What type of figures are pictured above? what is known about these figures by historians?

These figures are votives, which traditionally hold religious significance and were most likely dedicated to the gods. They are limestone statues. They are an examples of the traditional way Sumerians represented forms, with simplified faces and bodies, and with clothing that emphasized the cylindrical shape and the styles of the time. The bulging eyes indicate the openness they had when approaching a god.

Simple Answer - These figures are votives, which traditionally hold religious significance and were most likely dedicated to the gods. They are limestone statues.

Explanation:

photography had emerged as an elite art pursued by a few creative individuals for a few wealthy patrons. but now, said bauldelaire, it was succumbing to "the great industrial madness of our times." it was becoming a mass production industry that catered to middle-class tastes, including a taste for gadgetry. the stereoscope, the first 3d imaging system, had turned looking at photographs into parlor entertainment. a "thousand hungry eyes were bending over the peepholes of the stereoscope as though they were the attic-windows of the infinite.