The Big Shigir Idol in the context of anthropomorphism of prehistoric portable and monumental art of Europe and the Trans-Urals

The paper reviews morphology of representing the head and facial features of the Big Shigir idol compared with a series of other carved anthropomorphic sculptures made both from wood and other materials that have been discovered in Europe and the Trans-Ural region and have been dated to the period from the Mesolithic to the Bronze Age inclusive. Besides, the paper contains some ideas explaining why the AMS-dates obtained for the wood the Big Shigir idol was made from appear to be so early. It has been inferred from the analysis that the results of the stylistic analysis of the sculpture contradict the radiocarbon dating results obtained during all stages of the dating process and that the date of the wood, probably, does not correlate with the date of the sculpture itself if we assume that a ‘fossil' trunk of larch was used to make it. It must be admitted, though, that this suggestion requires follow-up studies to either validate or reject this hypothesis.