Plush Toy in the Hermitage!

 

This is amazing. What is it we are looking at? A toy? From the fifties perhaps. A collectible from the Sixties? Earlier maybe before the Second World War? The thirties? No? 

It’s over 2,000 years old!

2,300-Year-Old Plush Toy Bird from the Altai Mountains of Siberia (c.400-300 BCE): crafted with a felt body and reindeer-fur stuffing, all of which remains intact

This artefact was sealed within the frozen barrows of Pazyryk, Siberia, for more than two millennia, where a unique microclimate enabled it to be preserved. The permafrost ice lense formation that runs below the barrows provided an insulating layer, preventing the soil from heating during the summer and allowing it to quickly freeze during the winter; these conditions produced a separate microclimate within the stone walls of the barrows themselves, thereby aiding in the preservation of the artifacts inside.

This is just one of the many well-preserved artifacts that have been found at Pazyryk. These artefacts are attributed to the Scythian/Altaic cultures.

Currently housed at the Hermitage Museum.