This Strange, Wooden Idol Is Twice as Old as Egyptian Pyramids

Popular Mechanics ^ | April 28, 2018 | Laura Yan

[C19fan]

Scientists discovered a strange, tall, humanoid wooden figure under four meters of peat in a Russian bog. The figure, dubbed the Shirgir Idol (after the bog where it was found), is more than twice as old as the Egyptian pyramids.

Gold miners stumbled upon pieces of the wooden figure in 1894. 100 years later, radiocarbon dating helped researchers trace the sculpture back some 9,900 years, which made it the oldest monumental sculpture in the world. The most recent analysis of the idol, published in Antiquity journal, pegged the figure at about 11,500 years old.

[CharlesOConnell]

Hear about “The Old Man” in Chesterton’s Everlasting Man. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K3uO_8LtV64

[WayneS]

It seems to me that statues made of wood should be more easily and accurately "dated" than those made from stone. A lot of assumptions, both physical and cultural, must be used when estimating the creation date for a stone statue (historical records of questionable age, assumed wind & water erosion rates, etc).

However, wood comes from trees - and trees have a finite lifespan. Different species have different life-spans, but it is not hard to identify which species was used for a particular carving.

The Larch from which this wood carving was made has a +/-350 year lifespan. So, if this artifact was accurately carbon-dated to +/-7,000 years ago, then even if the statue was carved from a Larch tree that was very old at the time the statue was carved, it still puts the age at +/-6,500 years old.

[WayneS]

Good point!

[WayneS]

What do the experts think the lines represent?

[JimRed]

They dated the wood, not the artwork.

So it is possible that the wood was already dead 5,000 years when the carving was done- but not at all likely since unprotected wood breaks down very quickly.

[yarddog]

The Palladium at Troy was made of wood.

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks C19fan. Shirgir, aw, honey honey...

[SunkenCiv]

There are radiometric methods that work with stone.

[SunkenCiv]

Ice age lion figurine:Ancient fragment of ivory belonging to 40,000 year old animal figurine unearthed
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/chat/3188159/posts

[Red Badger]

Must have been made by ancestor of Reubens.........

[DariusBane]

Oh nooo Mr. Bill!

[Daffynition]

Wood you please carve some time outta your day, to do something useful? :D

[WayneS]

That is a very interesting article. It explains in some detail how they came up with the latest estimate for the age of the sculpture.

[WayneS]

Are you saying that radiometric methods can be used to determine the age of a stone sculpture or simply the age of a particular stone?

[Ezekiel]

Is she spinning clockwise, or counterclockwise?

[SunkenCiv]

Depending on the method, both.

[Daffynition]

Like me... a Whirling Dervish

[WayneS]

What method would be used to determine the time-frame when a particular stone statue was carved?

[blam]

"The Venus of Willendorf is an 11.1-centimetre-tall (4.4 in) Venus figurine estimated to have been made between about 28,000 and 25,000 BCE."

Early porn?

[ApplegateRanch]

Recently, Facebook removed a photo of her, after some schmuck reported it as nudity/pornography. Imbeciles abound.