Prize Find: Azekah’s Stunning New Do

Clay nude female figurines are a common find at Late Bronze Age sites in the southern Levant. Typically hand-sized and made from a mold, these objects, which may depict goddesses or birthing women, were likely used in rituals to promote fertility or offer protection.a Our excavations at the site of Azekah in the Judean foothills have uncovered many such figurines, including the standard types: (1) a woman with a curled, Hathor-style headdress who holds a lotus flower in each hand; (2) a shorthaired woman with a flat headdress whose hands support her breasts; and (3) a longhaired woman with pronounced […]