APalestinian farmer working his land in Gaza has uncovered the head of a 4,500-year-old statue of Canaanite goddess Anat.
The head, which was unveiled to the public Tuesday, was found in Sheikh Hamouda in Khan Younis, Jamal Abu Rida, director of Gaza’s Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities, said at a press conference.
“At first, I hoped to sell it to someone to make some money,” Nidal Abu Eid, the farmer, told The New Arab, “but an archaeologist told me that it was of great archaeological value.”
Staff at the ministry concluded that the head belonged to a statue of Anat, the goddess of love, beauty and war in Canaanite mythology, Rida said.
The Canaanites were an ancient pagan people whom the Bible says inhabited Jerusalem and other parts of the Middle East before the advent of monotheism.
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