"A rare 2,500-year-old fertility goddess amulet has been unearthed in Israel's Negev Desert, not by archaeologists, but by a boy on holiday. Dating to the 5th or 6th century BC, known to historians as ‘the Late Temple period,’ the bare-breasted female fertility goddess figure is thought to have served as a protection amulet for assuring good luck and prosperity to its wearer. . . archaeologists in Israel think the 2,500-year-old amulet was perhaps used as protection for an infant during pregnancy. Furthermore, they say this particular fertility relic is 'so rare only one other similar one has ever been found.' It was probably molded during the Iron Age , sometime in the fifth or sixth century BC."
(© photo IAA)
