The Shigir Idol is one of the most mysterious objects in the world. Discovered in 1894 in Russia, in the Sverdlovsk region, this incredible sculpture was located in a Russian peat bog in the Ural Mountains.
It was gold miners who excavated the mysterious and giant idol that had been sleeping under the ground for thousands of years. According to the reconstruction work of the fragments of the archaeologist Vladimir Tolmachev, the Shigir Idol was originally 5.3 meters long.
Uprooted in several pieces under the ground, following the wars and revolutions, this 11.600 years old statue preserved nevertheless the quality of its wood thanks to the natural acidity which slows down the decomposition of the organic matters.
Today, only 2.8 meters of this figurine remain, hiding mysterious coded messages...
Thanks to radiocarbon datation, the scientists affirmed that this giant Russian statue was 9,500 years old.
Following the doubts of some scientists and archaeologists, new advanced studies were carried out in one of the leading laboratories in Germany, Klaus-Tschira AMS of Mannheim, to find out the real age of the idol.
The new group of scientists decided to use a technique called "gas pedal mass spectrometry" (AMS) on 7 small pieces of the wood of the statue, to find the exact age of this curious object found in the Russian lands.
Thus, they discovered that the idol of Shigir dates from more than 11 600 years ago. This makes it the oldest carved wooden statue. Another surprising result, the idol would have been carved in a trunk of Larch, 157 years old at the time of the manufacture of the statue.
The professor of prehistory at the Department of Cultural Heritage of Lower Saxony of Germany, Thomas Terberger and his colleague Mikhail Zhilin, from the Institute of Archaeology of the Russian Academy of Sciences, shared, moved, their joy in an interview:
"This work has exceeded all our expectations. There is no woodcarving as old in all of Europe, nor in the world. Proof that at the beginning of the Holocene, the populations of hunters and fishermen-gatherers of Eurasia were as advanced in their creations as those of the "Middle East".
Despite all the discoveries about the idol, its meaning remains a great mystery to man. According to Mikhail Zhilin, "the top layer of the sculpture is completely covered with encrypted information".
It is certain that this giant representation of a particular being has information all along its body covered with incisions and geometric patterns. Some even believe that the idol contains a coded message about the origins of humanity.
The physical particularity of this very ancient wooden sculpture is its large oval head with an inexpressive face, its eyes that are clearly distinguishable thanks to the two pronounced slits and its round mouth, as if he (or she) was surprised by something without really being surprised.
All along his body, we find all sorts of shapes and drawings reminding us of the Mesolithic era.
The idol of Shigir is entirely covered with symbols and writings that are undecipherable for the modern man. But according to the Russian Academy of Sciences, the ornaments of the statue could be a transmission of knowledge.
According to the release of new documents based on new scientific studies, the hieroglyphs of the idol of Shigir would have been created thanks to the teeth of carved beaver.
Professor Mikhail Zhilin stated that "the surface was polished with a fine-grained abrasive" and then he said that the rest was carefully carved with a chisel and the lower jaw of a beaver with sharp teeth.
In Siberian Times, he clearly explains "that at least three different tools were used, with different blade thicknesses to make the idol". Beaver teeth being the ideal tool for carving wood.
Professor Mikhail Zhilin, moved and completely taken in by this enormous mysterious sculpture, has a real "feeling of admiration" for this work. He once said: "It is a magnificent piece, carrying a gigantic emotional value and a lot of strength. (...) it is a unique sculpture, there is nothing like it in the world. It is very alive and very complex at the same time.
It is hoped that this enthusiast and the community of scientists and dedicated archaeologists will one day find the coded message of the idol and that this will bring a great evolutionary change to our planet.
While waiting for the news of the studies that are still being carried out today, we leave you with some beautiful images of the sculpture that will perhaps one day change the face of humanity...
