The participants of a school trip exploring the area around the Israeli city of Tel Aviv have made a great find. They stumbled upon a 3,000-year-old scarab amulet, a kind of sacred beetle.
“We were walking around when I saw something on the floor that looked like a small toy,” said Gilad Stern, an Israeli Antiquities Authority (IAA) official who led the tour in Azor. “A voice told me to pick up the object and turn it around.”
When he examined the stone in the shape of a scarab, he and his group of students realized that they had discovered something of historical significance. “It was a scarab with a clearly engraved scene, the dream of any amateur archaeologist,” said Stern.
Status symbol
This type of amulet in the shape of a beetle originates from ancient Egypt. The stone in the shape of a scarab was first used as a seal and then became a symbol of protection and a good luck charm. According to the IAA, the object dates from the Late Bronze Age, between 1500 and 1000 BC, and is covered with a blue-green glaze. It was supposedly a symbol of power and status and could be worn on a necklace or ring.
The engraved scene on the amulet probably shows the granting of legitimacy to a local leader. She shows a standing figure with his arm raised above a second, seated figure.
“The scene describes the geopolitical realities that prevailed during the last period of the Bronze Age, when the local councilors lived under the political and cultural hegemony of Egypt,” explains Amir Golani, an expert for the period at the IAA. He believes the object was left there three millennia ago or even deliberately buried.
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