Among the earliest specimens of Babylonian metallurgy may be mentioned a number of very small copper representations of animals in a crouching attitude, and all apparently belonging to the domestic order, though in some cases they are so covered with vert-de-gris that it is difficult to determine with precision what animals they are intended to represent. They are probably to be regarded as sacrificial offerings to the gods, being in fact economical substitutes for actual victims. They were found by De Sarzec in the lowest and therefore earliest strata of the ruined mounds of Tellô. Another class of metal objects to which we must also assign a date earlier than the time of Ur-Ninâ, the founder of the first dynasty of Lagash, comprises a number of copper statuettes, all much the same in shape, contour and style, though not in size. They all show a woman’s bust, her hands clasped across her chest, and her hair hanging about her neck like a heavy wig, while the waviness of the hair is indicated by strongly-marked horizontal lines (cf. Figure 38, C). The style at once recalls the figures on the crude bas-reliefs belonging to the same period. A further peculiarity of these little figures is the manner in which they all terminate in the point of a nail, by means of which they were destined to be fixed in the ground with a view to deterring the advance of demons from the nether world. [Illustration: FIG. 38.—A, C (cf. Cat., p. 295). Musée du Louvre. B (cf. _Déc. en Chald._, Pl. 2 tert., No. 3).]