A Rare Discovery at Tel Achziv: A Phoenician Clay Mask Mold from the Ninth Century B.C.E.

Near Eastern Archaeology Vol. 79, No. 4, Decemberarticle, “A Rare Discovery at Tel Achziv: A Phoenician Clay Mask Mold from the Ninth Century B.C.E.,” by Michael Jasmin (CNRS laboratory), Yifat Thareani (EPHE), and Philippe Abrahami (University of Lumière Lyon 2).

Renewed excavations on the tell of Achziv in the north of Israel by a French-Israeli team have led to the discovery (in July) of a very rare find: a clay anthropomorphic mask mold. This object comes from a layer dated to the tenth or ninth century B.C.E. Clay masks are characteristic of Phoenician culture, but the actual mask molds that produced them have been lacking until now. This article discusses the context and possible uses of this remarkable find.