A long time ago... No, even further back. Okay, not that far. Our story begins in 2,500 BCE on the Cycladic Islands of Greece where some of the earliest sculptures of musicians were created. Carved from marble, here is a male harp player sitting on a four-legged stool with his head tilted up in song.

Though perhaps many were made, only around 12 carved harp figures are known to have survived today, making them very rare. This sculpture is one of the largest found intact, created using a subtractive sculptural method. To be exact: made by grinding down a solid piece of marble using an emery or pumice stone.

It takes, scientifically speaking, a heck of a lot of time and elbow grease to do, allowing the marble to be carved and incised into a sculpture. Most Cycladic figures were found in graves. So, many scholars believe that these highly abstract sculptures may have had a religious or funerary purpose. Perhaps for the afterlife.

But who knows? What other ways have objects been used to honor the dead?