A FAIENCE HEAD OF A BEARDED MALE FROM TEL ABEL BETH MAACAH: ICONOGRAPHY, TECHNOLOGY AND CONTEXT

A faience head depicting a bearded male was unearthed in a ninth-century BC context at Tel Abel Beth Maacah, located on the modern Israel-Lebanese border. During the Iron Age, the site was at the interface between the kingdoms of Israel and Aram-Damascus and the Phoenician city-states of Tyre and Sidon. The article discusses the object’s iconography, style, composition and manufacturing technology in comparison to other faience heads, as well as its regional and contextual significance. Despite its unique iconography and high quality, we demonstrate its similarity to at least one other head in manufacturing technology and style. It is suggested that it depicts an ideal elite persona, possibly serving as a votive.