A terracotta Head of a Man with a Beard, circa 1000 BCE, perhaps Canaanite or Hebrew. He may be a depiction of El, the Canaanite God, who is usually depicted as bearded.

This head has some similarities to Babylonian heads, but it could also be from farther west. Cultural traditions west of Babylon overlapped in various ways. The Hebrews settled in Canaan after the Exodus, then were forced to live in Babylon during the 6th century BCE. The oral tradition among the family that has owned this head for five generations is that it is Hebrew. Further study is needed. It was collected by Judge A. D. Russel, Justice of the Supreme Court of New York, in the 1850s. He had a large collection of ancient art, especially West Asian and Greek. He was Jewish. The head passed down through his step daughter, Mrs. Sidney Cooke Lanier, to her son, A.D.R. Lanier, and then to his daughter, Martha Lanier Graham. (FLG)