"The Queen of Heaven" by Gavin White

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Author Gavin White tackles the unenviable job of interpreting art figures from the ancient Near East in THE QUEEN OF HEAVEN. The motifs of divinity, fertility, childbirth and others reoccur amongst several civilizations over a thousand year span from approximately 2000-1000 BCE.
And White's reproduction of over 150 line drawings purportedly support the book's claim to "crack the code of this symbol system." The meanings of some drawings are unmistakable. Many others, however, are dubious. In the earliest pages it is clear that assumption, with its "possible" or "probable" outcomes, along with an arbitrary reassigning of a symbol's meaning, buries the "system" deeper into its historic tomb.
In fairness to this author, or any, the interpretation of antiquities is a guessing game at best. The likelihood of anyone from the 21st Century accurately identifying the thought processes of a pot maker working in a field of damp clay, or a sculptor/painter decorating a city wall 4000 years ago, is nonexistent.
Desert-dry wording in QUEEN holds minimal interest. Yet some of the detailed drawings do entice further study.
Whether the presumptive inferences in this book are ever qualifiable, may take a queen of Heaven to unravel. Or a degree in archaeology might help. Otherwise, coming to solid conclusions could take you another thousand years.