To date (15 August 2002) no images of a Golden Calf have been found in the Sinai, Negeb, or Arabah. The only iconographical image of a CALF that I have been able to identify within a Late Bronze Age context (the Exodus being dated to this period by 1 Kings 6:1, e.g., ca. 1446 BCE) is on dedication stelae erected by the Egyptians at the Hathor Temple located at Serabit el-Khadem. In every case, a hornless bovine's head ( perhaps a Calf's head ?) appears amongst offerings to the gods or a deceased person. In some cases the trussed-up legs of the bovine's body appear above the separated HORNLESS bovine"s head (if the image is NOT a calf's head, it could be that the Egyptians had "hornless" cattle" ?).
The reference being used is Alan H. Gardiner, T. Eric Peet & Jaroslav Cerny.The Inscriptions of Sinai. London. The Egypt Exploration Society. Oxford University Press. Part I, Introduction and Plates. 1952). Plate numbers are rendered in Roman numbers. Regular numbers indicate figures.
