South America, Chile, Atacama Desert, ca. 7000 to 5000 BCE. A rare limestone carving from the pre-ceramic era, in a human or bird-like form, from the Atacama Desert Plateau west of the Andes extending south of the Peru-Chile border - possibly the oldest desert on our planet and known to be the driest non-polar locale of the globe with an average rainfall of only .6" (15 mm) per year! Though sparsely populated, some of its valleys have been populated for millennia. This stone carving is a very rare find! Size: 3.5" W x 5.25" H (8.9 cm x 13.3 cm); 7.45" H (18.9 cm) on included custom stand.

Ancient idols like this one, that reduce anthropomorphic and zoomorphic figures to a simple collection of shapes and lines, are considered some of our oldest abstract art. They fascinate us today in part because they hint at a belief system and cosmology that we can no longer access or understand. Instead, we guess at the meaning - are they fertility charms? Representations of old gods? Were they made to be carried as apotropaic charms, or simply to be placed in tombs? Their mute figures raise more questions than they answer.

Provenance: private Marysville, California, USA collection, purchased from Artemis Gallery auction, February 21, 2019, lot 144E; ex-private Hawaii, USA collection; ex-Hans Juergen Westermann collection, Germany, acquired in the 1950s

All items legal to buy/sell under U.S. Statute covering cultural patrimony Code 2600, CHAPTER 14, and are guaranteed to be as described or your money back.

A Certificate of Authenticity will accompany all winning bids.

PLEASE NOTE: Due to recent increases of shipments being seized by Australian & German customs (even for items with pre-UNESCO provenance), we will no longer ship most antiquities and ancient Chinese art to Australia & Germany. For categories of items that are acceptable to ship to Australia or Germany, please contact us directly or work with your local customs brokerage firm.

Display stands not described as included/custom in the item description are for photography purposes only and will not be included with the item upon shipping.

#171110

Small, ancient chips and nicks from surface commensurate with age. Deposits on surface, especially on the "head."