A wooden statue pulled from a peat bog in Russia more than a hundred years ago is now believed to be twice as old as Stonehenge.

The Shigir Idol, which was found in the Ural Mountains in 1890, is thought to be 11,000 years old – making it the oldest wooden sculpture in the world.

Depicting a man with mysterious symbols inscribed on him – which scientists believe could be an ancient encrypted code – the statue is 1,500 years older than previously thought.

Scientists in Mannheim, Germany, used the most up-to-date carbon dating technology, called Accelerated Mass Spectrometry, to determine the statue’s age.

Full: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/mysterious-wooden-statue-found-in-peat-bog-is-twice-as-old-as-stonehenge-10479558.html

Bubblecar said:

A wooden statue pulled from a peat bog in Russia more than a hundred years ago is now believed to be twice as old as Stonehenge.

It is a cool find.

Awesome!

Bubblecar said:

Depicting a man with mysterious symbols inscribed on him – which scientists believe could be an ancient encrypted code –

Or perchance it is a form of alphabet or proto-alphabet that scientists have not come across before. WTF would you encrypt something like this?

sibeen said:

Bubblecar said:

Depicting a man with mysterious symbols inscribed on him – which scientists believe could be an ancient encrypted code –

Or perchance it is a form of alphabet or proto-alphabet that scientists have not come across before. WTF would you encrypt something like this?

Probably ceremonial…

sibeen said:

Bubblecar said:

Depicting a man with mysterious symbols inscribed on him – which scientists believe could be an ancient encrypted code –

Or perchance it is a form of alphabet or proto-alphabet that scientists have not come across before. WTF would you encrypt something like this?

Do you comprehend the use of the word in this instance?

roughbarked said:

sibeen said:

Bubblecar said:

Depicting a man with mysterious symbols inscribed on him – which scientists believe could be an ancient encrypted code –

Or perchance it is a form of alphabet or proto-alphabet that scientists have not come across before. WTF would you encrypt something like this?

Do you comprehend the use of the word in this instance?

Im with Sibeen , why have the boffins infered an encryption ?

Brett

Thomo said:

roughbarked said:

sibeen said:

Or perchance it is a form of alphabet or proto-alphabet that scientists have not come across before. WTF would you encrypt something like this?

Do you comprehend the use of the word in this instance?

Im with Sibeen , why have the boffins infered an encryption ?

Brett

Why would they infer that it was an idol, for that matter?

Interesting, I’m normally inclined to dismiss ancient artworks as either graffitti, pornography or weapons. But this doesn’t look like any of those.

The markings look like decoration more than anything else, you can imagine people doing something similar today

mollwollfumble said:

Interesting, I’m normally inclined to dismiss ancient artworks as either graffitti, pornography or weapons. But this doesn’t look like any of those.

Your thought processes are undernourished.

>>A wooden statue pulled from a peat bog in Russia more than a hundred years ago is now believed to be twice as old as Stonehenge. <<

I can believe that, certainly looks it.

I can read ancient Russian.

It says “The wooden spoon goes to Collingwood”.

Is the idol new or an older version of a more recent (relatively speaking) one.
I am sure I have seen something very similar elsewhere, perhaps an album cover for a band but not certain

Ignore what I said it wasn’t a recent find at all

It was probably an early ad for Chevron Energy.