In early March, during a family trip to Tel Azekah near Beit Shemesh, three-and-a-half-year-old Ziv Nitzan from Moshav Ramot Meir stumbled upon an extraordinary piece of history—an ancient scarab amulet dating back approximately 3,800 years. 

The young girl’s discovery was purely accidental, according to her sister, Omer Nitzan. “We were walking along the path when Ziv bent down and picked up a particular stone,” she said, according to a press release published by the Israel Antiquities Authority. “After rubbing off the sand, we saw something was different about it. We quickly called our parents and realized we had found an archaeological artifact. We immediately reported it” to the IAA, she continued.

Judah Region District Archaeologist Semyon Gendler commended the family for their prompt reporting and awarded Ziv a certificate of appreciation for her good citizenship. The amulet will now be displayed in a special Passover exhibition at the Jay and Jeanie Schottenstein National Campus for the Archaeology of Israel, alongside other rare artifacts from the periods of Egypt and Canaan, many of which are being displayed publicly for the first time.