A 3,000-year-old scarab seal was discovered in the area (photo: Israel Antiquities Authority)
An ancient scarab seal about 3,000 years old was unexpectedly discovered during an archaeological field trip by students from the Azor local council, with the Antiquities Authority.
The seal probably depicts a scene of the granting of legitimacy to a local ruler.
"We walked around the area, and then I saw something that looked like a toy thrown in the sand," says Gilad Stern from the Archaeological - Educational Center of the Antiquities Authority, who guided the tour.
"But an inner voice told me to pick it up and turn it over. I was amazed: it's a scarab with a really clear engraving. A dream of every archeology enthusiast. The excitement of the students was enormous."
The tour of the 8th grade students from the "Rabin" middle school took place as part of the "Guides" course that is delivered in the settlement under the guidance of the Antiquities Authority, for the third year.
This course trains the students to guide the residents of the city about the local heritage.
the scarab
From right to left - a seated figure and beside her a standing figure raising her hand (perhaps a status of conferring authority) (Photo: Israel Antiquities Authority, Gilad Stern)
The back side of the scarab, which roughly describes a dung beetle (photo: Israel Antiquities Authority, Gilad Stern)
Gilad Stern, the training coordinator of the Antiquities Authority, with 8th grade students at the Rabin Division in the area (Photo: Antiquities Authority, Gilad Stern)
The scarab - the embodiment of creation and regeneration
The scarab stamps were designed in the shape of the dung beetle.
The ancient Egyptians saw the act of the little beetle, which rolls a ball of dung twice its size and carries its offspring, as the embodiment of creation and regeneration - similar to the act of the Creator God.
According to Dr. Amir Golani, an expert on the Bronze Age at the Antiquities Authority, "The scarab was used as a seal for a signature, and was a symbol of power and status.
It may have been placed in a necklace or ring.
It is made of faience, a silicate material coated with a bluish-green glaze.
It may have been dropped from the hands of an important and authoritative figure who passed through the area, or it may have been deliberately buried in the ground along with other objects, and after thousands of years it came to the surface today.
It's hard to know the exact connection."
In the lower, flat part of the seal, a figure is depicted sitting on a chair, and in front of it is a standing figure, whose arm is raised above the sitter's head.
The standing figure has an elongated head, which expresses the crown of an Egyptian pharaoh, and it is possible that, in fact, a scene of conferring authority on behalf of the Egyptian Pharaoh, to a local Canaanite subject is depicted here.
"This is a situation that reflects the geopolitical reality that prevailed in the land of Canaan during the Late Bronze Age, when the local Canaanite rulers lived (and sometimes rebelled) under Egyptian political and cultural rule," says Dr. Golani. "Therefore, it is very possible that the seal is indeed from the Bronze Age The later, in which the local Canaanites were ruled by the Egyptian Empire."
The seal is cleaned by Harpa Yosef Bokengoltz in the Antiquities Authority laboratories (Photo: The Antiquities Authority, Assaf Peretz)
The scarab in its cleaning process (Photo: Israel Antiquities Authority, Assaf Peretz)
Hundreds of scarabs were discovered in the Land of Israel
The scarabs are indeed a distinct Egyptian characteristic, but their wide distribution also reached outside the borders of Egypt.
Hundreds of scarabs were discovered in the Land of Israel, mainly in graves, but also in settlement layers.
Some of them were imported from Egypt, and many of them were made in Israel under Egyptian influence, by local artists.
The level of workmanship of the particular scarab found now is not typical for Egypt and therefore it seems that it is a local craftsman.
The close cooperation between the Antiquities Authority and the Azor local council in the education system and in the city as a whole, recently resulted in the establishment of an impressive local museum, which presents the archeology of Azor.
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