Bones and beaks and claws were folded in red and brown sandstone, as in a bas-relief.

NEWYORKER: Bones of Contention

The altar's carved marble bas-relief sculptures commemorate victories in Gaul and Spain, and are among the great masterpieces of antiquity.

NPR: Roman 'Altar of Peace' Survives Aesthetic War

Could the bas-relief of the headless man, the vulture, and the round object represent the bird Garuda carrying the sun across the sky?

NEWYORKER: The Sanctuary

At the Acropolis Museum in Athens, there's a bas-relief of Hera, the queen of the gods, shaking hands with Athena, the goddess of wisdom which is apt, because the handshake is generally a wise move.

WSJ: Gabriele Marcotti: The Handshake Unheard 'Round The World

At one point I stopped for a swig of water, and when I slapped at the whining mosquitoes that danced on my neck and hands, I slipped and slid over some tumbled pieces of rock, grabbed at branches to stop my fall, and landed just in front of a bas-relief of warriors, maidens and fish alive in stone.

BBC: Piecing together puzzles in Cambodia