Post #20

Shigir Idol The Shigir Idol is a wooden sculpture, found in a bog in the Urals. What remains of it now is a 2.8 meter idol, but it may have been 5.8 meter tall. The sculpture was made right after the end of the last Ice Age and was made from larch. The Shigir sculpture definitely had a religious function. The carvings show another 6 humanoid faces below the head of the figure, perhaps depicting deities or forest spirits. Near the idol, decorated antlers dating back to the same period were also found, possibly part of a ritual. The Shigir Idol is the oldest known wood carving, but definitely not the only European wooden cult figurine found. All around Europe, from ancient Greece to Scandinavia, wooden idols were often made to depict deities and became important religious sites.