A Palestinian farmer discovered a 4,500-year-old statue of Canaanite goddess Anat while cultivating his land.

The director of Gaza's Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities, Jamal Abu Rida, first announced that the head was found by the farmer during a press conference on Tuesday. It was found in the Sheikh Hamouda district of Khan Younis.

“We found it by chance. It was muddy and we washed it with water," the farmer Nidal Abu Eid told BBC News.

"We realized that it was a precious thing, but we didn't know it was of such great archaeological value. We thank God, and we are proud that it stayed in our land, in Palestine, since the Canaanite times,” he added.

Anat is the goddess of fertility, sexual love, hunting and war. She was considered to be the “mother of the gods” and one of the best-known Canaanite deities, Abu Rida said.

The head of the statue will now be on display in Qasr al-Basha, one of Gaza’s few historic museums.

“While I was plowing the land to plant it, we discovered this statue,” Abu Eid said Wednesday, according to NBC News. “What caught our attention is the inscription of the snake on the head, which means it is very important.”

Abu Eid added that at first, he hoped to sell it but after being informed that it was of great archaeological value that he decided to donate it.