4,500-year-old stone statuette found in Gaza

A stone statuette over 4,500 years antique depicting the face of an ancient goddess turned into located inside the southern Gaza Strip, the archaeological government in the Palestinian enclave introduced Monday.

Carved out of limestone and 22 centimeters lengthy, the 2500 BC statuette became discovered by using a farmer operating his land in Khan Younis, according to the ministry of tourism and antiquities for Hamas, the Islamist movement that regulations Gaza.

“The statue represents the Canaanite goddess Anat,” Jamal Abu Reda, in charge of antiquities at the ministry, stated in a statement.

Anat, one of the best-known Canaanite deities, was the goddess of love and war.

It was uncovered on what was an important “overland trade route for several civilizations” that lived in what is now the Gaza Strip, according to Abu Reda.

The find was the latest in Gaza, where tourism at archaeological sites is limited due to an Israeli blockade imposed since the militant group Hamas took over the enclave in 2007.

In February, workers at a construction site in northern Gaza discovered 31 Roman-era tombs dating to the first century AD.

Israel and Egypt, which stocks a border with Gaza, tightly restrict the drift of humans in and out of the impoverished territory, that’s home to approximately 2.3 million Palestinians.

In January, Hamas reopened the remains of a fifth-century Byzantine church following a years-length recuperation effort subsidized by overseas donors.