Gaza farmer accidentally discovers 4,500-year-old Canaanite goddess of war statue

The goddess of beauty, love, and war is now above ground. A farmer discovered the head of a 4,500-year-old stone statue in the Gaza Strip — it depicts the Canaanite deity Anat, BBC News reports.
The farmer was reportedly digging on his Khan Younis land, located in the south of the Strip, when he discovered an artifact. Farmer Nidal Abu Eid says finding the stone wasn't his intention, it happened by chance. After washing off the mud with water, he noticed the 8.7-inch carving was the face of a goddess wearing a serpent crown.
"We realized that it was a precious thing, but we didn't know it was of such great archaeological value," Eid adds. "We thank God, and we are proud that it stayed in our land, in Palestine, since the Canaanite times." Jamal Abu Rida of the Hamas-run Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities said during a Tuesday press conference that the artifact was "resistant against time."
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Experts examined the statue and it now sits on display in Qasr al-Basha, a Gaza museum. Rida says the statue not only represents beauty, love, and war but also makes a political point. "Such discoveries prove that Palestine has civilization and history, and no one can deny or falsify this history," he said.
As The Daily Beast's Philippe Naughton reviews, the Canaanites "were a Semitic-speaking civilization in the second millennium B.C. whose lands covered modern-day Israel, the Palestinian territories of the West Bank and Gaza, and parts of Syria and Jordan." Read more at BBC News.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Kelsee Majette has worked as a social media editor at The Week since 2022. In 2019, she got her start in local television as a digital producer and fill-in weather reporter at NTV News. Kelsee also co-produced a lifestyle talk show while working in Nebraska and later transitioned to 13News Now as a digital content producer.
-
Palestine Action: protesters or terrorists?
Talking Point Damaging RAF equipment at Brize Norton blurs line between activism and sabotage, but proscription is a drastic step
-
Trump's strikes on Iran: a 'spectacular success'?
In Depth Military humiliations 'expose the brittleness' of Tehran's ageing regime, but risk reinforcing its commitment to its nuclear program
-
5 expletive-laden cartoons about bad language
Cartoons Artists take on Trump's quest for a Nobel Peace Prize, cursing at the dinner table, and more
-
One year after mass protests, why are Kenyans taking to the streets again?
today's big question More than 60 protesters died during demonstrations in 2024
-
Iran nukes program set back months, early intel suggests
Speed Read A Pentagon assessment says US bombing of Iranian nuclear sites only set the program back by months, not years. This contradicts President Donald Trump's claim.
-
Trump says Iran and Israel agreed to ceasefire
Speed Read This followed a night of Israeli airstrikes on Tehran and multiple waves of missiles fired by Iran
-
Israel strikes Iran, killing military and nuclear chiefs
Speed Read Israeli officials said the attack was a 'preemptive' strike on Iran's nuclear program
-
Israel deports Thunberg after seizing Gaza aid boat
speed read The Swedish activist was delivering food and medical aid to Palestine, highlighting the growing humanitarian crisis there
-
Colombian senator shot on streets of Bogotá
speed read Miguel Uribe Turbay, who has announced his candidacy for next year's presidential election, was shot at a rally
-
Trump says Putin vowed retaliation for Kyiv strike
speed read The Russian president intends to respond to Ukraine's weekend drone strikes on Moscow's warplanes
-
Dutch government falls over immigration policy
speed read The government collapsed after anti-immigration politician Geert Wilders quit the right-wing coalition