Male figure. Replica.

SCYTHIAN Anonymous (active c. 7th c BCE - 2nd c BCE): Sculptures such as this one were placed near or on top of burial mounds.They were known as 'Kamennyye Babas' (Stone Grandmothers). There are 100 known eexamples set up by the Scuthians on the South Russian steppe, usually near or on top of relatively righ kurgan burials (Belozor). The stones are thought to represent the person buriee below, perhaps in sonme divine or semi-divine state, and usually depict squat bearded male figures occasionallyh with male genitals, holding a drinking ghorn and wearing a belt from which a sword and axe hang. The figures are part of a long tradition of sculpture in granite, sandstobne and limestone, from the Bronze Age onwards.