Iberian Peninsula to the indus

part makes it possible to group 
together figurines from Ma’amariya 
sites and from Kôm el Akhmar, only 
a few kilometres apart, thereby 
circumscribing a possible zone of 
provenance. 
Although some recent works have 
re-proposed Ucko’s theories, the 
meaning of these figurines is still far 
from clear. They have been associated 
with the figurative decorations of 
vessels of the same period, sometimes 
bearing analogous stylized figures, 
whose raised arms have been 
interpreted as representing dance 
movements or invocations. Since 
most of these figurines were found 
in tombs – although more recently 
other fragments have been found in 
habitats such as ad Adaïma – it has 
been theorized that they played a role 
in accompanying the deceased to 
the afterlife, or were actually divinities 
or “guardians of the dead”. These 
theories, however, have been called 
into question. Regardless, since not 
all the Naqada II period burials have 
yielded one or more statuettes of this 
type, it is possible that they served 
primarily to identify certain individuals 
within a complex social and ritual 
system, much of whose organization 
and meaning continues to escape us.
L.C.
References
: Morgan 1896; Petrie 1920, p. 8 
and plate IV, nos. 3, 6; Ucko, Hodges 1963, 
no. 26, pp. 205–222; Relke 2011, no. 41, pp. 
396–426.

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171
170
45
Standing feMale figure
WitH croSSed arMS
Egypt, Hierakonpolis, “Main Deposit”, 
Temple enclosure
Naqada II – Early Dynastic period
(ca. 3300–3000/2900 BC)
Lapis lazuli and wood, H. 8.9 cm
The visitors of the Ashmolean Museum 
of Art and Archaeology – University of 
Oxford, Oxford AN1896–1908 E.1057 
(body; Egyptian Research Account 
excavations conducted by Quibell 
and Green, 1898) and E.1057a (head; 
University of Liverpool excavations 
conducted by Garstang and Jones, 
1906)
Ashmolean Museum of Art and 
Archaeology – University of Oxford, 
gift Harold Jones (head) AN 1896-1908 
E1057-1057 A
Bibliography:
Patch 2011, no. 172.
This remarkable little statuette is 
carved from beautiful blue lapis lazuli. 
Egypt’s closest known source for this 
semi-precious stone is Badakhshan 
in Afghanistan, a distance of some 
3,600 km, making it one of the most 
exotic and highly prized materials 
used by the ancient Egyptians. In 
dynastic times, the bodies of gods 
were described as being made of 
“pure lapis lazuli” and this exquisite 
stone therefore evoked the divine. 
It first became common in Egypt 
during the predynastic period when 
it was imported to create prestigious 
objects, particularly beads and inlays, 
included among the grave goods 
buried with members of the elite. The 
statuette from Hiérakonpolis is the 
largest piece of crafted lapis lazuli to 
have survived from this early time.
The story of the statuette’s discovery 
is almost as remarkable as the object 
itself. The body was discovered by 
James Quibell during excavations 
at Hiérakonpolis (one of the most 
significant archaeological sites for 
the formation of ancient Egyptian 
civilisation) beneath a mud brick wall 
south of the so-called “Main Deposit”. 
This large cache of discarded votive 
objects included some of the most 
iconic works of predynastic and early 
dynastic art that had been gathered 
together and ritually deposited within 
the later temple enclosure.
A small wooden peg was preserved 
at the figure’s neck for the attachment 
of the head, which incredibly was 
found eight years later, during 
further excavations in the same area 
conducted by Harold Jones. While 
the stone used for the body has 
a mottled appearance (with white 
and gold flecks of calcite and pyrite 
respectively), the head is of the 
rarer and “pure” deep blue variety. 
Whether this difference was by design 
or the result of damage requiring a 
replacement head is not clear. Some 
have even suggested the body was 
made outside Egypt, perhaps in the 
region of the Persian Gulf, and the 
head added after its arrival in Egypt.
The figure’s face is dominated by 
large eyes that are deeply recessed 
for inlay with another material. Her 
arms are bent at the elbows with her 
hands clasped, right over left, across 
the abdomen. Her nude body is quite 
summarily carved except for the pubic 
area, which is indicated by a series of 
small circular depressions. The legs, 
slightly bent at the knees, terminate in 
a straight edge just above the ankles. 
A drilled hole on the underside (now 
obscured by the modern mount) may 
have served to fasten the figure to a 
base, or to attach separately modelled 
feet. It has also been suggested that 
the figurine was meant to be the 
handle for a spoon.
Debate still rages about the figurine’s 
identity and origin. James Quibell 
was the first to point out its “non-
Egyptian” appearance, comparing it 
to the marble Cycladic figurines found 
on the Greek Islands of the Aegean 
Sea dating to around 2500 BC. 
Others have compared the pose to 
female figures from Iran dating to the 
later second millennium BC, several 
hundred years after the supposed 
date of the lapis lazuli statuette. The 
figure’s short, tightly curled hair as well 
as the position of her arms and hands 
are unique among the statuettes from 
the “Main Deposit” at Hiérakonpolis 
(the majority carved in ivory) and find 
few parallels in early Egyptian art. 
Several ivory and bone statuettes 
originally in the collection of the 
Reverend William MacGregor depict 
women with their hands crossed in a 
similar gesture, but questions surround 
their authenticity. The same curled 
hairstyle seen, for example, on figures 
decorating contemporary siltstone 
cosmetic palettes lends support to 
the suggestion that the statuette was 
carved in Egypt. Whatever the case, 
the object – whether fully finished, or 
as a block of raw material – travelled a 
considerable distance before arriving 
at ancient Hiérakonpolis and therefore 
provides valuable evidence of early 
Egypt’s place in an increasingly 
interconnected world.
McN.L.
46
Standing nude Male figure
Egypt
Old Kingdom (ca. 2500 BC)
Wood, H. 33 cm
Private Collection, Paris 
By the IV–V dynasty, not only the 
pharaoh but also private people of 
high rank could build themselves 
a monumental tomb and funerary 
chapel. Statues in stone or wood 
depicted the deceased and his 
household, as they were in their 
lifetime, and received offerings 
from the living. This nude, youthful 
figure is probably an attendant or a 
servant; the deceased would have 
been wearing a linen kilt. The slender, 
elegant body is typical of the aesthetic 
standard introduced by the Egyptian 
Old Kingdom, that is, idealized reality.
C.A.
ELIMINARE BASE DI LEGNO

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173
172
ARABIA

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175
174
Standing SteatopygeouS 
figure
Southwest Arabia
IV millennium BC
Private Collection, Paris
(cat. 49, detail)
Anthropomorphic fiGureS
from prehiStoric ArABiA
T
he caravan kingdoms of Saba, which appeared in the first millennium Bc, 
have long been thought to mark the earliest civilizations of pre-islamic Ara-
bia. however, the discoveries of statues and steles from archaeological sites 
in the northwest in the area of Al-‘ulà, in central Arabia at ha’il, in the hadramawt 
at rawk, set back the chronology to the fourth–third millennia. the exploration of 
eastern Arabia and the Gulf brought to light a local culture which thrived on the 
maritime trade between the land of Sumer in mesopotamia and the indus at the time 
of the harappa civilization. Ancient sites at Al- Aïn, umm an-nar, on the islands of 
tarut and Bahrain yielded remains of monumental architecture and figurative arts, 
notably on stamp seals. 
At the end of the fourth millennium, across the whole of Arabia, late neolithic soci-
eties underwent major changes, similar to those which were occurring in the levant, 
egypt and mesopotamia. the beginning of the Bronze Age increased communica-
tions with neighbouring regions, in answer to the growing needs of the metallurgic 
industry and the demand for raw materials on the part of the emerging complex 
societies of the near east. monumental architecture, cultic places and built tombs 
appeared in a number of sedentary centres throughout the peninsula. petroglyphs 
were engraved by tradesmen and travellers along the caravan routes. cultic centres 
associated with funerary precincts have yielded statues and steles of male figures. 
female steatopygous statuettes are carved out of coloured stones. Although these 
artistic forms originate from different regions separated by great distances, they show 
a remarkable aesthetic unity which is a characteristic of prehistoric Arabia. different 
stones were used to carve these sculptures,
reflecting on the geological diversity of 
the land, from black basalt, originating in the volcanic regions of the west, to the 
reddish limestone of the Hadramawt, the sandstone of the northwest, or the granite 
pebbles from the crystalline substratum in the west. 
the male statues are standing, their body is elongated, the legs are separated. Above 
a strong neck, the head is small, the face is rendered as a flat mask applied to the 
head; eyes and nose are delineated but not the mouth. they wear a belt and a baldric 
across the chest. it is not clear if they were otherwise fully clothed, but this what was 
probably intended as their genitals are never apparent. on the rock engravings, the 
male figures are shown in action, hunting animals and displaying their weapons – bow, 
spear and dagger – the crescent-shaped pommel of the dagger belongs to a well-known 
type used over a large part of the near east and egypt during the third millennium 

---

177
176
Bc, an indication for the date of those rock engravings and the standing stone statues. 
they are usually interpreted as funerary images or ancestor figures.
the female figures, on the contrary, are always naked and adhere to traditions 
inherited from the paleolithic-neolithic eras. their whole outline tends to be enclosed 
in a simple geometric shape, ovoid or cubic, with shortened legs, enhanced buttocks 
and belly, small head. What may look at first sight like a realistic rendering of an 
obese woman is in fact the result of a careful construction of abstract volumes, based 
on quadrangular or spherical modules assembled in well-balanced proportions. the 
lower part of the statuettes from the hadramawt is shaped as a cube, possibly indicat-
ing the figure is seated on a stool. the arms are crossed at the waist, in a static and 
majestic attitude. As in the male statues, the face often appears like a mask applied 
to the head, with a continuous eyebrow line. the female statuettes, never found in 
context, are, expectedly, interpreted as fertility figures. 
So far, there is no well documented association between the male and the female 
figures. But stylistic details,
such as the rendering of the flat mask-like face and the 
continuous eyebrows, point to their belonging to the same horizon, and it may be 
assumed that similar stones indicate a similar origin.
dead warriors are shown with the majesty of divinized ancestors; childbear-
ing women appear in the abstract ideal of eternal womanhood. these images step 
across the barriers that separate the human and the supra human worlds, life and 
death. Considered together, as complementary and contrasting concepts, the male 
and female images open a larger vista on the complex nature of pre-islamic Arabia. 
A.C.
AL-’ULÂ
92 cm
HA’IL
85 cm
HA’IL
57 cm
HA’IL
100 cm
RIQSEH
<100 cm
JAWF
40.5 cm
JAWF
24 cm
JAWF
26 cm
JAWF
31 cm
MAREB
33 cm
MAREB
27.5 cm
WÂDÎ SULAYH
25 cm
RAWK
31.7 cm
RAWK
26.2 cm
RAWK
21.5 cm
RAWK
20.9 cm
RAWK
17.5 cm
Yemen
Saudi Arabia
0
500 km
Jordan
1
Distribution of anthropomorphic 
figures from Arabia, IV–III millennia BC 
(after Steimer-Herbert et al. 2007)
2
Stele statue of male wearing a baldric
Al-Ma’Akir – Qaryat al-Kaafa, Hail 
(Southern Arabia)
IV millennium BC
Sandstone
National Museum, Riyad