Idol Worship

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This display features four clay figurines from ancient times. The figurines are idols whose size is suitable for holding in one’s hand, and they were used as a worship element, like an amulet, that was meant to bring fertility, abundance, and protection.

Clay figurines were very common throughout history because clay was an available, cheap, and easy to design material. During the late Bronze Age, methods for mass production of figurines were developed, by pressing the clay into molds. These were cheaper to make and became a common item that even the poor could buy.

The figurine with a male head is wearing a cone-shaped ancient Persian hat, and was common in the land of Israel during the period of the Persian conquest.

The figurine in the form of a woman with a head covering is from the end of the Bronze Age and early Iron Age.

Another figurine of a woman with a head covering has hair that protrudes in the form of a thin strip under a long kerchief. It is also from the Persian period. The peg at the bottom was meant to connect the head with the body, which was made separately.

The fourth figurine belongs to a group of figurines of  women supporting their breasts, an image that symbolizes fertility and abundance. It it characteristic of the late Bronze Age.