Snake Tubes, alias Offering Stands
from Canaanite shrines circa 1500 bce --and Nubia!
The Canaanite snake tubes predate those in Crete. This example from Beth She'an has the serpentine handles and snakes coiling around the sides as well. There are also doves perched in the small cutouts. Snake-vessels are also known from around 1500 bce in Canaan, with serpents clustered around the narrow neck of a pouring-pitcher.
Here's a better view of the Beth She'an snake tube, showing
both the coiling serpents and the triangular cutouts
from which women or goddesses look out.
Another Canaanite example from Megiddo, around the same time.
Another Canaanite snake tube from Beth She'an,
circa 1500 BCE, with openings for serpents to go in
and out, and birds perched on some of them.
Older than the Canaanite snake stands are these Nubian examples from the A-Group culture, going back to 3000 BCE. It would not be the first case of cultural innovations springing out of Africa to influence Mediterranean peoples.
