Experts think the stone men probably represented dead ancestors, and were important in the old island religion.

It has also been suggested that the figurines represent ancestors, distant or immediate.

Boaz himself has excavated fossils he thinks may represent human ancestors at a site in Libya.

Sometimes an additional assumption is made that these internal nodes do represent ancestors.

The fossils could represent an entirely new species of hominids, or human ancestors.

The human figures most likely represented ancestors or spirits.

Couples may represent ancestors, community founder, married couple or twins.

They have also been considered to represent direct ancestors to the cephalopods.

The crow and the dog represent ancestors and the god of death.

Art forms, including wooden sculptures representing ancestors, are similar in style to Luba sculptures.