TEL AVIV

Journal of the Institute of Archaeology of Tel Aviv University

VOLUME 44 NUMBER 1 2017

CONTENTS
The Judahite Temple at Tel Moza near Jerusalem: The House of Obed-Edom?
Nadav Naʼaman 3

Rujm el-Hiri: The Monument in the Landscape

Michael Freikman and Naomi Porat 14

Non-Royal Women at Serabit el-Khadim: Fact or Fiction?

Nir Orlev 40

The Date of Abandonment and Territorial Affiliation of Khirbet Qeiyafa:

An Update
Alexander Fantalkin and Israel Finkelstein 53

The Earliest Known 'Sign of Tanit' Revealed in 11th Century BCE

Building at Megiddo
Eran Arie 61

The Wedge-Impressed Bowl and the Assyrian Deportation

Gilad Itach, Shawn Zelig Aster and David Ben-Shlomo 72

The Faunal Evidence from Early Roman Jerusalem: The People behind
the Garbage
Abra Spiciarich, Yuval Gadot and Lidar Sapir-Hen 98

Abbreviations 118

Published by Taylor and Francis

FOR
THE EMERY AND CLAIRE YASS PUBLICATIONS IN ARCHAEOLOGY OF
THE INSTITUTE OF ARCHAEOLOGY OF TEL AVIV UNIVERSITY
TEL AVIV Vol. 44, 2017, 61–71

The Earliest Known 'Sign of Tanit' Revealed

in 11th Century BCE Building at Megiddo
Eran Arie
The Israel Museum, Jerusalem

During the 2008 excavation season at Megiddo, a small copper alloy object
was uncovered in a clean, early Iron I context. It is the earliest sign of Tanit
known to date. The article surveys the roots of this Phoenician symbol from
the Iron Age to the Hellenistic period in the Phoenician homeland, and
evaluates the new find’s significance in terms of its date and regional origin.

Keywords Sign of Tanit, Phoenicia, Megiddo

The find
The object published here (08/H/44/AR1; Fig. 1) was found in Area H at Megiddo during
the 2008 season. It was discovered in Locus 08/H/44, which was deined as a thick
accumulation of living surfaces (elevation 158.71–158.40) and afiliated with Level H-10
(Fig. 2). It was retrieved in the uppermost part of the locus in Basket PT 001 (elevation
158.71–158.64). This locus was located east of Wall 08/H/2 and west of a row of six pillar
bases, in partially paved Courtyard 10/H/67 of a large building.
A sample of the pottery from this courtyard is presented in Fig. 3. It consists of a cyma shaped
bowl (Fig. 3: 1), a ‘Philistine’ skyphos (Fig. 3: 2), folded rim kraters (Fig. 3: 3–5), an everted-rim
chalice (Fig. 3: 6), straight and inverted-rim cooking-pots (Fig. 3: 7–10), an everted-rim cooking
jug (Fig. 3: 11), a decorated lask (Fig. 3: 12), a lamp (Fig. 3: 13), a thickened-rim storage jar
and a handle of an additional storage jar with inger impressions (Fig. 3: 14–15). The pottery of
this courtyard in particular and of Level H-10 in general (Arie forthcoming) is clearly associated
with Stratum VIB of the University of Chicago Excavations, dated to the early Iron I. In absolute,
radiocarbon terms, this layer dates to the irst half to the middle of the 11th century BCE.
The object, which is made of copper alloy,1 is 3.2 cm. high, 2 cm wide, 0.25 cm
thick, and weighs 8.18 g. It was preserved intact in very good condition; post-depositional

1
Chemical composition analysis (pXRF) conducted by Dr. Erez Ben-Yosef of the Institute of
Archaeology of Tel Aviv University indicates that the object is made of an alloy of copper
(~97.5% wt. %) and arsenic (~2.5% wt. %). The analysis was done on the surface of the object
on an area relatively clean of corrosion and cement. This most probably attests that the raw
material is not local to Canaan; future lead isotope analysis may help locate its origin.

© The Institute of Archaeology of Tel Aviv University 2017 DOI 10.1080/03344355.2017.1280968

62 ERAN ARIE

Figure 1 Sign of Tanit from Level H-10 at Megiddo (08/H/44/AR1).

processes caused oxidation of only some small points. Stylistically, the object is made of
three separate components: a triangle surmounted by a horizontal bar and a disk on top of
it. Its shape and size and the material it is made of may deine the object as the so-called
sign of Tanit. This geometric emblem should be interpreted as a stylized goddess igure
with outstretched arms (Bertrandy 1992; Ammar 2005). The object from Megiddo may
have been used as an amulet worn as a pendent around the neck by one of the inhabitants
of the pillar building in which it was unearthed.
The discovery of this sign of Tanit at Megiddo (and not at a coastal site) in a clean
context dated to the 11th century BCE deserves special attention.
Thousands of objects bearing the name and/or the sign of the goddess Tanit have been
found at all the major sites of the Punic world, primarily at Carthage, but also in other cities in
North Africa, Sicily, Sardinia, Malta and Spain (e.g., Moscati 1988: 614–619; Lipiński 1992,
1995: 199–215; Ferjaoui 1993: 380–385; Ammar 2005). They are generally dated from the 6th
to the 2nd centuries BCE (and even later). Tanit was the leading goddess of Carthage and the
consort of Baal-Hammon, head of the Carthagian pantheon. She was often referred to as Tanit,
Panei Baal (the face of Baal; see several explanations for this name in Lipiński 1995: 200).

Tanit in the east

Several objects bearing the name Tanit or her sign have been uncovered in the Phoenician
homeland in the east since the 1970s. Below is a list of these items, arranged in
chronological order.2

The Iron Age

1. A scarab made of Egyptian blue was uncovered in Phase 1 in Family Tomb No. 1 of
the northern cemetery of Achziv. The earliest phase in the tomb (Phase 1) is well-
dated to the Iron IIA (second half of the 10th to the 9th century BCE) according
to a rather large assemblage of pottery vessels, including Cypriot imports (Mazar

2
For objects that were uncovered outside of Phoenicia and hint at the Eastern origin of Tanit,
and for place names in Lebanon which preserve the name of the goddess, see Prichard 1982:
91; Bordreuil 1987: 79–80.
THE EARLIEST KNOWN 'SIGN OF TANIT' REVEALED IN 11TH CENTURY BCE BUILDING AT MEGIDDO 63

Figure 2 Plan of Level H-10. The star marks the find spot of the sign of Tanit.

2004: 21). Cowie (2004: 184), who published this worn scarab, was unable to decide
whether one of the signs on it is an ankh or a Tanit symbol. If indeed (as the photo
indicates) it is a schematic representation of a Tanit symbol, it should be considered
the earliest known until the discovery at Megiddo, reported here.
64 ERAN ARIE

Figure 3 Pottery from Courtyard 10/H/67 of Level H-10 at Megiddo.

THE EARLIEST KNOWN 'SIGN OF TANIT' REVEALED IN 11TH CENTURY BCE BUILDING AT MEGIDDO 65

2. Conoid seal made of faience unearthed in Tomb ZR II in the eastern cemetery of

Achziv (Dayagi-Mendels 2002: Fig. 4.1: 34), dated to 800–650 BCE according to
Keel (2002: Table 1: 11). Unfortunately the tomb was looted prior to excavations;
even so, much jewelry was uncovered in it. Only one complete pottery jug was found
(not published in drawing), presumably dated to the Iron IIA. Part of a model boat
was also found in the tomb; it probably dates to the Iron IIC.
3. A group of about 60 burial stelae from Tyre was found during the late 1980s and
early 1990s (Sader 2005); some reached the antiquities market and seem to have
found their way to private collections (Lemaire 2001). Two of these funerary stelae
mention theophoric names with the divine element TNT (Sader 2005: 26–27, 38–39,
Table I: 4, 13). Others contain an engraved sign that Lemaire understood as an ankh
sign. I believe that it is more accurate to interpret it as a Tanit sign (e.g., Lemaire
2001: 9*, 21*, Figs. 2, 12). Sader (2005) dated the inscribed stelae to the 7th–6th
centuries BCE, while Lemaire (2001) dated the ones with the sign of Tanit to the
8th–7th centuries BCE.
4. An inscribed ivory plaque was uncovered during the 1974 season of excavations at
Sarepta (Sarafand, between Sidon and Tyre).3 The plaque, mentioning ‘Tanit Ashtart’,
was found in a small shrine in the industrial quarter dated to the 7th century BCE.
Pritchard, the Director of the Sarepta excavations, believed that this small plaque
(only 3.3 cm long and 5 cm wide) had been attached to a statue (Pritchard 1982). Its
discovery was the irst unequivocal occurrence of the name of the goddess Tanit in
the Phoenician homeland. The linking of Tanit and Ashtart in this text is beyond
the scope of this article.
5. A sign of Tanit engraved on a stele of Nabonidus, which was found in Babylon,
has recently been noted (Schaudig 2008). Though it did not originate in Phoenicia,
Schaudig suggested that the sign had already been incised on the stone block before
it was made into a stele. He proposed that the stone block was originally marked
as property of Tanit in the region of Tyre and placed in some Phoenician temple’s
store room. It was only later moved to Babylon (ibid.: 534). The stele which is
clearly attributed to King Nabonidus should thus be dated to the second half of
the 6th century BCE. One cannot be sure when the sign of Tanit was irst incised
on the stone.

The Persian period

1. Five pendants in the form of the sign of Tanit were uncovered in the Persian period
layers of Ashkelon (Stager 1991: 37; 1993: 108–109). Two are made of bone and three
are cast in bronze. Stager dated them to the 5th–4th century BCE. Unfortunately,
they were not fully published, and their exact context is still unknown.

3
Another object bearing the sign of Tanit was uncovered at Sarepta. This is a small blue glass
pendant impressed with the sign of the goddess (Pritchard 1988: 108: 1; Fig. 28: 1). It was
excavated in a disturbed layer and has never been dated. I believe that it is later than the Iron
Age, from either the Persian or the Hellenistic period.
66 ERAN ARIE

2. An additional sign of Tanit made of bronze has recently been found in rescue excavations
at Tel Michal, on the coast north of Tel Aviv. It was uncovered in an oven (in a secondary
context) that was constructed on a loor that was dated between the second half of the
5th century and the 4th century BCE (Gorzalczany 2006: 5, 14). The bronze object was
published as a igurine (and in other places as a statuette–Shalev and Sari 2006: 99,
Fig. 13), though it is clear from its size and form that it is an amulet in the schematic
form of the goddess. The object is identical to one of the bronze signs from Ashkelon.
The items from Ashkelon and Tel Michal are almost twice as large as the sign of Tanit
from Megiddo.
3. More than 250 igurines were found in a short underwater excavation season in 1972
off the coast of Shave Zion, near Achziv (Linder 1973; 1986). The igurines and
commercial jars found with them were morphologically dated to the 5th–4th century
BCE. Though this extraordinary ind was brought to light more than 40 years ago, it
is still awaiting comprehensive publication. Most of these clay igurines presumably
represent the goddess Tanit. Some of the igurines bore the sign of the goddess on
their lower parts (on a pedestal on which the igure is standing). Neutron Activation
Analysis shows that their clay is local to the northern shore of Israel (Linder 1986:
411). Linder was convinced that the igurines (and jars) were part of a Phoenician
cargo, while other scholars assume that they relect a maritime favissa (see Sheizaf
2004; Yasur-Landau and Ben-Shlomo 2012). The latter assumption is reinforced
by other Persian period cult objects that were uncovered under water in Phoenicia
(Culican 1976; Bordreuil and Gubel 1985: 176–179 [one igurine from this collection
with a sign of Tanit]; Seco Alvarez and Noureddine 2010). Thus a Phoenician custom
to drop used cult objects in the open sea should be considered.
4. Although a rarity, the sign of Tanit does appear on two or three Persian period coins
(more below). Two Athenian-styled silver obols from private collections, most
probably related to the coinage of Philistia, have recently been published (Gitler and
Tal 2006: 174–175; XII.19Oa–XII.19Ob). The sign of the goddess replaces the letter
Θ of the regular Athenian inscription (AΘE), similar to other Athenian-styled coins
that integrate letters or other motifs into the original Greek design and inscription.
Both coins bearing the sign of Tanit are probably dated from 420–390 BCE (H. Gitler,
personal communication).
5. A bronze oil lamp with double beak from the antiquities market is today at the
National Museum in Beirut. An inscription incised on the back rim mentions the
goddess Tanit or a theophoric name starting with her name (Teixidor 1976: 328–329).
Lamps with double beak are Phoenician products (cf. Moscati 1988: 667, object No.
495). The inscription was dated by Lipiński (1985) to ca. 400 BCE.
6. The inal evidence of Tanit from the Persian period is a Samarian silver coin. This is
a hemiobol from a private collection (Meshorer and Qedar 1999: 105, Catalogue No.
117; Pl. 17: 117). On the reverse side a draped male igure appears standing and holding
a sceptre. Although the authors refer to the sign on the left as an ankh, I agree with
Shenkar (2009: 233–234, n. 27), who deines it as a sign of Tanit. Many parallels can be
found to the sign of Tanit with an open lower triangle in the Punic world (Ammar 2005:
THE EARLIEST KNOWN 'SIGN OF TANIT' REVEALED IN 11TH CENTURY BCE BUILDING AT MEGIDDO 67

Figs. 1–4). Some of the Hellenistic lead weights from Phoenicia that will be referred
to below have an identical emblem (Hendin 2007: 192–193, Catalogue No. 278, 282).
Meshorer and Qedar (1999: 71) dated all Samarian coinage between 372–333/2 BCE.

The Hellenistic period

As Stern (2010: 154) pointed out, in the Phoenician homeland during the Hellenistic
period the sign of Tanit became popular in connection with administrative and commercial
activities. Indeed, it mainly appears on weights, bullae and coins:
1. More than 20 lat lead weights, all bearing the sign of Tanit on one side, were
unearthed in archaeological digs such as Tyre (Elayi and Elayi 1997: No. 392), Umm
el->Amed (Dunand and Duru 1962: Pl. LXVIII: 1–2; Elayi and Elayi 1997: No. 405),
Dor (Stern 2006: 177–179; 2010: 154, 208: 6), Gezer and Ashdod-Yam (Wolff and
Finkielsztejn 2009), or were bought in the antiquities market (Kushnir-Stein 2002:
227–228; Hendin 2007: 192–195). They are dated to the 2nd century BCE. Most of
them are Tyrian products, while others probably relect the administration of Beirut.
2. Clay bullae also exhibit the sign of the goddess. Nine bullae (that were produced
with the same seal) with the sign of Tanit were found in the administrative building
at Tel Kedesh in the upper Galilee. Below the symbol, a Phoenician inscription
reads: “He who is over the land” (Ariel and Naveh 2003: 62–64). The building was
abandoned just after the middle of the 2nd century BCE. Additional bullae with the
sign of Tanit, or theophoric names with a TNT component, were published from
the antiquities market (cf. Bordreuil 1987: 82–84; 1999: 36). All were dated to the
3rd–2nd centuries BCE.
3. An upper part of a stamped amphora was excavated in the acropolis of Tel Akko
(Dothan 1974; Hachlili and Zommer 1986: 27–28). The Tanit impression depicts
the sign of the goddess with raised hands. Although discovered in a stratum well-
dated to the Hellenistic period (2nd century BCE), this layer was heavily disturbed.
Moreover, this type of amphora had endured since the Persian period. Hence, the
amphora should be associated with the late Persian or early Hellenistic period. I did
not ind any good parallel to this impression.
4. An additional group of Hellenistic inds bearing the sign of Tanit comprises coins
minted in Ashkelon. Twenty-two autonomous tetradrachms with the goddess sign
from different provenances (excavations and private collections) were published
by Gitler and Master (2010: Catalogue No. 60–81). The sign of Tanit appears
between the legs of an eagle on the reverse side. All these coins were minted in the
same year—65/4 BCE. The authors could not dismiss the possibility that the sign
might be interpreted as a monogram. However, one should understand this sign in
relation to another special phenomenon in Ashkelon. I refer to Roman coins, minted
exclusively in Ashkelon, with the goddess Tanit as Phanebalos—a transparent Greek
transcription of Panei Baal, a favourite Punic epithet for Tanit (Finkielsztejn 1992;
Shenkar 2009: 239–240). Stager (1993: 109) suggested that the iconography of these
Phanebalos coins testify that an impressive temple of Tanit still stood in Ashkelon
during the Roman period.
68 ERAN ARIE

Discussion
The Eastern origin of the goddess Tanit was well-observed some decades ago (e.g., Linder
1973; Dothan 1974; Lipiński 1988–1990: 210–228; Stern 2001: 77–78) after a long period
in which she had been regarded as having emerged from the Punic world. The extensive
list of objects from the Phoenician homeland mentioning her name and bearing her sign
leave no doubt concerning her Eastern origin and the Eastern origin of her sign. The sign
of Tanit from Megiddo is early in relation to all her other Eastern appearances; moreover,
it was found in an inland site some 30 km from the Mediterranean shore.
The ethnicity of the population of Stratum VI at Megiddo has been the subject of
numerous studies (see a short review in Arie 2006: 248). Today, most scholars believe
that they were local Canaanites who survived the upheaval of the Egyptian withdrawal
from Canaan around 1130 BCE. The Stratum VIB settlement relects an early phase of
the much more mature city of Stratum VIA. What matters for our discussion is that both
strata indicate a local Canaanite continuation from the Late Bronze Age in many aspects
(Finkelstein 2003).
Can Canaanite roots be found for the goddess Tanit? Yadin, who dealt with divine
signs and symbols from Tel Hazor, claimed that though hundreds of years passed from Late
Bronze Age Hazor to Punic Carthage, the best parallels for the symbols of deities at Hazor
can be found in the Punic world in general and in Carthage in particular (Yadin 1970). It is
noteworthy that Yadin wrote the article before the Eastern origin of Tanit was established.
Recently, Shenkar (2008) reevaluated Yadin’s conclusions in light of the new
discoveries related to Phoenician deities in the East (and West). Shenkar conirms Yadin’s
four comparisons between cult in the stelae temple at Hazor and the Punic world (with
only minor changes): In both he points out the practice of standing stones (stelae), the
raising hands and crescent and disk motifs, and the use of masks. Shenkar believes that
the small temple at Hazor was dedicated to a divine couple that represented the sun and
the moon. Yet, because of the chronological gap he could not determine with certainty
that they were Baal-Hammon and Tanit, especially not in their crystallized Punic form.
In any event, both Yadin’s and Shenkar’s investigations suffer from studying the objects
from Hazor outside of their Near Eastern context. Hence, I agree with Ornan (2012: 12–13),
who describes the function of the stelae temple at Hazor as a cult place for the dead (and
see there references to Albright and Galling, who were the irst to deine this shrine in this
manner). In a thorough discussion Ornan explains all the Canaanite symbols uncovered in
the small shrine in a completely different way, dismissing both Yadin’s and Shenkar’s papers.
Both Yadin and Shenkar end their papers with a wish to ind the missing link between
the Canaanite cult manifested at Hazor, and the Phoenician-Punic religion observed from
the Iron Age to the Hellenistic period in Phoenicia and its colonies. Can one cautiously
suggest that the sign of Tanit from 11th century BCE Megiddo points to the Canaanite
origin of Tanit? This option cannot be ruled out. However, the tight relations between the
Phoenician coast and the Canaanite hinterland during the Iron I may hint that the origin of
the sign of Tanit from Megiddo should be found in the northern littoral of Israel. According
to this scenario, the new evidence supplied by the Megiddo ind positions this powerful
goddess in the 11th century BCE, but leaves its origin on the Phoenician coast.
THE EARLIEST KNOWN 'SIGN OF TANIT' REVEALED IN 11TH CENTURY BCE BUILDING AT MEGIDDO 69

Summary
The recently discovered pendent in the form of the sign of Tanit from Megiddo opens
the way to novel observations regarding the date and possibly also the birthplace of the
goddess Tanit. The object from Megiddo may connect the goddess to inland Canaan,
though a coastal Phoenician origin cannot be dismissed. In any event, the appearance of
the goddess can now be dated to no later than the end of the second millennium BCE.

Acknowledgments
I would like to thank Dr. Haim Gitler and Alison B. Ashenberg for their kind help and support.

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