Collections of the Israel Dept. of Antiquities and Museums/Y. Lehman
Chalcolithic culture, 5,000 to 6,000 years ago, thrived in more than 25 villages on the Golan. These people left behind numerous pottery and basalt artifacts. Basalt pillar-form figurines, often found in Chalcolithic houses, may have been employed in some kind of domestic ritual. Each figurine has a shallow depression carved at the top, where offerings were perhaps placed. Some of the figurines have facial features—seen in profile in the two objects at left—including eyes, ears, a large projecting nose, and a goatee, evident below the nose in the right-hand object.