The Shigir Idol is the oldest known wooden sculpture in the world, made during the Mesolithic period, shortly after the end of the last Ice Age. The wood it was carved from is approximately 12,000 years old. The sculpture was discovered on January 24, 1890 at a depth of 4 m (13 ft) in the peat bog of Shigir, on the eastern slope of the Middle Urals, near the village of Kalata (modern Kirovgrad) and approximately 100km from Yekaterinburg. It was extracted in ten parts. The piece was originally 5.3 metres tall. Sadly, parts of it went missing during the Soviet Era. Now only 2.8 metres remain, along with sketches drawn in 1914 by the Russian archaeologist Vladimir Tolmachev.

The sculpture is carved from larch. As identified from the annual rings, the tree was at least 159 years old when felled. Stone tools were used for carving the markings. The top portion is a head with a face with eyes, nose, and mouth. The body is flat and rectangular. Geometrical motifs decorate its surface, including zigzag lines and depictions of human faces and hands. Horizontal lines at the level of the thorax may represent ribs. The monumental wood carving features seven faces, one three-dimensional up the top and six others etched into the body of the piece. Alongside its many faces are a series of horizontal and diagonal lines and abstract shapes, chevrons and a herringbone among them. The arrangement resembles a totem pole.

The object was carved with stone stools, the fine details were done with a sharp object, which is thought to have possibly been a sharpened beaver tooth ( this tool has been found in nearby areas from the same era).

Nobody has yet been able to crack the code masterfully carved into the sculpture’s surface, It could be the world's oldest writing, a pictorial map, or have some relation to deities, with some anthropologists suggesting the lines could represent boundaries between the spiritual world and earth.

The sculpture is currently on display at the Sverdlovsk History Museum in Yekaterinburg, Russia.

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