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This remarkably lifelike, 7-inch-tall bronze right hand dating to sometime in the first centuries C.E. was crafted to capture every detail of the human hand, from the slight curvatures of the palm and fingers to the delicate skin creases around the finger joints and wrist. According to the Greek inscription incised on the forearm, the hand was dedicated by “Zenon and Nikousa” who “made a vow” and “received satisfaction.”

Although the exact archaeological context of the find is unknown (it was discovered during a 19th-century French expedition to Saida [Biblical Sidon] in modern Lebanon), the inscription, together with the hand’s exceptional craftsmanship, suggest Zenon and Nikousa set up the hand, possibly in a temple or house of healing, as a votive offering to a deity who had answered their prayers.

Why the two chose a hand as an offering remains a mystery. In the Greco-Roman world, such “anatomical votives” were often given as offerings to Asclepius, the Greek god of healing, for having cured an illness or injury to a particular body part. In the Biblical and Semitic traditions, however, the right hand had more solemn associations and was typically given to guarantee oaths and seal contracts.

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This elegant, 2-inch high Minoan gold pendant depicts a Cretan wild goat, also known as the agrimi or kri-kri. The goat, with its distinctive long curving horns and powerful muscular frame, is shown in profile with its legs neatly tucked beneath its body. The piece, which dates to the 17th century B.C.E., is adorned with three dangling gold discs and has a suspension loop atop the horns, which suggests it was intended to be worn as jewelry.

The Cretan wild goat is a regular feature of Minoan art and often appears in wall paintings, pottery and various adornments, either alone or as the object of the hunt. In addition to being a prized game animal, the wild goat may have been ritually associated with the many Minoan shrines and holy places found atop Crete’s rugged mountains, the goat’s traditional habitat. Today, the wild goat is threatened and survives in limited numbers only in the remote White Mountains of western Crete.

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This life-sized bronze head preserves the delicate features and neatly coiffed hairdo of a wealthy nobleman who may have lived in the Arabian market town of Qaryat al-Faw almost 2,000 years ago. The right side of the face has been damaged, causing it to appear somewhat askew. It dates to the first century B.C.–second century A.D. and shows the clear influence of Hellenistic styles and fashion on merchants and elites who grew wealthy from Arabia’s famed overland trade in spices and incense.

Excavations at Qaryat al-Faw, located on the western edge of the Rub’ al-Khali Desert (the “Empty Quarter”) in Saudi Arabia, have uncovered fashionably decorated palaces, homes and temples, together with an expansive necropolis and more than 120 wells that provided abundant water year round. As one of the main staging grounds of the Arabian incense trade, Qaryat al-Faw became a melting pot of peoples, tastes and beliefs. This bronze head will appear as part of the Roads of Arabia exhibit at the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC.

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Adorned with abstract geometric symbols and a stylized depiction of a Roman trophy, this tiny gold coin, which measures less than half an inch in diameter, was recovered during recent excavations at the site of Folkestone along the southern coast of England. Perched high atop the chalk cliffs overlooking the Strait of Dover, Folkestone is most famous for its well-appointed Roman villa of the first–fourth centuries C.E. This coin, however, was excavated from the site’s earlier (and, until recently, previously unknown) (British) Iron Age levels (800 B.C.E.–42 C.E.).

The coin, known to numismatists (or coin specialists) as a gold quarter stater, was likely minted in southern England’s Kent region between 50 and 30 B.C.E.—not long after Roman forces, under Julius Caesar, reached Britain for the first time. More than 50 locally minted coins have been found at the site, together with a range of imported pottery, suggesting that Folkestone (located at the shortest sea crossing of the English Channel) was an important trading hub and a strategic coastal outpost connecting southern Britain and the European mainland in the late Iron Age.

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Slightly larger than life-size, this menacing face, with hollowed out eyes, furrowed brow and gaping mouth, is one of dozens of stone-carved theatrical masks that adorn the façade of the theater of ancient Myra in the town of Demre in southern Turkey. The second-century C.E. theater, richly decorated both inside and out with evocative masks and friezes of mythological scenes, hosted the most popular plays of Roman antiquity as well as bloody gladiatorial competitions.

Such carvings no doubt helped advertise the range of performances and competitions that Myra’s cosmopolitan residents could enjoy at the venue. Throughout its Roman history, Myra was one of the largest and most diverse cities along the southern coast of Asia Minor and, by late antiquity, was home to significant numbers of both Christians and Jews, the latter evidenced by the recent discovery of a fifth-century synagogue.^a

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More than 3,500 years ago, this 14-inch-tall, painted terra-cotta depiction of a bearded man, which was once part of a complete statue of a standing worshiper, faced the altar of the temple of Apollo near the ancient city of Tamassos on the island of Cyprus. The figure, which dates to around 600 B.C.E., was a votive statue of the owner, possibly originally standing more than 6 feet tall, that was placed in the sanctuary to represent his perpetual worship of the resident god. It was hoped that by dwelling in the houses of gods, such lifelike votives would bring the worshiper permanent protection.

Despite having been made in Cyprus, the piece shows features more common to the art of the Assyrian empire of Mesopotamia, which controlled Cyprus from about 707 to 612 B.C.E. Most recognizably Assyrian are the man’s long, squared-off beard, his prominent, well-defined nose, eyebrows and facial features and his emotionless, almost severe, expression. After the decline of the Assyrian empire, Cypriot votive statues remained popular in shrines across the island, although artists quickly abandoned Near Eastern styles in favor of Greek sculptural traditions.

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This striking 1.5-foot-tall ceramic vessel, painted with bold colors and intricate designs to resemble the head and body of a man, is actually a drum, used by the Nasca culture of ancient Peru more than 2,000 years ago. The figure’s knobby head, decorated with a horned headband and wide eyes outlined by two whale-like creatures, was the bottom of the drum, most likely held between the thighs. The hollow, bulbous body of the vessel, which functioned as the drum’s sounding chamber, shows the figure’s arms, legs and torso, as well as a serpent that emerges from beneath his chin. His legs, shown drawn up in the front, sit atop the drum’s neck and wide mouth. This opening was covered by a stretched piece of prepared skin, which served as the instrument’s playing surface.

Drums and other instruments were an important element in the ritual ceremonies of the Nasca culture, which flourished along the narrow river valleys of Peru’s southern coast from c. 100 B.C.E. to 700 C.E. Although the Nasca peoples did not build major cities or organize themselves into large territorial states, they often came together at major ceremonial centers, such as Cahuachi, where they could observe from on high the huge geoglyphs (known today as the Nasca Lines) etched into the surrounding landscape.

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If you look closely at this 2.5-inch-tall, worn ivory, an exquisitely crafted depiction of an ambling Indian elephant enclosed by an intricately patterned roundel begins to emerge. While the elephant’s massive body has been worn and chiseled by time and its legs damaged and fragmented, its most distinguishing features remain clear, including its long, coiling trunk, billowy ears and pointed tusks. Punctuating the borders of the dotted roundel are the remnants of two copper pins that once held the plaque in place.

Dating to the late first or early second century C.E., this ivory was discovered along with a horde of others in the storerooms of an ancient palace at Bagram, a site in northern Afghanistan that served as the summer capital of the Kushan empire. At its height in the first century, the wealthy Kushan empire stretched from Afghanistan to India and prospered from its control of the region’s lucrative trade routes. The ivory panels and inlays, which were crafted in India, were used to decorate chairs, footstools and other pieces of royal furniture that adorned the Bagram palace.

Many of the most beautiful Bagram ivories, including this one, were stolen from the Kabul museum during the early 1990s and sold on the antiquities market. Thanks to the donation of the conscientious collector who acquired the stolen pieces, the museum recently regained possession of its lost treasures. They were exhibited for the first time as part of the ongoing Afghanistan: Hidden Treasures from the National Museum, Kabul exhibit, most recently on view at the British Museum.

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According to its exceptionally well-preserved 13-line inscription, this 3-foot-tall, monumental basalt stela dated to the eighth century B.C.E. depicts the eternal funerary feast of Kuttamuwa, a high official of the Iron Age kingdom of Sam’al (modern Zincirli) in southeastern Turkey. Seated in a simple, straight-backed chair, the bearded, flat-nosed Kuttamuwa wears a pointed, tasseled cap and is clad in a long, fringed robe. In one hand he holds a pinecone, symbol of the timber-rich Amanus mountains that surround Sam’al, and in the other, a fluted chalice, probably filled with wine. Before him is a table laden with sumptuous foods prepared for his mortuary feast, including duck, loaves of bread and roasted meat.

The stela’s Samalian inscription, a local dialect of Old Aramaic, is written in a variant of the same Phoenician alphabetic script that was used by the ancient Israelites. It describes how the stela, which Kuttamuwa had crafted while he was still alive, was to be set up in a private mortuary shrine where Kuttamuwa’s “soul” (or nebesh, a variant of the Hebrew word nefesh) could eternally feast with the gods and his descendants. Most intriguingly, however, the inscription implies that Kuttamuwa’s “soul” would live on not in his bones or even in the hearts and minds of his loved ones, but rather in the very stela that he had erected for himself.

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Two grotesque figures with leaf-shaped, upturned noses and sharp, pointed teeth adorn this 3-inch-tall gold pendant recovered from a cache of gold objects buried perhaps a thousand years ago in western Panama. While their distinctive noses and teeth mimic some of the chief characteristics of Central American bats, the figures are otherwise quite human in form. Each is shown wearing a distinctive angular headdress, a wide-collar necklace and a loin cloth, while also holding a spear thrower in one hand and a paddle-shaped club in the other. The pendant, like much Central American art of the pre-Columbian period, appears to show composite beings that have both animal (in this case, bat) and human characteristics.

Until the arrival of Europeans in the late 15th and 16th centuries, most of Central America, including what would become Panama, was occupied by a variety of culturally sophisticated but loosely organized tribal groups that unfortunately left no written records describing their history or society. Without such records, archaeologists may never know exactly what the composite creatures from this pendant were meant to symbolize, although there is some evidence that bats were particularly revered for their uncanny ability to navigate through darkness. Similar discoveries of bat-nosed figures from surrounding regions suggest they could represent tribal heroes, mythical warriors or shamanistic beings.