“Iron Man”
Here’s a piece of art with a long and controversial history…
This Tibetan sculpture is known as the “Iron Man”. At 9.4 inches high, and 22 pounds in weight, it is believed to have been carved at around 1,000 AD by someone from the Bon Buddhist culture. This statue is thought to represent the Buddhist god Vaiśravaṇa, who is the god of wealth. The left-facing swastika on his belly symbolized good fortune and luck in the Bon culture.
The material of the “Iron Man” may consist of the Chinga meteorite that fell to the earth and landed in Siberia approximately 15,000 years ago. The Chinga meteorite is one of the rarest types of meteors found to date. Its composition consists of ataxite class nickel-rich iron which is, as you would guess, extremely rare making the statue quite priceless.
Others believe that the “Iron Man” sculpture may actually be of Scythian origin. The Scythians were Eurasian nomads who lived from the ninth century BC until the fourth century AD generally within the central Eurasian steppes. However, pockets of that culture may have survived in the secluded Himalayan mountains up until the eleventh century and some of those groups were heavily influenced by the Buddhists. Of course, this could all be some wonderful forgery. No one really knows for sure at this time, making it especially interesting.
Though there are controversies surrounding the validity of when and where the “Iron Man” statue was actually carved, its story continues. It is believed that in 1938, a Nazi scientific expedition to Tibet brought the statue back to Germany, perhaps because of the Buddhist swastika on its belly. It was kept in Munich in private hands until 2007 when the owners made it available to study.
The “Iron Man” is located at the Planetology Institute at Stuttgart University where it is currently being studied.
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