Results of the traceware analysis of the Big Shigir Idol

The surface of the sculpture was examined by a MBS-10 stereomicroscope with magnification from 5 to 100*. The analysis found that initially the tree trunk was worked with a polished adze with a wide working edge, the marks left by the adze are visible at the base of the idol. Then the surface was polished and the marks left by the adze were smoothed out. The decoration was made by ground chisels with working edge 2-4 cm wide. The details of the head and the face were made by polished chisels, the pupils were carved with curved tools, apparently, made from beaver incisors, whereas the mouth was carved with a stone tool shaped as a curved spoon-like knife. A complete toolkit of polished cutting tools was retrieved from the middle layer of the Beregovaya II site in the Gorbunovo peat-bog whereas broken pieces and semi-finished tools were also found in its lower layer dating to the early Preboreal period. The layer also contained chisels made from beaver jaws. Judging by the marks left, sharp tools were used to shape live wood. Protruding parts at the idol base were flattened due to the contact with the firm pedestal, there are no traces of decay, the idol was not dug into the soil and was not put on the ground. After having been finished, the idol was left in the open air which caused cracks due to wood drying up. The surface of the cracks as well as the entire surface of the sculpture is covered with black peat patina, peat deposits are noticeable inside the cracks. There are no traces of gyttja peat or mineral soil. The surface of the sculpture, including old cracks, is slightly rounded. The tracewear analysis offers an opportunity to reconstruct the technology for making the Big Shigir idol and also suggest more accurate chronology of the sculpture, namely, the startup of the Preboreal period of the Holocene.