The most remarkable archaeological find in Lithuania is this female elk, cryptically looking at you with its one eye. It is five thousand years old, and bears witness to the times when people worshipped the Ruler of Animals. This ritual staff was produced by a highly skilled master, an artist who knew animal anatomy very well and was able to bring out the most characteristic features of a female elk—making the figure highly realistic with tiny details and ornaments.

In a wild Neolithic forest of that time, elk and deer were noble animals. That is why both in Europe and Asia prehistoric people worshipped these giants of the woods, making various sculptures and figurines symbolising them, placing them next to remains when burying the shamans of their tribes, and even naming constellations after the elk.