The oldest wooden statue on Earth – Shigir idol – Do not get tired of making mysterious puzzles to scientists. For what purpose primitive masters built this five-meter idol? Whose are the faces imprinted on the tree? What is encrypted in its patterns is the key to secrets of the cosmos or proof of the existence of the unknown civilization? THE WILD MONSTER At the end of the 19th century – in 1887 – on the eastern slope of the Middle Urals, ten kilometers from Yekaterinburg, or rather, on the Shigirsky peat bog opened loose gold deposit. Together with the little gold, the workers became to extract unusual objects from peat from bone, wood, stone, clay, horns.
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What was not there – arrowheads and harpoons, tableware with a beautiful ornament, daggers with thin blades silicon wafers, bow, arrows … All things are perfectly preserved: peat is a wonderful natural preservative. In it, unlike sandy and clay soils, objects may lie for millennia. Specialists from Moscow, St. Petersburg, Kazan and Paris examined the peat bog and came to the conclusion: there was prehistoric village. Most items migrated to Yekaterinburg, composing the famous Shigirsky museum collection Ural society of science lovers. But the biggest A gift of scientists was waiting ahead. January 24, 1890 workers stumbled on a wooden figure. She was huge – more than five meters. Raise a peat from a four meter depth the preserved wooden sculpture turned out to be a difficult task. I had to use special scrapers to free it from peat and partly for part to raise to the surface, not particularly watching sequence of joining parts. First played the approximate appearance of the idol then the keeper of the museum D.I. Lobanov, receiving a statue with a length of 2.8 meters. But in 1914, an archaeologist V. Ya. Tolmachev reconstructed the figure, as a result of which it “rose” to 5.3 meters. It turned out a huge wooden sculpture with head, arms, legs crossed. ANCIENT EGYPTIAN PYRAMID Unfortunately, to this day a figure in its original form did not live. During the Second World War, the lower body lost, due to which the idol became shorter by 193 centimeters. But even in such a “truncated” version, it is the largest in The earth is a wooden statue made by ancient masters.
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Experts argued for many years, from which era came to us giant idol. Opinions were put forward the most diverse: from the Neolithic to Bronze and even the early Iron Age. Truth revealed by chance – in 1997 the idol began to collapse, it took an urgent preservation. But before proceeding with it, they finally decided conduct radiocarbon analysis. The conclusion of scientists from the Geological Institute of RAS and Institute of the History of Material Culture of RAS exceeded the wildest expectations: Mesolithic, Middle Stone Age! A this means that the idol from the godforsaken Ural bogs is older Egyptian pyramids and Mayan and Aztec civilizations. In other words, it is the oldest wooden sculpture on the planet! TATTOO IDOL The body of an idol, or body, as scientists call it, with all four sides are covered with inscriptions and carved geometric patterns. Until recently, it was believed that in the ornamental Only six images are viewed in the image. However recently scientists have discovered the seventh face. What do these faces mean? By According to Professor Valery Chudinov, the drawings hide the image of the goddess deaths and diseases of Mary. Idolatry was generally widespread common among the ancients. When it was required to treat ancestors in the time of the holiday, to the idol carried refreshments; wanted to thank higher forces for generosity – again, to the sculptures carried all the same valuable. Chudinov suggests that Shigirsky idol stood in a swamp and served as a kind of guard in the kingdom of the dead. And the swamp that has become later peat bog, the ancients associated it with the afterlife the world. Most likely, the ancients performed rites at the statue and sacrificed to the gods of the underworld, hoping to receive in return supportive attitude towards the deceased in the afterlife. Moreover, the ritual of appeasement was also carried out so as not to hurt and to delay the “visit to Mara,” that is, the period of his death. But the employees of the museum in which the idol is stored have their own thoughts on about the ornament and the masks depicted on it. They believe that Shigirsky idol personifies several spirits at once. Besides, in it encoded the history of an ancient tribe, its beliefs, structure the surrounding world and much more, which we do not suspect yet. By the understanding of local experts, an idol, in contrast to similar constructions, just stood, leaned against something, or was pinned up. But what explains this situation, museum workers do not judge taken. NEW IDEAS ADVENTURES Meanwhile Shigirsky the peat bog continually creates sensations. In the 80-90s of the XX century there dozens of sites of an ancient man were discovered, including thanks to the research of local historians. Among other things, at the bottom of the lake found a sculpture of a waterfowl made of a horn. From this it can be concluded that in the future there may still be discovered more amazing things.
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True, there is one thing but: now they do not get to gold shovels, and a powerful stream of water, crushing everything in its path, including archaeological sites. Threaten the cultural layer peat bog and growing dumps of the Kirovograd metallurgical combine. Nevertheless, scientists supported by local authorities are full determination to uncover the new secrets of Shigiri. As for the Big Idol, it is possible that in the future his journeys will continue. Once he already “traveled” to the Hermitage, and although scientists fear for safety sculptures during transportation, under favorable circumstances they are ready to show it in the largest exhibition halls in the world. Lyubov SHAROVA
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