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The Independent has an article about a wooden statue found in peat bog which is 'twice as old as Stonehenge'. Named the Shigir Idol, it was found preserved in a peat bog back in 1890. New dating techniques suggest that it is around 11,000 years old, which would make it the oldest extant wooden sculpture.
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.
Thomas Terberger, a professor at the Department of Cultural Heritage of Lower Saxony, part of the team who dated the Idol, told the Siberian Times: "The results exceeded our expectations.
"This is an extremely important date for the international scientific community. It is important for understanding the development of civilisation and the art of Eurasia and humanity as a whole.
"We can say that in those times, 11,000 years ago, the hunters, fishermen and gatherers of the Urals were no less developed than the farmers of the Middle East."
(Score: 5, Interesting) by richtopia on Thursday May 03 2018, @10:42PM
In case older than Stonehenge doesn't give you a good feeling for how old this is:
1. This is the oldest known wooden statue
2. 11500 years old puts us roughly at 9500BC
3. The Neolithic age (New Stone Age, tools became common and domestication of agriculture and animals occurred) occurred around 10000BC, and ended around 4~2000BC
4. Writing systems is estimated around 3500BC
5. Jerico dates back to roughly 10000BC
This stick is old.