Israel Museum/Erich Lessing

Unleavened cakes, one of the simplest offerings recorded in the Hebrew Bible, may once have been offered on this horned altar discovered at Israelite Megiddo. While bread offerings played a crucial role in elaborate Temple sacrifices along with meat and wine, argues author Haran, inexpensive grain offerings could also have been offered independently on the small horned altars discovered outside Jerusalem. Grain-offerings were not always burned, he notes, which would explain why so few of the excavated altars display signs of fire.