Found one very rare photograph. In the picture taken in one of the campaigns in the Northern Urals, Nikolay Thibault-Brignolle, together with his friends, stands next to a stone idol. I think the picture was taken in 1957-58. A tourist from the Dyatlov group, destined to die in 1959, poses at an old stone idol.
Let's try to figure out what kind of idol it is. This is the so-called stone woman. Scythian figurine that is found in the Polovtsian steppes. The Polovtsian steppes are a historical region of Eurasia, representing the Great Steppe from the lower Danube to the Irtysh and Lake Balkhash (reference from Wikipedia). It is interesting that the Northern Urals are not included in the Polovtsian steppes.
But there is a figurine in the picture. Moreover, Nikolai's comrades decided to make fun of the statue and drove a large knife into its base. I have a photograph of Thibault-Brignole brandishing this particular knife and jokingly threatening his comrade with it. So, everything is clear with the knife.
The statue itself may well be a secret deity of the Mansi, the Golden Baba, or as it was called by the Mansi-Sorni Nai. Most likely, the natives hid it so well among the rocks that only tourists could find it. And they did not come up with anything smarter than cut the statue with a knife and damage it at the very base. So, the Mansi had an obvious reason to find blasphemers in order to punish them approximately. Then it turns out that the hunt was only for Thibault Brignoles. And all the rest died only due to the fact that there was one in their group whom the Mansi shamans were hunting.
The knife is in Nikolai's hands.
Presumably this is the idol of Sorni Nye.
Idol from the Urals and a statue of a stone woman in the Polovtsian steppes.
Promotional video:
Valentin Degterev