Possible shaman's snake stick from 4,400 years ago discovered in a Finnish lake

By Owen Jarus - Live Science Contributor 1 day ago



This snake-shaped artifact dates back 4,400 years and may have been used as a staff or figurine. (Image credit: Satu Koivisto, courtesy Antiquity Publications Ltd)

A wooden stick carved into the shape of a snake dating back about 4,400 years has been discovered by a lake in southwest Finland. The stick may have been used for mystical purposes by a shaman.

"I have seen many extraordinary things in my work as a wetland archaeologist, but the discovery of this figurine made me utterly speechless and gave me the shivers," archaeologist Satu Koivisto said in a statement. Koivisto is a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Turku in Finland who leads research at Järvensuo, the site where the object was found.

The figure, which is 21 inches (53 centimeters) long and about an inch (2.5 cm) thick, was carved from a single piece of wood," Koivisto and co-author Antti Lahelma, an archaeologist at the University of Helsinki, wrote in a paper published June 29 in the journal Antiquity. "The figurine is very naturalistic and resembles a grass snake (Natrix natrix) or a European adder (Vipera berus) in the act of slithering or swimming away," the researchers wrote.

A researcher not involved in the study suggested the artifact may depict a viper. "I would say that a viper is more correct, due to the shape of its head, the short body and distinguishable tail," Sonja Hukantaival, a postdoctoral researcher in Nordic Folkloristics at Åbo Akademi University in Finland, told Live Science in an email. "This is interesting, since the viper has an important role in much later (historical) folk religion and magic."

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