A farmer in Palestine recently discovered the head of the statue of Anat, an idol of the Canaanites, which is of great historical value.
According to The Christian Post, the limestone statue is about 8 inches tall and carved into the head is a face wearing a serpent as a crown. Anat was an idol of the Canaanites, a group of people God ordered driven out of Israel in the Old Testament.
It is believed to be carved around 2,500 B.C. During a press conference in Gaza, the Hamas-run Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities announced the head’s discovery.
"Anat was the goddess of love, beauty and war in the Canaanite mythology," says Jamal Abu Rida, the ministry’s director-general of Antiquities and Cultural Heritage.
Abu Rida also said the farmer who made the discovery, Nidal Abu Eid, found the artifact on Monday in the al-Qarara town of Khan Younis.
The farmer who found the statue said to The New Arab, "I found it by chance when I was cultivating my land. It was muddy but when I washed it with water, I realized that it is a precious thing. I am so proud that our land still has great archaeological values. It means that this land is ours and we have a civilization and history for thousands of years B.C. since the Canaanite times."
The statue is now on display for the public to see in one of Gaza’s few museums in Qasr al-Basha.
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