An approximately 3,200-year-old scepter found at a biblical site in southern Israel may be the first physical evidence of life-sized “divine statues” used in Canaanite rituals, according to a new report.

Yosef Garfinkel, an archaeology professor at Hebrew University of Jerusalem, wrote in the academic journal Antiquity that the scepter, which was made from bronze and coated in silver, was discovered inside the cellar of a Canaanite temple at Lachish.

He linked the scepter, which looks like a spatula, to a scepter found at Hatzor in the north, as well as to a small figurine found at the site of a Canaanite temple at Meggido.

In the hand of the figurine is a specter which Garkinfel called a “miniature version” of those found at Lachish and Hatzor. He also noted the scepter from Meggido has a complex pattern of circles hammered into it, the Haaretz daily reported, similar to the scepter from Lachish.

Read the entire source article at The Times of Israel