Terracotta Figurines from the Iron IIA Temple at Moza, Judah

Abstract

Four terracotta figurines, of which two are anthropomorphic and two are zoomorphic, were found within an assemblage of cult artifacts lying on the packed earth floor of an Iron IIA temple courtyard unearthed in the course of the renewed excavations at Tel Moza. The figurines are made of local clay, and likely produced with the intention of serving in rituals held at the temple. Though they are idiosyncratic, they incorporate motifs that are drawn from conventions prevalent throughout the Ancient Near East. These figurines are among the earliest Iron II figurines found in the southern Levant, and may constitute forerunners of the ubiquitous Iron IIB figurines prevalent throughout this region.

On Deserted Landscapes and Divine Iconography: Iconographic Perspectives on the Origins of YHWH

“…The figurine was found inside a large, central building within the fortified city which has tentatively been identified as a palace. The four figurines from Tel Moza, two anthropomorphic and two zoomorphic, were found lying on the packed earth floor of a temple courtyard dating to the Iron Age IIA (see Kisilevitz 2015). All of them are hand-modeled with the same local Moza marl clay.…”

“…The two zoomorphic figurines depict harnessed animals, most probably horses. While one of these objects is a large hollow and burnished figurine showing the feet of a rider, whose body is not preserved, the other one is a smaller solid piece with traces of a rider or a pack at the back (see Kisilevitz 2016).…”