Ancient Near East, Anatolia, Early Bronze Age II, ca. 2700 to 2300 BCE. A Kusura-type – also known as violin type – marble idol of an extremely simplified anthropomorphic form. The idol is hand-carved into a thin sheet with a small circular head, conical neck, and trapezoidal body with a rounded bottom. Kusura idols are named after the village of Kusura, near Afyon in western Turkey. Votive idols like this one are known in a variety of fascinating forms throughout the pre-literate ancient world. From the truly abstract Kilia-type figures that are barely recognizable as human to the exaggerated feminine shapes of so-called “Venus” figures, people in the past, as today, had a clear desire to portray human forms and did not feel constrained by naturalism.