CHALCOLITHIC PERIOD, CIRCA 3300-2500 B.C.

Such idols are known popularly as "stargazers" and academically as the Kiliya Type, taking their name from the find-spot of the first of its kind to have been published. Kiliya is a site near Gallipoli on Turkey's Gelibolu peninsula; that first figure was published in the early 20th century and is currently in the collection of the American School of Classical Studies in Athens.

The dating of Kiliya idols is somewhat problematic, although it is clear that they belong to the late Chalcolithic Period. The earliest examples known are two fragmentary figures found at Aphrodisias from a context datable to the late 5th millennium B.C.; the latest is a fragmentary head from Troy dating to 2300-2200 B.C. (see Thimme, ed., Art and Culture of the Cyclades, p. 176). A 2000 year time-span seems impossibly long and is difficult to explain. Most scholars disregard the earliest and latest dates and ascribe them to approximately 3300-2500 B.C.

For comparable complete figures see no. 4 in von Bothmer, et al., Glories of the Past: Ancient Art from the Shelby White and Leon Levy Collection; nos. 560-563 in Thimme, op. cit.; and from the Guennol Collection, fig. 82 in Getz-Preziosi, Early Cycladic Sculpture.