Strata: On Data and Its Interpretation

I was pleased to see four reputable scholars dedicate such a long discussion^a to refuting my putative interpretation of the cultic paraphernalia from Moẓa as those of figurines representing a rider on a horse.^b In my iconographic analysis, which was based on similar artifacts from other sites, I further raised the question of whether the Moẓa figure is the image of the god worshiped in ancient Judah.^c

The authors of the critical response made two concluding points:

(1) “The finds from Qeiyafa and Moẓa provide a significant contribution to the study of cult and religion in Israel and Judah, especially during their formative period (tenth–ninth centuries B.C.E.).”