According to Gods, Goddesses and Images of God In Ancient Israel, ancient images often depicted female goddesses with vegetation and/or water symbols.
The goddess-and-vegetation/water symbols were actually personifications of generative life forces and sustenance.
In the Syro-Palestinian area "the image of a goddess served as an amulet which was venerated as a creator of vegetation, if not of life itself.” -History’s Vanquished Goddess Asherah