Erez Abrahamov with the Amulet (Photo Erez Abrahamov)
There has been yet another accidental discovery of an ancient archeological artifact by an everyday person in Israel. A hiker discovered an ancient and rare Assyrian amulet in Israel’s Nahal Tabor Nature Reserve in the Lower Galilee.
The Israel Antiquities Authority said that the amulet may testify to the presence of an Assyrian (or perhaps Babylonian) official in the place almost 2,800 years ago. The rare find was transferred to the state and the traveler received a certificate of appreciation from the Antiquities Authority
It was uncovered by Erez Abrahamov, a 45-year-old resident of Paduel, who was serving in the military reserves at the time, when he recently took a walk in the Nahal Tabor Nature Reserve.
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“I received a two-day leave from the reserves and decided to take advantage of the two sunny days for a trip.” Abrahamov says, “During the trip, I saw something shimmering in the ground. At first I thought it was a bead or an orange stone. After I picked it up, I noticed that it had engravings that resembled a beetle. I called and reported the amazing find to the Antiquities Authority.”
The scarab is a type of seal that was widely used throughout the ancient world from the 4th millennium BC onwards. The scarab seals were shaped like a dung beetle, hence their name. The name in Egyptian is derived from the verb “to be created”, or “to be created”, and this is because the Egyptians considered a scarab to be A symbol of the incarnation of God the Creator.
The scarabs were fashioned from a wide variety of stones, including semi-precious stones such as amethyst and carnelian, but most scarabs were made from steatite – a soft talc stone, usually covered with a blue-green glaze.
The glaze survived only in the dry climate of Egypt, therefore in the scarabs discovered in the country, it is almost impossible to find remains of glaze and the color of the original stone color is mostly gray-whitish. Against this background, the orange color of the scarab stands out.
Erez Abrahamov with the Amulet (Photo Erez Abrahamov)
According to Dr. Itzik Paz, an archaeologist from the Israel Antiquities Authority, “One of the most important remains at Tel Rech, dates from the Iron Age (6th-7th centuries BC). During this period, a large citadel stood at the top of the mound, where plastered bathing facilities, halls were found and ritual chambers, which belonged to the Assyrian rule. This rule, as we know, was responsible for the destruction of the Kingdom of Israel.”
