In the past, scholars interested in reconstructing the social history of the Bronze and Iron Age Near East have paid scant heed to women’s issues. In particular, the study of women’s reproductive cycles and child-rearing responsibilities has been virtually ignored. This is the case despite the fact that these issues are of paramount importance to women, to their partners, and to their nuclear and extended families.

Canaanite temple goddesses in precious metals are well known. Ceramic goddesses associated with funerary rites have also been studied, although less extensively. Until now, the mother-and-child figurine, so important for illuminating ancient perspectives on maternal issues, remains virtually unexamined. In these figures, the mother is shown either embracing or nursing her child. While popular in the Canaanite and Israelite periods (2^nd through mid-1^st millennium BCE), examples also date to earlier and later eras. Mother-and-child figurines were typically made of terracotta but were sometimes formed from precious metals, as well. Most mother-and-child figurines come from Canaan or Israel, but others have been found in Anatolia, Syria and the Mycenaean world.

Unlike the popular Israelite pillar figurine (the so-called Dea Nutrix, with its prominent breasts), which occurs most often in domestic contexts, the mother-and-child figurine seems to be associated with religious structures. The significance of this image of maternal nurturing and love is extended through reference to the Egyptian goddess Isis and her son Horus, and, later, to the Madonna and Child.