BULLISH ON THE STORM GOD

In southern Turkey's Amuq Valley, a curious one-inch-tall lead figurine unearthed at a rural Bronze Age site is giving archaeologists a glimpse of how villagers living around 2000 B.C. responded to a period marked by increasing drought.

- ERIC A. POWELL

A team led by Mustafa Kemal University archaeologist Murat Akar discovered the figurine while excavating a grain silo at the site, which is known as Toprakhisar Höyük. The archaeologists were instantly struck by the object's odd appearance. Taking the form of a bull, it resembles lead trinkets that were circulated by traders in Anatolia at that time. But it also bears a likeness to larger artifacts from Mesopotamia called foundation pegs, conical or nail-shaped objects ins