Biblical Archaeology Review is the flagship publication of the Biblical Archaeology Society. For more than 40 years it has been making the world of archaeology in the lands of the Bible come alive for the interested layperson. Full of vivid images and articles written by leading scholars, this is a must read for anyone interested in the archaeology of the ancient Near East.
Tryggve Mettinger, No Graven Image? (Stockholm: Almquist & Wiksell International, 1995). In a later article he suggests that “programmatic aniconism” developed only in the Exilic or post-Exilic period. Mettinger, “Israelite Aniconism: Developments and Origins,” in Karel Van der Toorn, ed., The Image and the Book (Leuven: Peeters, 1997), pp. 174–204.
There has been scholarly discussion as to whether the inscription relates to the drawing. Once the figures have been properly identified, the better view seems to be that they do relate to one another; and this is true even if the inscription was later added above the drawing, as suggested by Pirhiya Beck in “The Drawings from Hornat Teiman (Kuntillet ‘Ajrud),” Tel Aviv 9 (1982), pp. 3–68, esp. p. 46.
See Gilula, and Margalit in note 10, and Dever, “Asherah, Consort of Yahweh?” in note 8. On the questions briefly mentioned here see further discussions and scholarly opinions in Walter Dietrich and Martin A. Klopfenstein, Ein Gott allein? (Freiburg: Universitatsverlag, 1994). See also references in Emerton’s article cited in note 11.
