[2] The sculpture was discovered during excavations in the late 1930s carried out by the eminent British archaeologist Sir Max Mallowan at Tell Brak, north eastern Syria.
It was found in the so-called Eye Temple, where a large number of offerings to the gods had accumulated over time.
Many of the more important idols had been robbed in antiquity, but this stone head was uncovered inside a tunnel underneath the remains of earlier temples, that had been used by robbers in ancient times.
[3] The face is elongated with large almond shaped eyes, circular ears and a small, smiling mouth.
A thin vertical depression at the back of the head, with holes either side for nails, suggests that it was once fixed to a pole and used during religious ceremonies.