Three-year-old girl finds Canaanite seal where Bible says David battled Goliath

Ziv Nitzan was hiking with her family near Tel Azeka when she picked up a small stone that her sisters later realized was shaped like a scarab, revealing 3,800-year-old finding

By Rossella Tercatin

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1 April 2025, 12:21 pm

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Rossella Tercatin is The Times of Israel's archaeology and religions reporter.

A three-year-old Israeli girl has found a scarab-shaped Canaanite amulet dating back some 3,800 years at the site of Tel Azeka near Bet Shemesh, the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) announced Tuesday.

Ziv Nitzan, from Moshav Ramot Meir, was hiking with her parents and two older sisters at the foot of the hill where the archaeological site stands when she picked up what appeared to be a small stone.

“We were walking along the path, and then Ziv bent down – and out of all the stones around her, she picked up this particular stone,” Omer Nitzan, Ziv’s sister, said in a statement sent out by the IAA. “When she rubbed it and removed the sand from it, we saw something was different about it. I called my parents to come see the beautiful stone, and we realized we had discovered an archaeological find! We immediately reported this to the Israel Antiquities Authority.”

Scarab amulets trace their origins to ancient Egypt, where beetles were revered as sacred symbols of renewal. Egyptians believed these insects embodied new life, as they laid their eggs inside the dung balls they rolled — seemingly bringing life from decay.

“Scarabs were used in this period as seals and as amulets,” Dr. Daphna Ben-Tor, an expert in the field, said in a statement. “They were found in graves, in public buildings, and in private homes. Sometimes they bear symbols and messages that reflect religious beliefs or status.”

Ben-Tor examined the artifact found at Tel Azeka and determined its cultural affiliation with the Canaanites, an ancient people recorded throughout the Bible and in historical documents up to 3,500 years old — as well as older archaeological findings — as a group of peoples living throughout the Levant who were ruled by their own city/state kings.

From right to left – Tel Aviv University Prof. Oded Lipschits, Noga, Ziv and Omer Nitzan, and Antiquities Authority archaeologist Semyon Gendler. (Emil Aladjem/Israel Antiquities Authority)

Tel Azeka is mentioned in the Bible as the location of the iconic battle between David and the Philistine giant Goliath (Samuel I 17:1).

The site has been excavated for 15 years by researchers from Tel Aviv University (TAU).

“The excavation findings show that during the Middle Bronze and Late Bronze Ages [2000-1000 BCE], here in Tel Azeka, thrived one of the most important cities in the Judean Lowlands,” said TAU’s Prof. Oded Lipschits, excavation director at Tel Azeka. “The scarab found by Ziv joins a long list of Egyptian and Canaanite finds discovered here, which attest to the close ties and cultural influences between Canaan and Egypt during that period.”

The scarab will be featured in a special IAA Passover exhibit at the Jay and Jeanie Schottenstein National Campus for the Archaeology of Israel in Jerusalem, alongside other ancient Egyptian and Canaanite finds.

“In our public tours, we will present impressive items for the first time, including seals of the pharaohs, Egyptian statues, ritual vessels, and evidence of the Egyptian cultural influence in the Land of Israel,” IAA Director Eli Escusido said in a statement.