Before Christianity... before Judaism..

[John V]

Here's the wiki section on Asherah in Israel and Judah
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asherah#In_..._and_Judah

Between the 10th century BC and the beginning of their exile in 586 polytheism was normal throughout Israel[citation needed]; it was only after the exile that worship of Yahweh alone became established, and possibly only as late as the time of the Maccabees (2nd century BC) that monotheism became universal among Jews.[8][9] Some biblical scholars believe that Asherah at one time was worshiped as the consort of Yahweh, the national god of Israel.[8] There are references to the worship of numerous gods throughout Kings, Solomon builds temples to many gods during his reign and Josiah is reported as cutting down the statues of Asherah in the temple Solomon built for Yahweh. Further evidence includes, for example, an 8th century combination of iconography and inscriptions discovered at Kuntillet Ajrud in the northern Sinai desert[10] where a storage jar shows three anthropomorphic figures and an inscription that refers to "Yahweh … and his Asherah".[11][12] Further evidence includes the many female figurines unearthed in ancient Israel, supporting the view that Asherah functioned as a goddess and consort of Yahweh and was worshiped as the Queen of Heaven.[11]

The references given are:

8.^ a b "BBC Two - Bible's Buried Secrets, Did God Have a Wife?". BBC. 2011-12-21. http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00zw3fl. Retrieved 2012-07-04.
9.^ Quote from the BBC documentary: "Between the 10th century and the beginning of their exile in 586 there was polytheism as normal religion all throughout Israel; only afterwards things begin to change and very slowly they begin to change. I would say it [the sentence "Jews were monotheists" - n.n.] is only correct for the last centuries, maybe only from the period of the Maccabees, that means the second century BC, so in the time of Jesus of Nazareth it is true, but for the time before it, it is not true."
10.^ Ze’ev Meshel, Kuntillet ‘Ajrud: An Israelite Religious Center in Northern Sinai, Expedition 20 (Summer 1978), pp. 50–55
11.^ a b Dever 2005
12.^ Hadley 2000, pp. 122–136

1. Note that most of it has no reference or only references a TV show. I call this low caliber.

Then, when we get down to serious sources, there is interesting omission:

Further evidence includes, for example, an 8th century combination of iconography and inscriptions discovered at Kuntillet Ajrud in the northern Sinai desert[10] where a storage jar shows three anthropomorphic figures and an inscription that refers to "Yahweh … and his Asherah".[11][12]

The wiki entry specific to Kuntillet Ajrad says:

The "Asherah" is most likely a cultic object, although the relationship of this object (a stylised tree perhaps) to Yahweh and to the goddess Asherah, consort of El, is unclear.[7]