Sacred stone items from different periods have been dug in the temple of Astarte. During the temple dig (fig. 3 in the area highlighted in yellow) the end of 3rd century B.C. Layer returned a bethel with a jutting out base, near the small statue of Astarte. The date may be earlier, as for the other items found in other levels of the dig: the bethel may date back to the 6th-5th century B.C. It can be compared with the Punic stelae, in particular the so-called “throne-stone” type, from nearby Sulky. In the Phoenician world, the known connection of the bethel with the goddess Astarte makes its association with the statue even more significant, even if historically re-used.

Figs. 1-2 - Bethel from the temple of Astarte" (BARTOLONI 2004, fig. 4); stele with bethel from Sulci, a ‘throne-stone’ (MOSCATI, BARTOLONI 1986, ‘Catalogue’, nos. 42-43).

Again in the sacred complex area (fig. 3 highlighted in green), but much older, there is a stone decorated with cups (fig. 4), a residue of one of the two menhirs found in the so-called tower-quarry area.

Figs. 3-4 - The temple of Astarte (photo by Unicity S.p.A.) and the menhir with cups (BARTOLONI 2004, fig. 4).

The menhir were used in the Hellenistic Age, around the last decades of the 3rd century B.C., but come from an earlier prehistoric age witnessed by the highlands of the tophet and the hypogeum necropolis, in the built-up area, and in tomb 207, that refers back to the culture of Monte Claro (2800-2200 B.C. circa).