500 Year Old Wooden Carving Destroyed by Art Teacher

The sculpture, dated to 11,500 years ago, may have stood more than 5 m (sixteen ft) high

The Shigir Sculpture, or Shigir Idol (Russian: Шигирский идол), is the oldest known wooden sculpture in the earth,^{[1] [2]} made during the Mesolithic catamenia, shortly after the cease of the concluding Ice Age.^[3] The wood it was carved from is approximately 12,000 years quondam.^[4]

It is displayed in the Sverdlovsk Regional Museum of Local Lore in Yekaterinburg, Russia.^[v]

Discovery [edit]

The sculpture was discovered on Jan 24, 1890 at a depth of 4 m (thirteen ft) in the peat bog of Shigir,^[6] on the eastern slope of the Middle Urals, near the village of Kalata (mod Kirovgrad) and approximately 100 km (62 mi) from Yekaterinburg. Investigations in this expanse had begun 40 years before, after the discovery of a multifariousness of prehistoric objects in an open-bandage gold mine.

It was extracted in 10 parts. Professor D. I. Lobanov combined the main fragments to reconstitute a sculpture 2.eight m (nine.2 ft) high.^[7]

In 1914, archaeologist Vladimir Tolmachev [ru] proposed a variant of this reconstruction by integrating the unused fragments. His reconstruction suggested that the original height of the statue was 5.iii m (17.4 ft).^[7]

Later, some of these fragments were lost, so only Tolmachev's drawings of them remain.^[8]

Dating [edit]

The initial radiocarbon dating carried out by G. I. Zajtseva of the Institute of the History for the Fabric Culture [ru] in Saint-Petersburg, confirmed by the Geological Institute [ru] of Russian Academy of Sciences in Moscow, gave an age of around 9,500 years. In the 1990s, when this beginning radiocarbon dating was carried out, scholars suggested that the dating was incorrect, because they believed that the hunter-gatherers who inhabited the expanse nine,500 years agone would take been incapable of crafting and decorating such a massive object.^[nine]

A subsequently German analysis gave an age of 11,500 years.^{[10] [9]} Information technology is the most aboriginal wooden sculpture of its kind known in the globe. Typically, wood degrades in most environments and does not endure for archaeological discovery and so readily as other materials such every bit stone and metal. A decorated antler was establish near the Shigir Idol and dated to the same catamenia, giving credence to the estimated age of 11,500 years.^[8]

In 2021, in the periodical Quaternary International, researchers from the University of Göttingen, and the Institute of Archeology of the Russian Academy of Sciences published the results of a series of recent AMS-results dating the Idol close to the showtime of the Holocene (c. ten,000 cal BC) or about 12 000 years before present. This dating makes it the earliest awe-inspiring wooden sculpture of the world.^[iv] Researchers note that, while whatsoever direct parallel to this detect is non yet known, nonetheless, the contextualization tin can be assisted past some very limited bear witness of wooden objects from the Palaeolithic and Mesolithic.^{[6] [11]}

The geometric decorations, such equally simple lines and zigzags of the Idol are commonly establish in Belatedly Palaeolithic and Early Mesolithic decorations. Thus, various elements of the Shigir sculpture are consistent with the record of Tardily Glacial to Early Mesolithic art in Eurasia.^[iv]

Description [edit]

Some of the lower faces on the sculpture are visible in this image

The sculpture is carved from larch. Equally identified from the annual rings, the tree was at least 159 years sometime. Stone tools were used for carving the markings. The top portion is a head with a face with eyes, nose, and oral cavity. The torso is flat and rectangular. Geometrical motifs decorate its surface, including zigzag lines and depictions of homo faces and hands.^[9] Horizontal lines at the level of the thorax may represent ribs, and lines broken in chevrons cover the remainder of what oft is described as the trunk;^[10] however, along with the confront at the top, several faces are visible at various points along the sculpture.^[12] The organization resembles a totem pole.^[13]

Scholars have proposed various theories nearly the carvings' meaning. Svetlana Savchenko, a researcher at the Sverdlovsk Regional Museum, suggested that the decoration tells the creation myth those who carved information technology believed in.^[7] Other researchers at the museum take suggested that the markings could take served as a navigational aid or map.^[7] Professor Mikhail Zhilin, an archaeologist at the Institute of Archaeology in Moscow, guessed that the statue could draw mythological creatures such as forest spirits.^[xiv] Archeologist Peter Vang Peterson, of the National Museum of Kingdom of denmark, speculated that the idol could serve every bit a warning non to enter a dangerous expanse.^[thirteen]

Scholars noted that the Shigir Idol's ornament was similar to that of the oldest known awe-inspiring stone ruins, at Göbekli Tepe in Turkey.^[iii]

The ornament on the sculpture was carved using three different sizes of chisels. In addition, following his 2014 examination of the sculpture,^[15] Professor Zhilin discovered another face in the sculpture and asserted that the faces were carved last of all, using tools made from the lower jaw bones of a beaver, with sharpened incisor teeth. A beaver jaw tool from the same period was found at the Beregovaya 2 site.^[sixteen]

The discovery upended scholars' views on when humans began making ritual fine art, as opposed to the kind of realistic art seen in the Lascaux caves.^[9] Scientists had previously believed that complex fine art comparable to the Shigir Idol began in sedentary farming populations in the Centre E around 8,000 years ago.^[9]

Preservation [edit]

Professor Zhilin stated that the sculpture was made from the larch, which is naturally phytoncidic, and so preserved in a bog that had an acid, anaerobic surroundings, which kills microorganisms and also has a tanning effect.^[seven] Scientists doubtable that many more than statues like the Shigir Idol existed, merely that they did non benefit from the same unusual conditions and therefore were not preserved.^[xiv]

See also [edit]

• List of stone age art

References [edit]

1. ^ Понизовкин, Андрей (September 2003). Куда шагал Шигирский идол? (PDF). Наука Урала (in Russian). No. 20–2003 [848]. Ural Branch of Russian Academy of Sciences.
2. ^ Waugh, Rob (Aug 29, 2015). "Mysterious Russian Statue Is 11,000 Years Quondam - Twice As Old As The Pyramids". Yahoo News. Retrieved August 30, 2015.
3. ^ ^{a b} "Is this the original face of god?". NewsComAu . Retrieved 2018-05-25 .
4. ^ ^{a b c} ThomasTerberger, Mikhail Zhilin, Svetlana Savchenko (30 Jan 2021). "The Shigir idol in the context of early art in Eurasia". Fourth International. 573: 14–29. Bibcode:2021QuInt.573...14T. doi:10.1016/j.quaint.2020.ten.025. S2CID 225114455. Retrieved 23 Mar 2021. {{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors listing (link)
5. ^ Petricevic, Ivan (2014-11-28). "The Shigir Idol, A Wooden Statue Twice As Onetime As The Pyramids Of Arab republic of egypt". Ancient-code.com. Retrieved 2014-12-02 .
6. ^ ^{a b} Geggel, Laura (April 25, 2018). "This Eerie, Human-Like Figure Is Twice As Old As Egypt'south Pyramids". Alive Scientific discipline . Retrieved April 28, 2018.
7. ^ ^{a b c d e} "Is this the world'southward oldest hush-hush code?".
8. ^ ^{a b} Zhilin, Mikhail; Savchenko, Svetlana; Hansen, Svend; Heussner, Karl-Uwe; Terberger, Thomas (Apr 2018). "Early on fine art in the Urals: new research on the wooden sculpture from Shigir". Antiquity. 92 (362): 334–350. doi:10.15184/aqy.2018.48. ISSN 0003-598X.
9. ^ ^{a b c d e} McKie, Robin (2018-05-20). "Carved idol from the Urals shatters expert views on birth of ritual art". the Guardian . Retrieved 2018-05-25 .
10. ^ ^{a b} Liesowska, Anna (2015-08-28). "Revelations on Shigir Idol 'alter our understanding of ancient civilisations'". The Siberian Times. Retrieved 2015-08-29 .
11. ^ Liesowska, Anna (2015-08-26). "Shigir Idol is oldest wooden sculpture monument in the world, say scientists". The Siberian Times. Retrieved 2015-08-31 .
12. ^ "Mysterious Wooden Idol with 'Encrypted Message' is 11,000 Years Sometime". HuffPost. 31 August 2015.
13. ^ ^{a b} "This 11,000-year-old statue unearthed in Siberia may reveal ancient views of taboos and demons". Scientific discipline | AAAS. 2018-04-24. Retrieved 2018-05-25 .
14. ^ ^{a b} "Shigir Idol could be oldest piece of monumental art: study". Salon. 2018-04-28. Retrieved 2018-05-25 .
15. ^ "This Eerie, Homo-Like Figure is Twice equally Old equally Arab republic of egypt'southward Pyramids". Alive Science. 25 April 2018.
16. ^ "Beaver'southward teeth 'used to carve the oldest wooden statue in the globe'". The Siberian Times. 15 June 2017. Retrieved 16 June 2017.

External links [edit]

• Zhilin, Mikhail; Savchenko, Svetlana; Hansen, Svend; Heussner, Karl-Uwe; Terberger, Thomas (April 2018), "Early art in the Urals: new enquiry on the wooden sculpture from Shigir", Artifact, 92 (362): 334–350, doi:10.15184/aqy.2018.48
• Where did the Shigir Idol walk? (in Russian)
• A multifaceted idol (in Russian)

Coordinates: 57°22′51″Northward sixty°08′27″E  /  57.3809°N 60.1407°E  / 57.3809; 60.1407

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Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shigir_Idol

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