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5,000-year-old hybrid creature from Iran with mysterious significance
This small silver cow, housed at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, is not just a work of art: it was part of an ancient ritual that took place 5,000 years ago. The enormous archaeological treasure, measuring just 16.3 cm (6.4 in) tall, is made of 98.5% pure silver.
According to Donald Hansen, a professor of art at New York University, the statue is unique: it is a hybrid of human and animal features. The cow's head, with its curved horns, sits on a human's shoulders, while the body is covered in an ornate robe that covers its folded legs. The statue's human-like arms end in horns that hold a vessel. Hansen noted that the statue has no flat base, so it could not stand on its own on a solid surface.
The ancient silver cow was made in Elam, in what is now southwestern Iran, where the existing Proto-Elamite culture assimilated its first civilization.
