When the paleolithic era ended with the end of the last great ice age, the area in the Middle East, known as the "fertile crescent", lay open for exploitation by the hunter-gatherer groups that ventured into this area. It has been established that they started to settle down in what is now Israel and Syria. They were the group of humans starting the transition from hunter-gatherer to farmers. The land was rich in wheat and they learned to grow it themselves and naturally an inclination to stay in the same place evolved. These were the first proto cities of hunanity, as far as we know. They are called The Natufians.
The artistry of these tribes started to evolve. The rather lifelike feel of the Venus figurines, was sometimes exchanged with a more abstract representation of the human image. A handcut stone has been found that is about 10.000 years old, which shows a, in my opinion, very advanced, artistic representation of a human face. In fact i would suggest that the pattern can both function as a conceptualized face and complete body. This is something that even Picasso would find creative and "modern"
It could possibly be a small, simplified version of a Venus figurine, though it is just speculation. Anyway the way the horizontal lines curve downward, is very delicate and do suggest the brows of a human face. Nowadays we carry a picture of our loved ones in the wallet or put a digitized version as wallpaper on our computer. Back then, a small carved stone, may have served as the same sort of reminder of family and love, when on a longer trek away. There is a certain calming feeling to the image that transcends through the ages.