Bronze bulls and other goodies excavated at MBA Tel Shimron

BOVINE ICONOGRAPHY: Giant Trove of Canaanite Cultic Artifacts Found in Northern Israel. Atop Tel Shimron, archaeologists reveal enigmatic monumental 'white' structure from Canaanite era and its storage for used religious artifacts, and animal bones (Ariel David, Haaretz).

Archaeologists digging at Tel Shimron in northern Israel are revealing a monumental structure from which they have recovered a vast cache of rare cultic objects used some 3,800 years ago by the ancient Canaanites.

Burnt animal bones, precious imported ceramics and two bull statuettes representing Canaanite deities are just the most spectacular finds that emerged from a huge dump of religious artifacts located at the top of the recently-discovered monument.

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On those bull statuettes, found in what the archaeologists think is a "favissa," a room for storing retired religious ritual objects:

At this point one could be reminded of the old joke about archaeologists interpreting everything they can't explain as signs of cultic activity. But there are good reasons to believe the ancient trove found at Shimron is not just a random dump of Middle Bronze domestic garbage.

The types of pottery vessels are typical of what is found in temples, rather than in domestic contexts, Master says. Initial analysis of the animal bones also shows that many burned at very high temperatures that would have destroyed any meat on them, suggesting they were not for domestic consumption, he adds.

And then of course there is the matter of the two bronze bull figurines that emerged from the favissa.

These are generally interpreted as cultic representations of El – the head of the Canaanite pantheon – or of the storm god Baal.

There are photos in the article.

Metal bulls naturally make one think of the "golden calf" found in the Exodus tradition (Exodus 32) and the two such objects reportedly used in Jeroboam I's cultic apparatus (1 Kings 13).

These two new metal bulls join the slightly later silver filigreed bronze bull excavated at Ashkelon (link to photo here) and the 2,500-year-old bronze bull excavated in Greece a few years ago. Those links also discuss the golden calf supposedly found in Gozo, Malta, in the eighteenth century. There was also the golden calf seized by Turkish authories in 2017, which I suspect is of pretty recent origin.

Follow the links above for discussion of how these excavated metal bulls could relate to the biblical golden calf traditions. And keep following the links from there for more on the biblical traditions.

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