Large Western Asiatic Gold Lunar Pendant
Circa 2nd-1st millennium B.C. Shaped as a crescent moon with pearled border. Cf. Ilan, D., 'The Crescent-Lunate Motif in the Jewellery of the Bronze and Iron Ages in the Ancient Near East' in Proceedings, 9th ICAANE, Basel 2014, Vol. 1, 137–150, figs.1,4, for parallels. 5.08 grams, 45 mm (1 3/4 in.).

Acquired 1980-2015. Ex Abelita family collection.

The gold lunula was a characteristic type of necklace, collar, or crescent-shaped pendant of the late Neolithic, Chalcolithic, and most often early Bronze Age. The crescent appears in various forms in the material culture of the southern Levant. It also appears in Mesopotamian and Egyptian iconography. It is most frequently associated with the crescent moon and its related deity. Such pendants were worn at the neck, in contact with the body, as protective amulets.