Warka (or Uruk) Vase. Protoliterate. Uruk (or Warka), Mesopotamia (modern Iraq).
Origianlly this vase was discovered in fragments, but has since been repaired. The stone itself is thought to have been imported since Mesopotamia had so little stone in the area. Because there is no writing, only carvings, indicates that it is Protoliterate, meaning circa 3300-3000 BCE. The images depictedare thought to be of a harvest festival. At the bottom is water, then wheat and barley, followed by goats. People come afterwards, shown as priests (who were naked because they appear naked before their gods). People are carrying baskets of offerings and goods in a procession that continues to the top line of the vase. The Goddess, at the very top, is bigger due to hierarchical scale, that is, that the most important figure is bigger than the other figures.