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Seven-year-old Finds 3,400-year-old Clay Figurine On Hiking Trip

By R. Siva Kumar | Update Date: Mar 01, 2016 10:48 AM EST

An exciting find took place at an archaeological mound at Tel Rehovin in Israel. A huge, 3,400-year-old clay figurine depicting a naked woman came to light due to a camping trip by seven-year-old Ori Greenhut, reported Fox News.

The item has been studied by antiquity experts, noting comparisons to the Canaanite culture of the 15th to 13th centuries BCE.

"Ori returned home with the impressive figurine and the excitement was great," Ori's mother, Moriya Greenhut, said in a release. "We explained to him this is an ancient artifact and that archaeological finds belong to the State."

The figure has been made by pressed soft clay though the message behind the design is not clear.

"Some researchers think the figure depicted here is that of a real flesh-and-blood woman, and others view her as the fertility goddess Astarte, known from Canaanite sources and from the Bible," said Amihai Mazar, a professor emeritus at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, who examined the figurine.

Immediately the figure was handed over to the Israel Antiquities Authority. The prompt act impressed the institute.

"It doesn't happen a lot, but there is increasing awareness of people calling up and informing the authority that they found an artifact," said the spokesperson.

Many such figures have been discovered in this area. Some are modelled after ordinary women, and some after goddesses.

"It is highly likely that the term trafim mentioned in the Bible indeed refers to figurines of this kind," said Mazar. "Evidently, the figurine belonged to one of the residents of the city of Rehov, which was then ruled by the central government of the Egyptian pharaohs."

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