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12-year-old discovers 3,500-year-old relic in central Israel

12-year-old girl finds ancient Egyptian amulet during a family trip in central Israel.

By World Israel News Staff

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 a 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,” Filshteiner said.

“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 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.

The item was found to date back to the New Kingdom period in Egypt, about 3,500 years ago. Two scorpions appear on it, standing head to tail.

“The scorpion symbol represented the Egyptian goddess Serket, who was considered responsible, among other things, for protecting pregnant mothers,” Dr. Paz said.

“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 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,” Paz added.

“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.”

Tel Qana, which stands near the findspot of the scarab, is an archaeological site of great historical importance.

“This find is both exciting and significant,” said Dr. Amit Dagan of Bar-Ilan University and Dr. Ayelet Dayan from the Israel Antiquities Authority, who are conducting excavations at the site.

“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.”