The origins of the technique are not known. There are known examples, from the 2nd millennium BC, of composite sculptures made of ivory and gold from areas that became part of the Greek world, most famously the so-called "Palaikastro Kouros" (not to be confused with the Archaic statues known by that term) from Minoan Palaikastro, BC, the only probable Minoan cult image for worship in a shrine that has survived. It is, however, not clear whether the Greek chryselephantine tradition is connected with them. Chryselephantine sculpture became widespread during the Archaic period. Later, acrolithitic statues, with marble heads and extremities, and a wooden trunk either gilded or covered in drapery, were a comparable technique used for cult images.