It’s a 5m tall idol with a big round head. Its face is made out of enigmatic lines carved on wood. More faces are carved along the slender body.

Called the Shigir Idol, it was found in the Ural Mountains in 1894, perfectly preserved by the peatland.

Today a study published on Antiquity by the University of Cambridge reveals that it is much older than previously thought: the Shigir Idol is probably the oldest idol we have.

It is 11.600 years old and was made by a civilisation of hunters-gatherers at the end of the last Ice Age. Civilisation that appears spiritually very complex. The rich imagery of the sculpture, with its vertical hierarchy of demons and spirits, hints to an idea of reality that, even then, could see quite beyond the simple surface of things.