Eighth-grade students found a scarab seal thought to be from the Late Bronze Age (1550-1200 BCE) in the central Israeli town of Azor, around 5 miles west of Ben-Gurion Airport, the Israel Antiquity Authority (IAA) said on Wednesday. The students were on a tour-guiding course organized by the IAA, which allows young people to teach local residents about their archaeological heritage.
The scarab is a distinctive Egyptian motif, shaped like the dung beetle, a sacred symbol of power and status in ancient Egypt. The Egyptians viewed the dung beetle as the embodiment of creation and regeneration – the rolling of a dung ball representing the “rolling” of the sun across the sky.
IAA archaeologists believe the scarab found in Azor, made of faience, a silicate ceramic material coated with a bluish-green glaze, was crafted by a Canaanite artist inspired by Egyptian styles during a time when the Egyptian Empire ruled the local Canaanites. It probably decorated a necklace or ring.
Two figures appear on the seal, one sitting in a chair and the other standing with the arm raised above the seated person, the IAA said. The standing figure has an elongated head, which probably represents the crowned head of an Egyptian pharaoh, who seems to be conferring his authority on the seated figure, a local Canaanite subject.