The Figural World of Late Iron Age Judah

Some considerations on method

Josef Mario Briffa
PhD student, UCL Institute of Archaeology
josef.briffa.12@ucl.ac.uk
Trustees of the British Museum

\\ \\
\\ \\ Beyond Asherah A miniature world
\
& female figurines
A potential route to the
Studies on the figurines of Judah in the interpretation of figurines is to
late Iron Age have often focused on understand them as elements
female figurines, and interpreted them in of a world in miniature that can
relation to Asherah, and to religious ritual be grasped and manipulated
concerned with fertility or protection (Bailey 2005).

Trustees of the British Museum

Fig. 1: Female pillar figurine
with moulded head from a
tomb near Bethlehem.
(Kletter 1996; Darby 2011).
Key questions emerge. Which
However, this separation of the female elements of the world are
figurines from the rest of the figurative miniaturised? What social
repertoire — which includes horse and meanings may they have had?
rider figurines, animals, and other models What do the figurines say
— is hard to justify, and leads to limited, about gender, and the way
and possibly vitiated, interpretations. gendered roles are expressed Fig. 2: Female pillar figurine with pinched
head; horse and rider figurine; model of a
socially? couch/bed from Tell ed-Duweir / Lachish

Intra-site distribution and context

Fig. 3. (left): Distribution of figurine types across different areas of Tell ed-Duweir / Lachish.
(right): A correspondence analysis plot of the same distribution helps highlight similar
profiles in these assemblages.

Variation in the recovery of figurines from primary contexts across a

Fig. 4: Jerusalem, Silwan / City of David. Excavations directed by Y. Shiloh (1978-85)
Area E, Level 12. Distribution of figurines; position markers only indicate locus.
(composite plan based on DeGroot & Bernick-Greenberg 2012, plans 11, 32b, 47a, 47b)
site can be quantified, and figurines are plotted back onto the site,
providing a venue for study of patterns in figurine use and disposal.
At Tell ed-Duweir / Lachish, for example, female figurines seem more
closely connected to some domestic areas and the tombs (Fig. 3), but
less so to areas of potential defensive interest. In Jerusalem (Fig. 4),
too, the concentrations of figurines in certain spaces, and scarcity in
others, requires further investigation.

Judah in the context Ancient sources and social meanings

of the southern Levant
“Harness the steeds to the chariots,
Judah
inhabitants of Lachish!”
Further research includes looking Micah 1:13
The intra-site study of the
into ancient sources — both the
figurines is supplemented by Jezreel &
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inter-site consideration (Fig. 5)
as the figurines of Judah form a
clear part of a wider
phenomenon in the region.
The commonalities and
differences displayed in the
figurative repertoire should be
seen in the context of the
various polities known through
historical sources.
Jordan valleys,
Hebrew Bible and other Near
Transjordan,
Coastal
Negev
Eastern texts — to help focus
cities &
Samaria social meanings which are
produced and reproduced through
the medium of the figurines.
The reading of the figurines and
Fig. 5. Correspondence analysis plot
of figurine manufacture types for a texts can shift from a search for
sample from ten sites covering ritual use and meaning, towards a
different regions of the southern better understanding of the
Levant. Some regional preferences
and potential connections can be societies and groups that used
Fig. 6. Detail of the Lachish reliefs from
discerned. them. the palace of Sennacherib in Nineveh.

Bibliography: D. Bailey, 2005. Prehistoric Figurines. Representation and corporeality in the Neolithic. Routledge E. Darby, 2011. Interpreting Judean Pillar
Figurines: Gender and Empire in Judean Apotropaic Ritual. PhD dissertation, Duke University A. DeGroot & H. Bernick-Greenberg, 2012. Excavations at the City of
David 1978-1985 directed by Y. Shiloh. Volume VII. Hebrew University Jerusalem D. Gilbert-Peretz, 1996. Ceramic Figurines. In: D.T. Ariel & A. DeGroot (eds.), 1996.
Excavations at the City of David, 1978-1985, directed by Yigal Shiloh. Volume IV. Hebrew University Jerusalem, p.29-41 R. Kletter, 1996, The Judean Pillar Figurines
and the Archaeology of Asherah. Tempus Reperatum O. Tufnell, 1953. Lachish III. (Tell ed-Duweir). The Iron Age. Oxford University Press D. Ussishkin (ed.),
2004, The Renewed Archaeological Excavations at Lachish (1973-1994). Institute of Archaeology, Tel Aviv.

© Josef Mario Briffa (2015), except where indicated. Presented at the BANEA Conference, 7-9 January 2015, London. Awarded the Routledge Poster Prize.