Archaeologists have unearthed a 7,000-year-old figure that looks like an alien.
Researchers discovered the unusual shape while excavating at a site in Kuwait called Bahra 1.
They described the clay figure as a “small, finely crafted head, with slanted eyes, a snub nose, and an elongated skull.”
He looks a bit like an alien, or even the Sorting Hat from the Harry Potter franchise.
While it may seem strange, this style was actually common in ancient Meopotamia, although this is the first time one has been found in Kuwait or the Persian Gulf.
The archaeologists who discovered it described the discovery as a “total surprise.”
“(The) discovery of the figure was a total surprise for the entire team,” said Agnieszka Szymczak, leader of the expedition. Living science.
“It was the first find of its kind, not only among the more than 1,500 small finds excavated at the Bahra 1 site, but also in the Persian Gulf region.”
Archaeologists have unearthed a 7,000-year-old figure that looks like an alien
Researchers discovered the unusual shape while excavating at a site in Kuwait called Bahra 1.
They described the clay figure as a “small, finely crafted head, with slanted eyes, a snub nose, and an elongated skull.”
The joint Kuwaiti-Polish team has been excavating one of the oldest settlements on the Arabian Peninsula, whose occupation lasted from approximately 5500 to 4900 BC
Researchers say that although the find is typical of figurines from the Ubaid Neolithic community, it is the first of its kind discovered in the Gulf region.
Professor Piotr Bieli*ski, from the Center for Mediterranean Archeology at the University of Warsaw, said: “The presence of this figure at our site raises intriguing questions about its purpose and the symbolic, and perhaps ritual, meaning it may have had for the community that inhabited this settlement”. .’
Another important discovery sees confirmation of local ceramic production.
Since the beginning of the investigation at the Bahra 1 site, two types of vessels have been discovered.
This includes imported pottery associated with the Ubaid culture and completely different pottery, so-called coarse red ware (CRW), also known from other contemporary sites on the Arabian Peninsula.
CRW pottery has long been considered a local product, but until now there has been no evidence of the specific locations of its production.
The key discovery was the discovery of an unfired clay pot, which helped confirm that Bahra 1 is the oldest known pottery production site in the Gulf region.
WHAT DO WE KNOW ABOUT THE HISTORY OF THE STONE AGE?
The Stone Age is a period of human prehistory distinguished by the original development of stone tools and covering more than 95 percent of human technological prehistory.
It begins with the earliest known use of stone tools by hominids, ancient ancestors of humans, during the Old Stone Age, about 3.3 million years ago.
Between about 400,000 and 200,000 years ago, the pace of innovation in stone technology began to accelerate very slightly, a period known as the Middle Stone Age.
At the beginning of this era, hand axes were made with exquisite craftsmanship. Over time, this gave way to smaller, more diverse tool sets, with an emphasis on flake tools rather than larger core tools.
The Stone Age is a period of human prehistory distinguished by the original development of stone tools and covering more than 95 percent of human technological prehistory. This image shows Neolithic jadeite axes from the Toulouse Museum.
These tool sets were established at least 285,000 years ago in some parts of Africa, and between 250,000 and 200,000 years ago in Europe and parts of Western Asia. These tool sets last until at least 50,000 to 28,000 years ago.
During the Later Stone Age, the pace of innovations increased and the level of craftsmanship increased.
Groups of Homo sapiens experimented with various raw materials, such as bone, ivory, and antler, as well as stone.
The period, between 50,000 and 39,000 years ago, is also associated with the arrival of modern human behavior in Africa.
Different groups sought their own distinctive cultural identity and adopted their own ways of doing things.
Later Stone Age peoples and their technologies spread out of Africa over the next few thousand years.