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Animal and Man. Ancient Art of Eurasia The exhibition of ancient Eurasian art opened on 16 April, 2002, shows the development of the images of animal and man over almost 30 thousand years. Upper paleolithic artifacts come from the Russian Plain and Siberia (25th-12th millennia BC). Female figurines called Paleolithic Venuses have prominent sexual organs and decorations but facial features are mostly missing. The exhibition shows decorations such as beads, pendants and bracelets. Zoomorphic figures from the same sites are expressive and realistic. Household objects were decorated with sophisticated geometric ornamentation. Of special interest are weapons and zoomorphic figures unearthed from the two children's burial in the Sungir site (Vladimir), the earliest and richest burial of humans of the modern anthropological type in Russia. Mesolithic (8th-6th centuries BC) is represented by finds from the Oleny Ostrov burial in Karelia (second half of the 6th-5th millennia BC). These are the idol five meters high, bird head ladles, elk head warder tops, zoomorphic sculptures, decorated arrowheads, etc. The invention of ceramic ware during neolithic (6th-3rd millennia BC) brought about the development of small forms in the art. This section shows clay and wooden vessels with zoomorphic and anthropomorphic moldings used in rituals. The shingle-engraved scene of bear hunting is unique. Art of small forms is represented by stone and flint figurines of wood fowls, fish and animals. One of the exhibition's centerpieces is the antler mask showing the upper part of the face of a European man. Amber decorations which were probably fastened to men's clothes are often found in the late neolithic burials in the forest area (Konchanskoye and Repishche burials). During the early iron age and middle ages, people living in the Ural and on the Kama learnt to work with metal and created a rich art. Full-shape and flat figures were cast from copper, bronze and silver. The exhibition shows a copper idol in the form of a tree from the river Iset, hoard of bronze bird idols, lying wolf and anthropomorphic figures from the mount Azov, bronze idols from the Tumanskoye sanctuary and bronze figures of warriors from the Sanagovsky hoard. Hoards of metal objects from the Perm and other regions along the Kama from the 1st and 2nd millennia yielded mostly therianthropic images such as the bird with a human face in its breast, bear man with human face and two faces of his parents and bear man with a skin on his head. Cast bronze plates called ''Chud icons'' portray the Great Mother of animals and men, seven elk man brothers and ''circle of life''. Therianthropes were believed to be progenitors of humans and animals. The Perm animal style was based on the ideas of tribal society. |
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