Ever since humans moved into Eurasia, they have fashioned figurines from stone, clay, wood, metal, wax and even butter. These sculpted figurines must be understood within the context of the cultures in which they were fashioned. In this fascinating examination of contemporary scholarship on the study of figurines, Harald Haarmann draws on millennia of human activity from the Stone Age through the works of twentieth-century artists such as Constantin Brancusi and Henry Moore whose sculptures glow with their veneration of human culture. In his richly illustrated book, Haarmann draws on the disciplines of archaeology, ethnology, mythology, and history of religion, showing direction how modern scholars and other interested investigators can see beyond the boundaries our culture sets on us so that we can immerse into other spheres.