, and vomit to create leather full-body suits and face masks. Several elderly male skeletons interred in the midden in this phase are found wearing up to 5 suits layered over each other.
ca. 7,500 Flood event: entire cave apparently filled with SCP-XXXX secretions to a depth of 120 cm.
7,600–110

“Throne focus” period. Bone throne becomes increasingly large and ornate. Small bones are tightly packed into helices and spirals, and long bones carved with chaotic undulating patterns and depictions of bizarre human faces, all with very little symmetry.

Individuals dating to this time fall in two groups. The first, much smaller, group consists of males with comparatively long lifespans (median 56 years) who do not die violently.

The second group contains all other individuals. This group usually show signs of artificial deformation: legs or arms are often stunted due to being wrapped in bindings from birth, and most biological adult males have signs of childhood castration. Individuals of this group rarely live past 40 years, and nearly all sustain severe injuries throughout life terminating in violent death.

3,375 Final work of art not part of bone throne: crude flute worked from human femur.
110 Estimated date of death of the SCP-XXXX-A individual found seated on the bone throne on discovery.

COMPLETED