Archaeology, Ethnology & Anthropology of Eurasia 49 (2) 2021   doi:10.17746/1563-0110.2021.49.2.032-042

Annotation:  Late Pleistocene Paleoenvironments and Episodic Human Occupations in the Orkhon Valley of Central Mo Percussive-Abrasive Stone Tools from Chagyrskaya Cave: Results of Functional Analysis On the Date of the Great Shigir Idol An Early Bronze Age Hoard of Bronze Tools from Dvin, Central Armenia Vengerovo-2—a Krotovo Culture Site in the Baraba Forest-Steppe: An Archaeozoological Study The Emergence and Formation of a Proto-Urban Civilization in Azerbaijan: Certain Issues in the Trans Pottery from the Barsov Gorodok III/6 Early Iron Age Fortifi ed Settlement in the Surgut Stretch of The Study of Non-Ferrous Metal Artifacts of the Early Iron Age and Medieval Cultures in the Western Changes in Wooden Defensive Structures at Fort Umrevinsky (Based on Archaeological and Written Sourc The Festive Culture of Mining Plants in the Urals: The Dobryanka Case Happy Marriages Are Blessed in the Heavens, Unhappy Ones Cause Poverty: A View on Women in Usun-Debe Mythologizing History in Buryat Shamanic Rites The Tiger-Dog and its Semantics in the Nanai Shamanic Sculpture: Cultural and Cognitive Aspects Population Affinities of the Ancient Northern Okhotsk People: Cranial Evidence from a Collective Bur The First Settlers of Novosibirsk: The Demographic Structure of Krivoshchekovo, Western Siberia, in   

On the Date of the Great Shigir Idol

N.M. Chairkina

Institute of History and Archaeology, Ural Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences, S. Kovalevskoi 16, Yekaterinburg, 620108, Russia

The Great Shigir Idol is the largest anthropomorphic wooden sculpture in the world, a unique work of Stone Age art, and a valuable source for reconstructing the material culture and worldview of the ancient population of Northern Eurasia. Although study ofit began more than 100years ago, a number of issues, such as the place of discovery, context, date, methods of exhibition, etc., remain controversial. This article analyses archival documents relevant to the location and time of discovery of the Great Shigir Idol, and on the accompanying finds. The results of a recent comprehensive study conducted by Russian and German archaeologists and scientists in 2014 are outlined. The focus is on the analysis of AMS radiocarbon dates, spanning a period from the Late Pleistocene (~10,500 cal BC) to the Late Mesolithic/Early Neolithic (~6000 cal BC). These dates show a considerable range of variation, and they disagree with those derived from the conventional radiocarbon dating in 1997. Paleogeographic and archaeological data from the Trans-Urals do not support the early (9600-9000 cal BC) estimates of the time of the idol’s creation, but rather correspond to later ones, derived from the AMS¹⁴C analysis conducted in 2014. Therefore, it is necessary to continue the study of Mesolithic sites and paleoclimate of the Urals, determine the nature of primary peat formation at the Ural peatlands, and assess their age and that of the microremains of peat in early cracks in the idol, etc.

Keywords: Trans-Urals, Mesolithic, paleogeography, Great Shigir Idol