The statue has been carbon dated to around 2250 BC, during the late Neolithic period or early Bronze Age, making it one of the oldest human representations found in England.

The statue is made of Scots pine and stands 18 inches (46 cm) high.

It has two legs but no arms; hips and buttocks narrowing to a waist and then broadening to shoulders; and a rounded head.

The statue was found in marshland on the north bank of the River Thames to the east of London, south of Ripple Road in Dagenham, during excavation for sewer pipes in 1922, now on the site of Ford Dagenham.

It was buried in a layer of peat about 3 metres (9.8 ft) below ground level, near the skeleton of a deer.