3-year-old picks up 'beautiful stone,' discovers 3,800-year-old scarab amulet in Israel

A 3-year-old girl who was walking with her family along a trail in Israel unexpectedly found a piece of history: a 3,800-year-old scarab amulet.

Ziv Nitzan discovered the scarab in March when her family was visiting Tel Azekah, a historical site that was inhabited as early as the Bronze Age. While strolling along a dirt path scattered with gravel, Ziv noticed an interesting rock.

"Out of the 7,000 stones around her, she picked up one stone," Omer Nitzan, Ziv's older sister, said in a translated video released by the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA). "Then she brushed off the sand and saw that something was different about it."
Archaeologists later determined that it was a Canaanite scarab from the Middle Bronze Age. According to ancient texts, Canaan included parts of modern-day Israel, the Palestinian territories, Lebanon, Syria and Jordan.

"Scarabs were used in this period as seals and as amulets," Daphna Ben-Tor, an expert in ancient amulets and seals at The Israel Museum, said in a statement. "They were found in graves, in public buildings and in private homes. Sometimes they bear symbols and messages, that reflect religious beliefs or status."