With his flowing locks, long beard, and worn robes, Jesus is one of the most instantly recognisable figures in the Western world. So it comes as no surprise that his face is also regularly spotted in inanimate objects. This is due to'face pareidolia' - a common brain phenomenon in which a person sees faces in random images or patterns. 'Sometimes we see faces that aren't really there,' explained Robin Kramer, Senior Lecturer in the School of Psychology, at University of Lincoln, in an article for The Conversation. 'You may be looking at the front of a car or a burnt piece of toast when you notice a face-like pattern. 'This is called face pareidolia and is a mistake made by the brain's face detection system.'

You may have once seen a giant face in the clouds. Perhaps it took you aback, amused you, or maybe it prompted an "uncanny valley" kind of sensation--realness, but with a lingering unease. It's thought that a similar experience was shared by an early hominid approximately 3 million years ago. Researchers say a rock that bore resemblance to a face was carried, over some four kilometers from where it was probably found, to an Australopithecine home. Known as the Makapansgat pebble, it was found in 1925 in a South-African cave, in what may well have been a camp or dwelling.