Nikolay Tarasov, 53, netted the extraordinary 4,000-year-old figurine while fishing in his hometown of Tisul, in Russia’s Kemerovo region.
The small object got tangled in his net and Tarasov was getting ready to chuck it back into the river when he glanced down to take another look.
That’s when he saw a face staring back up at him.
“I stopped and washed the thing in the river and realized it wasn't a stone of an unusual shape, as I thought earlier, but a statuette,” the man told
Tarasov donated the figure to the Tisul History Museum free of charge.
The figure has a grim facial expression and round eyes. On the back, the carver has etched in plaited, wavy hair.Tisul’s History Museum was stunned when Tarasov brought them the find. Experts said it was made out of horn that has fossizlied. They have dated it to the Bronze Age and believe it may have belonged to the Okunev or Samus cultures, a group of people thought to have inhabited Tisul in ancient times.
“Quite likely, it shows a pagan god. The only things we have dated approximately to the same age are a stone necklace and two charms in the shapes of a bear and a bird,” said museum director Marina Banschikova.
Tarasov’s hunch about the object turned out to be right, but even he was surprised when he realized how old it was.
Siberian driver Nikolay Tarasov found the Bronze Age figure while fishing near his home in Tisul, Russia.
“I knew when I looked closely at my find that it must be not even a couple of hundred years old, but older. But I still needed to sit down when the experts told me that this object was carved at the very beginning of the Bronze Age,” he said.
The man decided to donate the figure to his local museum free of charge—even though it may be worth more than its weight in gold,.
“To sell it and make profit? What are you talking about?” asked Nikolay. “People should see it, and learn the history of their region. It was quite clearly precious for the museums of any country.”
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