Images

A stone sculpture representing Tlaltecuhtli, the Aztec earth-fertility goddess. Excavated in the Templo Mayor area of Tenochtitlan (Mexico City)

A Roman marble head of Ares, god of war. Roman copy from a 4th century BCE Greek bronze original by Alkamenes. Centrale Montemartini, Rome.

The Mesoamerican god Tlahuizcalpantecuhtli or 'Dawn Lord' who represented the planet Venus, especially as the morning star. From the 16th century CE Codex Telleriano-Remensis

Skulls of Homo sapiens (left) and Neanderthal (right) from the Cleveland Museum of Natural History. This derivative work shows the skulls from the original display on a plain black background and with the annotation removed.

Skull of a Homo sapiens (a.k.a. modern human) individual, on display at the Harvard Museum of Natural History.

Rectangular painted limestone stela of Renefseneb. It records the traditional prayer in Middle Egyptian for an invocation offering (bread and beer), whereby the recitation of the words would provide sustenance for the deceased, taking the...

Painted wooden model group: four figures preparing food and beer. 6th Dynasty, Sidmant, Egypt. British Museum, London.

Model group of brewing, comprising nine (originally 13) figures sifting, an overseer, three sieving mash, and three (originally four) crouching before ovens. Found at Deir el-Bahri, dating to c. 2050-2000 BCE.

The bust known as the 'Patrician Torlonia' thought to represent the Roman statesman Cato the Elder (234-149 BCE), Marcus Portius Cato, also sometimes known as 'Cato the Censor'. (Torlonia Collection, Rome)

A toy dog in glazed turquoise, Middle Kingdom of Egypt (2040-1782 BCE). The British Museum, London.