Nice discovery: a 3,000-year-old amulet found during a school trip
When he examined the scarab-shaped stone, he and his group of students realized they had discovered something of historical significance. “It was a beetle with a clearly incised scene, every amateur archaeologist’s dream,” Gilad Stern said.
This type of beetle-shaped amulet originated in ancient Egypt. The scarab-shaped stone was originally used as a seal before becoming a symbol of protection and a lucky charm.
The object would date, according to the office produces antiquities, from the end of the Bronze Age, that is to say from 1,500 to 1,000 BC and is covered with a blue-green ice. This made it a symbol of power and belonging to a certain status and it could have been worn on a necklace or a ring.
The scene engraved on the scarab probably represents the granting of legitimacy to a local ruler. We see a character standing with his arm raised above a second seated character.
“This scene describes the geopolitical reality that prevailed during the last period of the Bronze Age when the local city councilors lived under the political and cultural hegemony of Egypt”, details Amir Golani, expert of this period at the office. issued antiques. He estimates that the object was left or even intentionally buried there three millennia ago.