Sao figures were built up in coils from river clay, low-fired, and pressed into shape by hand: bulging eyes, a shelf of a mouth, ears thrown outward, bosses for nipples and necklace beads, and chevron bands scratched deep across shoulder and chest.

Almost none of them survived whole. What reaches us are torsos without heads and busts without arms, catalogued by site, date and inventory number in French archaeological publication. This system keeps both halves of that: the pressed clay surface, and the break.