The Mariupol Bull Figurine, which was likely stolen during the Russian siege of Mariupol at the onset of the 2022 invasion, has been named one of the world’s 10 most wanted looted artifacts by the Antiquities Coalition in early August.
The small figurine was carved from bone around 6,000 BCE by early settlers along the Azov Sea, and is thought to be a toy or ritual object.
It was excavated in the 1930s by Ukrainian art historian and archaeologist Mykola Makarenko after being stored in an ancient burial site for over 8,000 years. It had been displayed at Mariupol’s Museum of Local Lore.
Makarenko was arrested in 1934 by Soviet authorities and executed in Siberia in 1938 for resisting their attempts to destroy cultural landmarks, according to the Antiquities Coalition, which says that the disappearance of the figurine is a “chilling echo of Makarenko’s own fate.”
After Russia’s 2022 siege of Mariupol, the palm-sized bull disappeared alongside most of the museum’s collection, which was looted or destroyed during bombardment and occupation.
It was one of more than 2,000 museum pieces that disappeared from Mariupol amid the chaos.
Now, the Antiquities Coalition has named the figurine one of its 10 most wanted antiquities, alongside a Cambodian statue from the 10th century and a 770,000-year-old fossil from China.
Ukrainian First Deputy Minister of Culture Halyna Hryhorenko spoke at the announcement of the list, saying “the war unleashed by Russia against Ukraine is not just a war for territories.”
“It is a war for the right to remember, for the right to have a separate history, and for the right to remain Ukrainians in this world, both in the eyes of the international community and our children,” she said.
Deborah Lehr, chairman and founder of the Antiquities Coalition, described the figurine’s purported looting as a Russian attempt to erase Ukrainian identity.
“This ancient object is more than just an archaeological relic – its theft is a deliberate act of cultural aggression, emblematic of Russia’s broader campaign to erase Ukrainian identity,” Lehr said.
The Coalition added that photographs of the figurine have appeared in Russian museum exhibitions “promoting the Azov region as historically Russian,” saying that this raises concerns that the artifact “may already be in Russian hands and used to justify territorial claims.”
Ukrainian officials estimate that at least 1.7 million artifacts have been stolen or destroyed since Russia’s war on Ukraine began, which the Antiquities Coalition described as “part of a deliberate campaign to erase Ukraine’s past while profiting from its stolen heritage.”