Images

Reed arrow shafts, c. 80 cm long. From Asyut, Egypt, 6th Dynasty. The British Museum, London.

Flat, ornamental axe-head with original wooden haft and black leather binding. It is certainly non-functional. From Thebes, Egypt, c. 1550-1285 BCE. British Museum, London.

Arsenical copper axe-head, dating to the Middle Kingdom of Egypt. It has nine binding-holes, three in each tang. Traces of the original wooden haft survive and the remains of some organic material are preserved in the corrosion product on...

Tlaltecuhtli, the earth-fertility goddess, represented as a toad supporting the corner of a pyramid platform at El Tajin.

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...