Anthropomorphic stele – Smarthistory

Anthropomorphic stele, 4th millennium B.C.E. (4000–3000 B.C.E., El-Maakir-Qaryat al-kaafa near Ha’il, Saudi Arabia), sandstone, 92 x 21 cm (National Museum, Riyadh)

Anthropomorphic stele

This stone marker depicts an abstracted human. How should we interpret one of the Arabia’s earliest artifacts?

Copy and paste this URL into your WordPress site to embed

<blockquote class="wp-embedded-content" data-secret="DxKxSY9K7s"><a href="https://smarthistory.org/anthropomorphic-stele/">Anthropomorphic stele</a></blockquote><iframe sandbox="allow-scripts" security="restricted" src="https://smarthistory.org/anthropomorphic-stele/embed/#?secret=DxKxSY9K7s" width="600" height="400" title="&#8220;Anthropomorphic stele&#8221; &#8212; Smarthistory" data-secret="DxKxSY9K7s" frameborder="0" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" scrolling="no" class="wp-embedded-content"></iframe><script type="text/javascript">
/* <![CDATA[ */
/*! This file is auto-generated */
!function(d,l){"use strict";l.querySelector&&d.addEventListener&&"undefined"!=typeof URL&&(d.wp=d.wp||{},d.wp.receiveEmbedMessage||(d.wp.receiveEmbedMessage=function(e){var t=e.data;if((t||t.secret||t.message||t.value)&&!/[^a-zA-Z0-9]/.test(t.secret)){for(var s,r,n,a=l.querySelectorAll('iframe[data-secret="'+t.secret+'"]'),o=l.querySelectorAll('blockquote[data-secret="'+t.secret+'"]'),c=new RegExp("^https?:$","i"),i=0;i<o.length;i++)o[i].style.display="none";for(i=0;i<a.length;i++)s=a[i],e.source===s.contentWindow&&(s.removeAttribute("style"),"height"===t.message?(1e3<(r=parseInt(t.value,10))?r=1e3:~~r<200&&(r=200),s.height=r):"link"===t.message&&(r=new URL(s.getAttribute("src")),n=new URL(t.value),c.test(n.protocol))&&n.host===r.host&&l.activeElement===s&&(d.top.location.href=t.value))}},d.addEventListener("message",d.wp.receiveEmbedMessage,!1),l.addEventListener("DOMContentLoaded",function(){for(var e,t,s=l.querySelectorAll("iframe.wp-embedded-content"),r=0;r<s.length;r++)(t=(e=s[r]).getAttribute("data-secret"))||(t=Math.random().toString(36).substring(2,12),e.src+="#?secret="+t,e.setAttribute("data-secret",t)),e.contentWindow.postMessage({message:"ready",secret:t},"*")},!1)))}(window,document);
/* ]]> */
</script>

Copy and paste this code into your site to embed