Tower shaped cult stand with flat sides and stand with a flat tray near the top of the interior. The exterior surface is applied with red wash. The interior tray was more than once relined with plaster and a new coat of red wash. The front side carried two moulded figures of the nude goddess Astarte standing above the modeled heads of a feline. Here arms fall straight by her sides, her hair falls in a curl either side of the face in the familiar manner deriving from the representation of the Egyptian goddess Hathor. Above the figures are six applied bands of plain and “rope’ decoration and above these two rows of incised double chevrons. The other sides are covered with a thick red slip and decorated with geometric designs in yellow paints. From the rim rises a modeled two human heads. One of them was set at the right rear corner of the offering tray facing inwards, and the other one to the left facing outwards. Below the rim is set a single row of studs. Traces of blackening from fire inside the rim and around the face suggest that this stand once held burnt offering, presumably to Astarte.

Site: Pella/ Tabaqat Fahl in the Jordan Valley.

Period: Iron Age I around 1200-1000 BC.