Standing Male Figure of Spike Type

This figure consists of a peg- or nail-like body tapering to a point, the tip of which is missing. Two short, pointed arms extend horizontally and slightly forward from the body. Otherwise, the body is featureless on the front and back. The lower part is rectangular in section. The head features a short beak-like nose with a horizontal groove below for a mouth and what appear to be two pellet-shaped eyes close to the bridge of the nose. Rounded lateral projections representing ears on either side of the head are perforated from front to back. Something, possibly the remnant of an earring, remains in the left perforation. The top of the head is a conical point, perhaps a cap, the front of which slants backward to the tip. Faint horizontal grooves decorate the front of the pointed head or cap. This type of peg-shaped votive statuette is well known throughout the Levantine coast in the Late Bronze Age. David G. Mitten