Occasionally, a charm or amulet that has enormous power and magic for one culture or time will be mysterious or harmless for another. Where the Egyptians attached great importance to the scarab, the Greeks might have seen only a species of desert beetle. Yet every culture great and small makes use of such talismans for protection and to bring good luck. This unusual charm was carved by one of the early peoples of the upper Euphrates valley. Its iconography is uncertain, but it appears to depict a bird perched atop some sort of egg. Its meaning has been lost in the mists of time, but surely its magic remains strong and powerful.