Judean Pillar-Figurines

Kletter 1996, p. 88, Fig. 6.4, no. 72, type B.3 Jericho

Judaean pillar-figurines are anthropomorphic female figurines named for their tubal pillar-like bases. The face, youthful, with a friendly smile, was formed by pressing the clay into a mold, but the back of the head was shaped by hand. The body, the arms cradling the often exaggerated breasts, the torso and the base were shaped by hand. A peg of clay was shaped on the bottom of the neck to attach the head to a hole at the top of the body. Smoothing out the joint typically resulted in a relatively thick neck. The design strongly suggests fertility or maternity, and most likely represents the mother-fertility goddess Asherah. Excavations in Jerusalem alone have found more than 400 of these figures. The figurines are found in a variety of pre-exile contexts, peaking in the late 8th and 7th century B.C., overwhelmingly within and widely spread across the Kingdom of Judah. It appears they were made locally with slight differences in style between workshops. Often heads made with the same mold are found in the same town where they were apparently made. We believe the head above is in the style of a workshop in Jericho. Judaean pillar-figurines are most often found broken.