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Collection of Israel Antiquities Authority/Photo ©The Israel Museum, Jerusalem

ANXIOUS ANTICIPATION. A concerned mother-to-be is depicted on this clay plaque from the Late Bronze Age. Discovered by chance near the Revadim Quarry in Israel, it measures only 4 inches long. The woman has two babies inside her and holds open her birth canal in preparation for their birth. She wears a crescent-shaped pendant and has a tree-and-ibex motif on each leg. Author Tallay Ornan asserts that this amulet was used by a woman expecting twins in order to protect her from the dangers and difficulties of a double pregnancy and delivery.