Images

This is a horse head rhyton cast in silver, dating from the 5th century BCE when Armenia was under Persian control. It was found at the Erebuni Fortress in Yerevan, Armenia. (Erebuni Historical and Archaeological Preserve, Yerevan, Armenia...

The tomb of St. Merop Mashtots (c. 362-440 CE) lies within a chapel in Oshakan, Armenia. Mashtots is credited as the inventor of the Armenia alphabet around 405 CE. In addition to being a linguist and theologian, he was also a statesman...

The Areni Cave complex in what's present-day Armenia contains the world's oldest known winery and the world's earliest known shoe. An ancient skirt was recovered on the premises in 2011 and portions of an ancient brain were found in 2009.

Armenia's Areni Cave is near the Areni village in southern Armenia alongside the Arpa River. It is a multicomponent site that saw human habitation in the late Chalcolithic and Early Bronze Age. Prehistoric wine, an ancient shoe, and portions...

Photograph of the stone entrance to Areni Cave, which is located close to the village of Areni, Armenia. A 6100-year-old winery was discovered in one part of the cave in 2007, making Areni Cave the site with the oldest winery ever discovered...

This is a seated figure by a Sape artist who lived in what is now present-day Sierra Leone or Guinea. It is made from soapstone with applied coating and dates from perhaps 1400-1500 CE. (Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto)

This is a terracotta head of an animal—perhaps a sheep—with traces of polychrome. It was made by an artist from the inland Niger Delta Region in Mali possibly between the 1300s-1600s CE. (Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto)

These are terracotta fragments of two seated figures that were made by an artist from the inland Niger Delta Region in Mali possibly between the 1300s-1600s CE. (Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto)

Scholars believe that the ancestors of the people who now live in Mali used terracotta figures in rituals. This example is made of terracotta and possibly dates from 1300-1600s CE. It represents a god to whom people prayed and made offerings...

This broken figure of glazed terracotta is one of many old sculptures made of fired clay found since the 1970s around the modern city of Djenné in Mali. It dates from perhaps the 1300-1600s CE. Artists modeled the figures free-handed. They...