14 DAY TRIAL // The Shigir Idol, a wooden sculpture currently on display at a museum in Yekaterinburg, Russia, might be the world's oldest monument of the kind.
The ancient artwork was discovered in the 1890s in a peat bog in the Urals. Scientists first attempted to determine its age in 1997 and concluded that it must have been carved around 9,500 years back.
However, a team of researchers in Germany now say that, having using modern technologies to have a closer look at it, they found it to be much older.
Thus, it would appear that this wooden monument is, in fact, about 11,000 years old. If this is indeed the case, this would make it the oldest such artwork so far unearthed anywhere in the world.
“The results were astonishing, as samples from inside parts of the Idol showed its age as 11,000 calendar years,” a source at the Sverdlovsk Regional History Museum told The Siberian Times.
Furthermore, “The research proves that the Big Shigir Idol is the world's oldest wooden sculpture, and an outstanding discovery, a key to understanding Eurasian art.”
If, in fact, 11,000 years old, the Shigir Idol wooden sculpture is about twice as old as UK's Stonehenge monument and even the famed Egyptian pyramids.
There are hieroglyphics engraved on the sculpture
The Shigir Idol now stands about 2.8 meters (9.2 feet) tall. However, when first unearthed in the 1890s, it measured over 5 meters (16 feet) in height.
Apparently, parts of the wooden monument went missing during the 20th century as Russia was going through significant political turmoil.
The 11,000-year-old sculpture, featuring a total of 7 faces, is thought to be the work of hunters and fishermen who lived in the Urals region in ancient times.
Interestingly, researchers say that, judging by the hieroglyphics engraved on it, whoever designed and created it had more than just art on their mind.
More likely, the monument was made to pass on knowledge by means of the hieroglyphics adorning it.
“The ornament is covered with nothing but encrypted information. People were passing on knowledge with the help of the Idol,” said researcher Mikhail Zhilin with the Russian Academy of Sciences in an interview.
At least for now, scientists can't say for sure what this knowledge was, seeing how they are yet to interpret the hieroglyphics.
Nonetheless, they think it had something to do with myths about the rise of mankind and living in harmony with the world of the spirits.
