SHIGIR IDOL

The Shigir Idol statue is an ancient example of human creativity recovered in January 1890 near Kirovgrad, Russia and believed to be around 9,500 years old, making it the oldest statue on Earth. Made of 159 year old larch, it is covered with Mesolithic era symbols, which are not yet decoded. Some 2.8 meters in height, it appears to have seven faces. It was protected down the millennia by a four meter layer of peat bog on the site of an open air gold mine. Now held in Yekaterinburg History Museum, lack of funding has until now prevented the proper testing for age of this Urals treasure.