A 12-year-old girl accidentally discovered an ancient 3,500-year-old Egyptian scarab on a hike in Israel recently.

Dafna Filshteiner was hiking below the ancient site of Tel Qana in Hod Hasharon – between Tel Aviv and Kfar Saba — when she noticed an unusual beetle-like stone on the ground.

“I was looking down at the ground to find porcupine needles and smooth pebbles,” she says. “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 find, which has two scorpions engraved upon it standing head to tail, was examined by Yitzhak Paz, a Bronze Age expert at the Israel Antiquities Authority, who said it dates back to the New Kingdom period in Egypt, about 3,500 years ago. 

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

This is not the first time a scarab amulet has been discovered by accident in Israel. Indeed, many of Israel’s biggest archeological finds have happened by accident.

Last February, a hiker discovered a 2,800-year-old amulet in the Lower Galilee. And in 2022, a group of eighth-graders on a tour discovered another scarab from the late Bronze age.

The scarab, which is designed in the shape of a dung beetle, had immense significance to ancient Egyptians, who believed it symbolized the embodiment of the divine creator.

It was considered a symbol of new life, because it would create a dung ball, lay its eggs in it, and from there new life then hatched.

Paz said the scarabs were widely distributed far beyond Egypt’s borders. The newly found specimen “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.”

Nearby Tel Qana is an archeological site of great historical importance.

“This find is both exciting and significant,” said Amit Dagan, from Bar-Ilan University’s Martin (Szusz) Department of Land of Israel Studies and Archaeology, and Ayelet Dayan from the Israel Antiquities Authority.

“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.” 

Dafna Filshteiner received a certificate of appreciation from the Israel Antiquities Authority. The scarab is now on display in Jerusalem at the Jay and Jeanie Schottenstein National Campus for the Archaeology of Israel.