The Bronze Age: Canaan - The Ashmolean Museum

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ANCIENT NEAR EASTERN TERRACOTTAS (ii) Early Bronze IV to Middle Bronze II (c.2300–1650 B.C.) In the transitional phase between the end of the urban-based cultures of the Early Bronze Age in Canaan and a revival of town-life in Middle Bronze IIA, surviving indications of continued human activity are virtually confined to mortuary contexts, where evidence for imagery of any kind is to all intents and purposes so far unknown. During this period regular relations between Canaan and Egypt, where there was a two century break in centralised control (“First Intermediate Period”), lapsed (cf. Redford 1992, 57–63). With the revival of urban life in Canaan in the first two centuries of the second millennium B.C. there is at present little, if any evidence, for a revival of terracotta production before Middle Bronze IIB in the eighteenth to seventeenth centuries B.C. The emergence of a Canaanite dominated dynasty (XV) in Egypt reopened contacts between the two regions. At the same time several significant features in the archaeological record (mudbrick architecture; new mortuary practices; and ceramic changes) indicate strong contacts, possible some actual immigration, into Canaan from Syria. The contrasting cultural and iconographic influences evident in Canaan at this time are exemplified by glyptic, with cylinder seals illustrating the Syrian ingredient, scarabs the Egyptian. As Keel and Uehlinger (1998, 19) have stressed: “a person studying Palestine must assume that influences came both from Egypt and the Near East, not only in regard to matters connected with form and style but also when dealing with semantic issues”. It would appear that the appearance on Canaanite scarabs at this time of the ‘nude female’, depicted frontally with her arms down her sides, rather than bent across her abdomen or holding her breasts derives from the imagery of Syrian seals. Such figurative designs are rare then on Egyptian scarabs. The visual isolation of this figure on scarabs exactly parallels her appearance on baked clay plaques in Mesopotamia from the late Akkadian Period (c.2150 B.C.) and the self-contained appearance of this motif on Babylonian cylinder seals of the first centuries of the second millennium B.C. In the west the so-called Nude Goddess lifting her garments appears first in Syro-Cappadocian and Anatolian glyptic early in the second millennium B.C. and then more commonly in the “Earlier” (c.1850–1720 B.C.) rather than in the “Later Syrian Group” of cylinder seals. She does not appear at Tell Atshana (Alalakh), (cf nos 258 ff) where even the dressed goddess partially revealing herself is rare (cf. Teissier 1984, 80–1). Barrelet (1955) agreed that the “Winged and Armed Goddess” and the “Nude Goddess” were all aspects of Ishtar in Syrian glyptic: as goddess of love she is shown revealing herself, either with her long garment put to one side or by lifting a veil; sometimes both are combined (cf. Teissier 1984, nos 490, 496). Here, as in Babylonia, there remains a degree of ambiguity about the exact status of this nude female, when neither a horned headdress nor wings indicate divinity in a particular representation of her. At present there is no clear evidence that even a sporadic production of zoomorphic terracottas persisted when anthropomorphic clay images were temporarily eclipsed after the end of the Early Bronze Age. The first type to reappear in clay are doves associated in many ancient Near Eastern cultures with the local goddess of love. The basis for regarding pigeons and doves (the Columbidae family of birds) as models of lovers is their courtship behaviour, kiss-like billing and cooing, and faithful relationships (cf. Ziffer 1998). In a Middle Bronze II shrine at Nahariyah (Dothan, M. 1956), a coastal site in Northern Israel, clay doves, generally shown in flight, were the only votives in terracotta, whilst nude female figurines there were in metal, as at a contemporary shrine at Megiddo (Loud 1948, pl. 245, 18–19; cf. Keel and Uehlinger 1998, 31–37). Male metal figurines are rare at this time and equally absent in clay. At Megiddo (area CC), for instance, in metal 16 were female, 6 male (Negbi 1976, 131). On contemporary seals in Canaan the nude female is associated with caprids and lions, as well as doves; but at this stage neither she nor her votaries are apparent in clay images. -184-
BRONZE AGE: INTRODUCTION – CANAAN (iii) Late Bronze Age (c. 1650–1150 B.C.) Terracottas related to the Syrian Type Badre MAI:2 (cf. nos 222; 254–7) appear at Tell Taanach in northern Canaan before the end of Middle Bronze IIC and were in use there in the Late Bronze Age. This type is handmodelled and not highly standardized (cf. Lapp 1964, 39–40; 1967, 35–7; 1969, 45). At much the same time and again from the north the single open mould was introduced for the manufacture of clay plaques portraying standing or reclining nude females in low relief, with and without attributes. In spite of their Egyptianizing features, these figurines in clay do not initially have close parallels in Egypt (cf. Pinch 1993, pl. 47–8). Variations on this motif are relatively rare throughout the Late Bronze Age and other anthropomorphic subjects are exceedingly rare (cf. in general: Keel and Uehlinger 1998, 97–108). Moulds facilitated mass-production, at least sometimes in direct association with pottery, as in a potter’s workshop at Tell ed-Duweir (Lachish) (Tufnell 1958, 90–91, 291–3, pl. 49). Kletter (1996, 35, n.8) suggested a general trend in their development from the earliest which had a wide background (or surround) that narrowed with time through into the Iron Age. Then the heads began to protrude more conspicuously and finally the background disappeared. Evidence for a contextual study of Canaanite terracottas outside their appearance in public buildings and graves is also extremely meagre, as Daviau (1993) demonstrated. Regrettably the publications of Bronze Age houses available to her were very deficient in the relevant information as much of it dates before excavation methods were rigorous enough to provide it. In this it is inferior to comparable data for the Iron Age analysed by Holladay (1987). Daviau was able to isolate a few animal figurines, one “model shrine”, and one or two moulded female terracottas (Daviau 1993, 238–4, 287–9, 290, 294, 307) in Late Bronze houses. She reported no reference to clay figurines from Middle Bronze Age houses, as would be anticipated if they do not appear until very late in that period. The fact that the Late Bronze Age plaques were mouldmade, to a very restricted and standard set of patterns, would appear to indicate that there was now a degree of control being exercised over the creation of popular, relatively cheap imagery. However, once it was current, at least potentially, anyone could have made a mould from a positive and then circulated replicas. Until detailed petrographic studies have been made, it may only be assumed that these plaques were part of the repertory of objects made and distributed by professional potters, rather than by individual householders. They do not appear to have been amongst the recurrent furnishings of shrines or temples in Canaan (cf. Ottosson 1980). It is over half-a-century since any attempt was made to list Canaanite terracottas, even the anthropomorphic ones, systematically, as Badre (1980) did for Syria. Mouldmade plaques showing nude females monopolize the Canaanite repertory of anthropomorphic images in clay. They have been conventionally classed by scholars in two groups: Qudshu and Astarte plaques (cf. Keel and Uehlinger 1998, 97–108). In neither case has the identity of the female represented yet been established beyond reasonable doubt. As none is inscribed, they are better designated simply A and B. (a) Nude Females (1) Type A: Qudshu Plaques (cf. no. 300) In this group the nude female appears with attributes (plants, etc.). The Egyptian word qdš was once believed to identify a specific goddess (cf. Albright 1939, 117). It is now translated as an epithet (“Holy; Holiness”), which might apply to any goddess. Its application here is a modern academic convention, which may inappropriately give the impression that her identity is known, whereas it derives from the use of this epithet on Egyptian stelae adjacent to various named goddesses. She appears as a full-frontal nude female with shoulder-length hair, curling over at the ends in so-called “Hathor” locks, after the Egyptian goddess of that name who wears them. She is shown with arms bent holding flowers, usually identified as lotuses on either side of her, and is sometimes also framed by plants, -185-
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