The Greeks began again to carve in stone as they came out of their Dark Age. They were inspired by the large stone sculptures of Mesopotamia and Egypt. Free-standing figures share the solidity and front-facing stance of their Eastern models. However, their style is more dynamic than those of Egyptian sculpture. This is clear in the "Lady of Auxerre" and the "Torso of Hera" (Early Archaic period, c. 660–580 BC. Both are in the Louvre, Paris). After about 575 BC, figures such as these, both male and female, began wearing the so-called 'archaic smile'. This may have been a device to give the figures a distinctive human appearance.