Archaeology & History

Ancient wooden idol dates back 9,500 years

By T.K. Randall
November 4, 2014 ·  34 comments

The Shigir Idol on display at a museum in Yekaterinburg. Image Credit: PD - Wiki Discovered in a peat bog in the Middle Urals back in 1894, the enigmatic Shigir Idol is the oldest wooden sculpture in the world.

Thought to date back to 7,500 BC, the artifact is twice as old as Stonehenge and is comprised of several pieces that combine to form a sculpture almost three meters tall.

It's very existence is something of an enigma given the level of preservation and its uniqueness among archaeological finds.Experts in Siberia have recently redoubled their efforts in an attempt to understand the meaning and origins of the idol and to interpret the strange pictographs and symbols on its surface. It is thought that these could represent an early form of writing and may even convey a message from the past.

"We study the Idol with a feeling of awe," said Professor Mikhail Zhilin who believes that the carving is unlikely to have been a representation of a long-forgotten god.

"The men - or man - who created the Idol lived in total harmony with the world, had advanced intellectual development and a complicated spiritual world."

Source: News.com.au | Comments (34)

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