Human-Headed Bison in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, February 2008

Human-headed bison
Serpentine (lizardite)
Southern Mesopotamia, probably Tello (ancient Girsu)
Reign of Ur-Ningirsu of Lagash, 2150-2100 BC

Accession # 1996.353

This creature, known as a kusarikku and associated with the sun god Shamash, wears the horned headdress of a divinity. Originally, another figure or element must have been set into the cavity on the back. The sculpture is dedicated to the goddess Nanshe for the life of the Sumerian ruler Ur-Ningirsu. The name of the donor is not preserved.

Text from the Metropolitan Museum of Art label.