📰 Source: upgoat.net | Upgoat

✍️ Original author: oppressed

⬆️ score: 19

v/WhiteHistory · by u/oppressed

📝 Original content:

https://files.catbox.moe/ktm800.jpg

The Shigir Idol (or Shigir Sculpture) is indeed the oldest known wooden sculpture in human history. ​Carved roughly 12,500 years ago during the early Mesolithic period (shortly after the end of the last Ice Age), it predates the Great Pyramid of Giza by more than 7,000 years and is twice as old as Stonehenge. Key Facts ​Discovery: Unearthed on January 24, 1890, by gold miners roughly 4 meters (13 ft) underground in a peat bog in the Ural Mountains, Russia. ​How It Survived: Wood normally decays quickly, but the acidic, oxygen-free (anaerobic) environment of the peat bog perfectly preserved the timber for over 12 millennia. ​Material & Craft: Carved from a freshly felled, 159-year-old larch tree using polished stone chisels and scrapers. ​Height & Faces: Originally stood over 17 feet (5.3 meters) tall, though some lower sections were lost over time. It features 8 stylized faces—one 3D head at the top and 7 subtle faces etched into the flat geometric patterns along its body. ​Why It Rewrote History ​Before scientists accurately dated the Shigir Idol using modern Accelerator Mass Spectrometry (AMS) radiocarbon techniques, historians believed that complex, monumental ritual art was only created by settled agricultural societies. ​The Shigir Idol proved that Ice Age hunter-gatherer communities possessed rich spiritual practices, advanced woodworking skills, and complex symbolic language long before the advent of farming or written language. It is currently on display at the Sverdlovsk Regional Museum of Local Lore in Yekaterinburg, Russia.

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