Composite Female Figurines and the Religion of Place

Figurines as Evidence of Commonality or Singularity in Iron IIB-C Southern Levantine Religion

Bibliographic Data

ID3356283
AuthorsErin Darby (University of Tennessee at Knoxville, corresponding author)
Year2025
Volume16
Issue9
Pages1181
Publication date2025-09-13
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueReligions (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 2077-1444 • E-ISSN: 2077-1444
PublisherMDPI AG (PUBLISHER • IT)
DOI10.3390/rel16091181
OpenAlexW4414183873
LanguageEN
References cited30

Much attention has been paid to female, pillar-based figurines from Iron II Judah, and the veneration of a major goddess in that territory. Similarly, female figurines throughout the Levant have largely been treated as evidence of goddess-worship, writ large. While the focus on goddesses and fertility has been critiqued by contemporary scholarship, the prevalence of female terracotta figurines remains a productive ground for critical inquiry. There is still no consensus explaining the dissemination of female figurines throughout Levantine states during the Iron IIB-C and how to interpret the similarities and differences among these corpora. Do the similarities that distinguish the Levantine figurines from those of other regions indicate a widespread diffusion of similar praxis across Levantine religion? Do the unique features of figurine design, technology, and deposition that demarcate the corpora of one Levantine state from another provide evidence for a "religion of place" on a more local scale? How should scholars approach iconographic similarities when interpreting the use and function of figurines in different locales? In an attempt to address these questions, this paper uses Levantine composite female terracotta figurines as a test case to explore the way archaeological data both support and impede a geographically contextualized approach to religious praxis

Archaeological evidence · Iconography · Praxis · Terracotta · Veneration · Writ · Ancient Egypt and Archaeology · Ancient Near East History · Archaeology and Historical Studies

Tools

Open DOIOpen Access