Young Girl discovers 3,500-year-old Egyptian amulet in Central Israel
Dafna Filshteiner, age 12, was recently hiking below the ancient site of Tel Qana in Hod Hasharon when suddenly, to her surprise, she discovered an unusual find beetle-like stone used as an Egyptian amulet about 3,500 years ago. “I was looking down at the ground to find porcupine needles and smooth pebbles,” she says. “And suddenly, I picked up an interesting stone. I showed it to my mother, and she said it was just an ordinary stone or a bead. But then I saw a decoration and stubbornly insisted it was more than that, so we searched on the Internet. There, we identified more photos of stones similar to what we had found. We realized that it was something special and immediately called the Antiquities Authority.”
The Egyptian amulet. Photo credit: Emil Aladjem, Israel Antiquities Authority
The family turned to Mor Wiesel, an archaeologist at the Israel Antiquities Authority, who thanked Dafna and her family, awarded them a certificate of excellence for good citizenship, and transferred the scarab to the state archives housed in the Jay and Jeanie Schottenstein National Campus for the Archaeology of Israel.
The find was examined by Dr. Yitzhak Paz, Bronze Age expert at the Israel Antiquities Authority. It dates back to the New Kingdom period in Egypt, about 3,500 years ago. Two scorpions appear on it, standing head to tail. According to Dr. Paz, “The scorpion symbol represented the Egyptian goddess Serket, who was considered responsible, among other things, for protecting pregnant mothers. Another decoration on the amulet is the nefer symbol, which in Egyptian means ‘good’ or ‘chosen’. There is also another symbol which looks like a royal staff.”
The archaeological site of Tel Qana. Photo credit: Ronen aatedgi, Skypro, Bar-Ilan University
The scarab is an amulet designed in the shape of a dung beetle. This beetle, considered sacred in the eyes of the ancient Egyptians, was a symbol of new life, because it would create a dung ball, lay its eggs in it, from which new life then hatched. The Egyptian name derives from the verb “to form,” or “to be created”, as the Egyptians saw the scarab as symbolizing the embodiment of the divine creator. The scarab amulets found in Israel––sometimes used as a seal––are evidence of Egyptian rule in our region about 3,500 years ago, and its cultural influence on this region. “The scarab is indeed a distinct Egyptian characteristic, but their wide distribution also reached far beyond Egypt’s borders. It may have been dropped by an important and authoritative figure passing through the area, or it may have been deliberately buried. Since the find was discovered on the surface, it is difficult to know its exact context,” says Dr. Paz.
Tel Qana, which stands near the findspot of the scarab, is an archaeological site of great historical importance. According to Dr. Amit Dagan, from Bar-Ilan University’s Martin (Szusz) Department of Land of Israel Studies and Archaeology, and Dr. Ayelet Dayan from the Israel Antiquities Authority, who are conducting an archaeological excavation at the tel, “This find is both exciting and significant. The scarab and its unique pictorial features, along with other finds discovered at Tel Qana with similar motifs, provide new insights into the nature of the Egyptian influence in the region in general, and the Yarkon area in particular.”
Eli Escusido, Israel Antiquities Authority Director, said, “Dafna received a certificate of appreciation from the Israel Antiquities Authority, and now the scarab she found is on display in Jerusalem at the Jay and Jeanie Schottenstein National Campus for the Archaeology of Israel, so the entire public can enjoy it. Everyone is welcome to come and visit!”
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