Eighth graders from Israel discovered a scarab amulet with an ancient Egyptian seal during a school trip seven kilometers from Tel Aviv. by publication Israeli timesAt first the head of the group, Gilad Stern, thought it was a toy.
“Something inside me said to me, ‘Take this and turn it over,’” Stern said. – I was surprised: the dream of every amateur archaeologist was a scarab with a clearly carved scene. The students fainted!”
The amulet was made in the form of a scarab, which in ancient times was considered sacred – it embodied both decay and rebirth due to the accumulation of eggs in the feces of other animals. The flat part of the talisman depicts two figures: one with a long head reminiscent of the crown of the Egyptian pharaoh, raising his hand and bowing over the other.
Archaeologist Amir Golani has dated the amulet to the Late Bronze Age (1500-1000 BC), “a time when local Canaanite rulers lived under Egyptian political and cultural hegemony.” According to Golani, the seal had either fallen from the hand of an important passerby or was deliberately buried. The amulet may also be “the product of local artisans,” imitating the popular Egyptian aesthetic.
Earlier archaeologists found mummies of ancient Egyptian women with tattoos of amulets from problems during childbirth.