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This statue comes from the site of ‘Ain Ghazal, Jordan. The statue was made of plaster formed around reed bundles, with inlaid shell and stone eyes. It is one of about 30 such objects, found in two separate caches, buried in pits in the floors of long abandoned houses. The ‘Ain Ghazal statues are about half life size, very large works of art for that period.

 Obsidian Tools

Name: ‘Ain Ghazal statue

Material: plaster, reeds, shell

Size: c. 100 cm tall (3 ft 3.3 in)

Date: Pre-pottery Neolithic B; c. 6500 BCE

Place of Origin: Ain Ghazal, Jordan

Location: Smithsonian Museum

Source and Registration#:
Wikimedia Commons. (accessed April 27, 2010). (see also: Additional)

Gil Stein

Director of the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago