Zvi Gal

Kernos. A hollow ring with attached objects, a kernos was a vessel with Philistine origins but here was associated with Phoenician cult practices. This beautifully preserved tenth-century example, bedecked with a cup, two pomegranates and a bull’s head, was found in the northwest tower room of the fortress. No one today knows exactly how a kernos was used. Soot still remaining inside the cup suggests that incense was burned in it. Liquid may have been poured into the ring in some unknown religious ritual. Since other cult paraphernalia was found with the kernos, the northwest tower room may have been set aside for religious activities.