Tell Brak Eye Idol

Ancient Near East, modern Syria, Tell Brak, Late Uruk Period, ca. 3300 to 3000 BCE. A fine and abstract eye idol, hand-carved from creamy white stone with areas of brown and salmon-pink coloration. One of the most famous types of early Mesopotamia, it has a bell-shaped body surmounted by two conjoined circles with drilled loops which form the “eyes.” Eye idols were named in the 1930s by the British archaeologist Max Mallowan when he was excavating at the mound called Tell Brak and found hundreds of small anthropomorphic items of similar form to this one – some kind of simplified body topped by huge discs for eyes and no other discernible facial features. He named the place where he found them “The Temple of the Eyes.”