Stone figures and reliefs, in part large-sized, are authenticated in Palestine, Anatolia and Upper Mesopotamia as early as the Aceramic Neolithic Age (7th millennium BC), although in Mesopotamia not until the 6th millennium in the form of small idols. As the context of the finds suggests, they were part of cult buildings, and in the Levant also of a grave cult. The early Sumerian anthropomorphic stone sculpture from Uruk (late 4th millennium) and the early Elamian sculp…
Cite this page
Braun-Holzinger, Eva Andrea (Frankfurt/Main),
Blödorn, Heide (Mainz) and
Neudecker, Richard (Rome),
“Sculpture”, in:
Brill’s New Pauly, Antiquity volumes edited by: Hubert Cancik and , Helmuth Schneider, English Edition by: Christine F. Salazar, Classical Tradition volumes edited by: Manfred Landfester, English Edition by: Francis G. Gentry.
Consulted online on 22 March 2023 <http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/1574-9347_bnp_e926920>