You may have seen the exciting newspaper headlines last summer: “‘Golden Calf’ Found in Ashkelon,” they declared. The quotation marks around the first two words were prudent—the object was actually of silver-covered bronze—but the allusion to the Golden Calf worshiped by the Israelites in Exodus 32 was apt: The newly discovered cult figurine was as highly regarded in ancient Canaanite religion as it was later vilified by the Israelite faith. But this stunning find, important as it is, should not draw our attention away from the myriad other discoveries now being made at Ashkelon. This 5,500-year-old city along the […]