Mesopotamian Stone Votive Figure, 3rd millennium BCE. Via tomkinscollection.org (dead link).
Votive statues in an attitude of prayer originated in Mesopotamia at the beginning of the third millenium BC. They were placed in temples to represent the donor in perpetual prayer before the gods. As this small figure is pierced, it may have been worn as an amulet.
Terracotta statuette of woman with bird face. OASC The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Date: ca. 1450–1200 B.C. Culture: Cypriot. On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 173. This figurine is typical of Cypriot coroplastic art of the Late Cypriot II and III periods. The type, with the pubic triangle accentuated and the breasts clearly shown, is likely of Syrian origin, but Cypriot sculptors created their own variations. Handmade and hollow, it has a shaved surface. Her eyes are pellets surrounded by rings. In each large flat ear are two perforations, each containing an earring; the lower ones have overlapping terminals. The infant stretches out its arms and has depressed circles for its eyes.
A Mother Goddess. Alabaster, 3.7 x 1.2 x 1.0 cm Northern Mesopotamia, end of the third millennium BC.
Reference: Agnès Spycket, From the Collection of Elie Borowski - The Human Form Divine, Jerusalem, 2000, page 91-95, figures 68A-F/ Akira Hori, Faces in the Ancient Near East, Tokyo, 1983, page 41, figures 15 and 16
Sarcophagi of Carajía. Chachapoyas culture. Referred to by local residents as the “ancient wise men”. CC-BY-SA J F via flickr.
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