The Kernos from Tel Sasa and a Catalogue of Iron Age Kernoi from the Israel Museum Collection

Nearly fifty years have passed since the discovery of an elaborate kernos from Tel Sasa in the Upper Galilee of Israel. Yet, it is only with the present article that this extraordinary vessel is formally published in a full and proper manner. The ceramic vessel, which is decorated in paint, was found in an evidently cultic context in a small shrine at the summit of the tell and comprises a hollow ring to which were attached six figurative and miniature forms, of which only two pomegranates, a single dove, and a chalice were preserved. Although incomplete, the present examination of the kernos has led to the reconstruction of the two missing attachments as a bull and a jar. Moreover, this study also revealed that the three extant attachments-the two pomegranates and the dove-do not have any opening at their top; hence, the kernos not only functioned as a libation vessel, but also as a kind of a trick vase. The circulation of the liquid in the closed attachments may have conveyed special meaning to the liquid. The iconography of the kernos attests to the fact that fertility, abundance and the cycles in which they appear in life were the most important aspects it symbolized. In order to further explore this object, a petrographic analysis revealed that it was manufactured at Tel Sasa itself, or in its immediate vicinity. This local production is another indication of the isolated nature of the Upper Galilee settlements during the Iron Age I. Finally, during this research, a catalogue of fifteen kernos fragments from The Israel Museum collection was compiled, as well, and is published here for the very first time.