Image Details

Arthur M. Sackler Gallery/John Tsantes

More than 30 humanlike, lime-plaster statues, dating to about 6500 B.C., were found buried beneath the floors of houses at Ain Ghazal, Jordan. Excavators removed the statues in large earthen blocks and shipped them to the British Museum and the Smithsonian Institution—where conservators carefully freed the enigmatic, staring creatures from their carapaces. This photo shows one of the more puzzling examples—a two-headed statue with a shapeless body (compare with next photo).