{"id":273228,"date":"2025-04-03T15:43:08","date_gmt":"2025-04-03T15:43:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2025\/04\/03\/it-had-teeth-a-3-year-old-discovers-ancient-treasure-in-israel\/"},"modified":"2025-04-03T15:43:08","modified_gmt":"2025-04-03T15:43:08","slug":"it-had-teeth-a-3-year-old-discovers-ancient-treasure-in-israel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2025\/04\/03\/it-had-teeth-a-3-year-old-discovers-ancient-treasure-in-israel\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018It Had Teeth\u2019: A 3-Year-Old Discovers Ancient Treasure in Israel"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"text-align:center\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i3.wp.com\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2025\/04\/03\/multimedia\/03xp-israel-discovery-dfyu\/03xp-israel-discovery-dfyu-facebookJumbo.jpg?ssl=1\" class=\"attachment-post-thumbnail size-post-thumbnail wp-post-image\" alt=\"\u2018It Had Teeth\u2019: A 3-Year-Old Discovers Ancient Treasure in Israel\" title=\"\u2018It Had Teeth\u2019: A 3-Year-Old Discovers Ancient Treasure in Israel\" \/><\/div><p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-0\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">A 3\u00bd-year-old in Israel recently made an important archaeological discovery.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The child, Ziv Nitzan, was hiking with her family last month on a dirt trail about 25 miles outside Jerusalem when a small rock caught her attention. She was drawn to it, she said in an interview translated from Hebrew by her mother, because \u201cit had teeth on it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Naturally, Ziv picked it up. When she rubbed off the dirt, \u201cshe noticed that it was something very special,\u201d her mother, Sivan Nitzan, said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The alluring pebble turned out to be a 3,800-year-old Egyptian amulet, engraved with the design of an insect known as a scarab and dating from the Bronze Age, <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.iaa.org.il\/en\/page_news\/page\/%D7%99%D7%9C%D7%93%D7%94-%D7%92%D7%99%D7%9C%D7%AA%D7%94-%D7%97%D7%95%D7%AA%D7%9D-%D7%9B%D7%A0%D7%A2%D7%A0%D7%99-%D7%A2%D7%AA%D7%99%D7%A7-%D7%91%D7%9F-%D7%9B-3800-%D7%A9%D7%A0%D7%94-%D7%91%D7%9E%D7%94%D7%9C%D7%9A-%D7%98%D7%99%D7%95%D7%9C-%D7%91%D7%90%D7%96%D7%95%D7%A8-%D7%91%D7%99%D7%AA-%D7%A9%D7%9E%D7%A9\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">according to the Israel Antiquities Authority<\/a>, which later collected it.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-1\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">It wasn\u2019t the first time that a young hiker had stumbled upon an archaeological treasure in Israel, given its rich history.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-2\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Last year, while on a hike on Mount Carmel in Haifa, a 13-year-old boy <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.smithsonianmag.com\/smart-news\/A-13-year-old-kid-just-discovered-an-1800-year-old-ring-on-a-hike-180984754\/\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">found a Roman-era ring<\/a> with an engraving of the goddess Minerva. In 2016, a 7-year-old boy on a trip with friends in the Beit She\u2019an Valley discovered a well-preserved, <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.israel21c.org\/7-year-old-boy-finds-3400-year-old-canaanite-figurine\/\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">3,400-year-old carving of a nude woman<\/a>. And many sharp-eyed children have unearthed coins made during periods of <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.jta.org\/2021\/11\/23\/israel\/an-11-year-old-girl-found-a-rare-2000-year-old-silver-coin-from-time-of-the-great-revolt-in-jerusalem\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">Roman<\/a> or <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.jpost.com\/archaeology\/article-788008\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">Hasmonean<\/a> rule.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">But Ziv is the youngest child known to have discovered an ancient artifact in Israel, said Yoli Schwartz, a spokeswoman for the antiquities authority, who called the find \u201cvery exciting.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Ziv found the relic near <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/azekah.org\/\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">Tel Azekah<\/a>, an archaeological site and an area described in the Bible as the site of the battle between David and Goliath.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The amulet most likely belonged to the Canaanites, a group of Semitic people who lived in the area around 1800 B.C., said Oded Lipschits, a professor of Jewish history at Tel Aviv University who is leading an excavation at Tel Azekah. The Canaanites, like others in the region at the time, were interested in all things Egyptian, he said, and they often imported or imitated their food, style and luxury items \u2014 including seals like the one that Ziv found, which were worn like jewelry as personal talismans.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-3\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Scarabs, or dung beetles, were particularly popular in talismans at the time because they were a symbol of rebirth, the antiquities authority said in a statement. (The insects lay their eggs in balls of dung, from which a new generation emerges.) Ziv\u2019s scarab relic was most likely created in Egypt and then found its way to modern-day Israel around 3,800 years ago, Mr. Lipschits said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-4\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">But how did it end up on a hiking trail where a child could find it?<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mr. Lipschits offered an explanation.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">In 1898, two British archaeologists began excavating Tel Azekah \u2014 one of the first biblical sites to be exhumed in Israel \u2014 where they found an acropolis, walls of a citadel and artifacts from pre-Israelite cultures. When they were done, the man who owned the land asked them to fill the hole they had excavated so he could farm the area, Mr. Lipschits said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cSo the modern layers are now inside, and the old layers that used to be very deep in the ground are now on the surface,\u201d he explained. \u201cAnd this is why people can find all kinds of ancient items like these scarabs on the surface.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-5\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Children also make excellent amateur archaeologists, Mr. Lipschits added, because they\u2019re curious, low to the ground and unafraid to get their hands dirty.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-6\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">In itself, the amulet that Ziv picked up \u201cwas not so exceptional,\u201d Mr. Lipschits said \u2014 his team has uncovered dozens of similar scarabs in the area, some of higher quality. What is more important, he said, is that the family handed it over to the Israel Antiquities Authority so that it could be preserved and everyone could enjoy it.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cIf she put it in her pocket and kept it, we wouldn\u2019t know about it,\u201d Ms. Schwartz said. \u201cWe\u2019re very happy to show it to the public.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The authority gave Ziv a certificate of appreciation for \u201cgood citizenship.\u201d The amulet she found will be included in an upcoming exhibition of Canaanite and Egyptian artifacts at the Jay and Jeanie Schottenstein National Campus for the Archaeology of Israel in Jerusalem.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/04\/03\/world\/middleeast\/child-ancient-discovery-israel.html\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A 3\u00bd-year-old in Israel recently made an important archaeological discovery. The child, Ziv Nitzan, was hiking with her family last month on a dirt trail about 25 miles outside Jerusalem when a small rock caught her attention. She was drawn to it, she said in an interview translated from Hebrew by her mother, because \u201cit [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":273229,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2025\/04\/03\/multimedia\/03xp-israel-discovery-dfyu\/03xp-israel-discovery-dfyu-facebookJumbo.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[75437,8221,171692,65648,3747,38,209982,16619,33274,7058],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/273228"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=273228"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/273228\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":273230,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/273228\/revisions\/273230"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/273229"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=273228"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=273228"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=273228"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}