A recently discovered 4,300-year-old silver goblet from the West Bank features what researchers believe is the earliest known depiction of the universe’s creation, echoing themes found in the Book of Genesis, according to a groundbreaking study.

The goblet, standing three inches tall and named the Ain Samiya goblet, is adorned with intricate carvings of mythological figures such as snakes, chimeras, deities, celestial icons, and a puzzling “boat of light.” Experts suggest these images illustrate the universe’s transition from chaotic pre-creation to an orderly cosmic structure.

The study, featured in the peer-reviewed Journal of the Ancient Near Eastern Society “Ex Oriente Lux,” posits that this goblet represents the oldest visual depiction of the cosmos’s birth, predating the stone-carved Babylonian “Enuma Elish” by over a millennium.

“Unlike narratives of divine conflict, the goblet portrays a serene cosmic ordering,” explained Daniel Sarlo, a co-author of the study, as reported by The Telegraph. “It depicts the Sun’s emergence, dispelling chaos and renewing the world.”

“It shows how the Sun is born, banishes chaos and renews the world.”

One side of the goblet — dug up in a tomb within the Judean Mountains of the West Bank in 1970 — shows a human torso clutching palm fronds fused to two bull bodies, floating above a tiny sun and staring down a menacing snake, according to the study.

The other side depicts two figures carrying a crescent-shaped object — believed to represent the sun and moon — sailing across the sky, with the same serpent lying defeated beneath them.

“The boat has a practical purpose: it’s a vehicle that transports celestial bodies across the sky, and this was considered the explanation why the Sun and the Moon are moving,” Swiss geoarchaeologist Dr. Eberhard Zangger, senior author of the study, said, the outlet reported.

“This boat of light makes sure that the celestial forces and rhythm work the way they do, so that there is day and night and the annual seasons and the moon phases. The goblet gives us this very detailed picture of what people in 2300 BC had in mind about what the cosmos looked like before the creation.”

The ancient artifact has been on display at the Israel Museum for decades.