Posted on 08/01/2025 1:07:37 PM PDT by SunkenCiv
Children are always picking stuff up off the ground -- dirt, bugs, rocks, anything shiny. And usually, it's just junk. However, 3-year-old Ziv Nitzan made the discovery of her young life when, on a walk with her family, she picked up a small stone that wound up being a scarab amulet more than one thousand times her age.
"We were walking along the path, and then Ziv bent down and out of all the stones around her, she picked up this particular stone," Omer Nitzan, Ziv's sister, said in a translated statement from the Israel Antiquities Authority...
The family brought in the Israel Antiquities Authority, and Daphna Ben-Tor, an expert in ancient amulets and seals, analyzed the amulet before declaring it a 3,800-year-old Canaanite scarab from the Middle Bronze Age...
Popular in ancient Egypt, amulets in the shape of a dung beetle often come with ornate designs. The dung beetle was revered in ancient Egypt, considered sacred and a symbol of new life.
Nitzan found the scarab at the foot of Tel Azeka, an archaeological mound near Beit Shemesh. Previous excavations in the area have revealed an ever-shifting mix of cultures across the site's history, from a Judahite Kingdom that featured city walls and agricultural installations to the possible site of the Biblical battle between David and Goliath found in the book of First Samuel.
Unlike the archaeologists that have dug up the site over the years, Ziv needed no formal training for her find. Omer said in a translated video statement that out of the 70,000 stones around Ziv, she picked up the one that was an amulet and "saw that something was different about it."
(Excerpt) Read more at popularmechanics.com ...
Amulet and Scarab keywords, sorted:
Thanks for the link!
Oh. Amulet. Here I was thinking a 3,800-year-old mullet would be quite the find. Time to update prescription on the old spectacles.
😊 The inscription is a quote from the ancient play, “Romeo and Amulet”.
I never find ancient amulets.................
I’m being sued by Sears
I found an old bottle cap.
I found one of those. It had an engraving of Noah’s son Ham holding a block of cheddar cheese.
It was a Ham and cheese amulet.
That’s their story and they’re sticking to it.
*** rimshot ***
😁
I’d like to scarab a few of these, but it’s a long walk from here.
Native American Gorget amulates can be found in North America.
I found a Confederate button once. I kept it for a LONG time. Eventually, in a move, it got lost along with the treasure box container I had it stashed in. Very sad. It was kinda cool.
But none of the cubs ever handed me something this cool. Some Petoskey stones, lots of lost costume jewelry, some interesting sticks, flattened toads and the occasional bit of animal dung, usually dried.
I found one of those. It had an engraving of Noah’s son Ham holding a block of cheddar cheese.It was a Ham and cheese amulet.
:)
And with my luck, if I ever did find an ancient amulet, it would be cursed.
Step away from the street lights....
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