[Fred Nerks]

These 40 greenstone carvings with distinctive dress and headgear are one of two such sets found in ceremonial caches in the Wari city of Pikillacta in Peru. Twenty of the figures in each set are identical, leading expert Anita Cook to suggest they represent the founders of the Wari Empire. “They’re evidence of the Wari’s ancestor worship,” says Cook. “The Wari believed their ancestors were the link between everyday life and the supernatural world.”

http://magma.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/0206/feature5/zoom3.html

Twenty figures in each set are identical...maybe because they were characters used in a board-game?

[Dustbunny]

Hummmmm, the first chess pieces?

[CobaltBlue]

Looks remarkably like the cover of the board game, Tikal.

[CobaltBlue]

BTW, the earliest known board games date back to almost 6,000 BC.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Board_game

[SunkenCiv]

I'm a little Wari of drawing conclusions.

[rimshot!]