Bull statuette

Found at an open-air ritual site in the Israelite heartland, this fine statuette brings to mind the golden calf of the Exodus story, as well as the golden calves placed by King Jeroboam I in Bethel and Dan. Canaanite in inspiration, it attests to Israelite adoption of a Canaanite motif. For the Israelites it may have symbolized God, or the pedestal of the unseen God.