3year-old finds 3,800 year-old carved Canaanite scarab near Beit-Shemesh

 

A 3-year-old just found something priceless.

Ziv Nitzan, from Moshav Ramot Meir, was hiking with her parents and two older sisters at the foot of Tel Azekah, near Beit Shemesh, Israel, when she bent down and picked up what looked like an ordinary stone. Her mother, Sivan Nitzan, said: "There are thousands of stones over there and it was upside down, but somehow out of all those stones, she picked this one."

Dr. Daphna Ben-Tor, an expert in ancient amulets and seals, confirmed the discovery was a Canaanite scarab from the Middle Bronze Age, dating to about 3,800 years ago. Scarabs were used in this period as seals and as amulets, found in graves, public buildings and private homes, and sometimes bearing symbols and messages that reflect religious beliefs or status.

In the Book of Samuel, Tel Azekah is explicitly named as the location of the battle between David and the giant Goliath. Archaeologists have been excavating there for nearly 15 years, finding it was once one of the most important cities in the Judean Lowlands.

Israeli Minister of Heritage Amichai Eliyahu stated the find "connects us to a grand story, that of the ancient civilizations that lived in this land thousands of years ago," adding that "even children can be a part of discovering history."

The IAA thanked Ziv for her discovery by presenting her with a certificate of appreciation for good citizenship. The scarab will go on public display alongside other artifacts from the Egyptian and Canaanite eras at the Jay and Jeanie Schottenstein National Campus for the Archaeology of Israel in Jerusalem.