A four-year-old boy smashed a ‘rare’ ancient urn – dating to the late Bronze Age – into pieces at a museum in Israel.
The vessel found intact during excavations in the occupied West Bank, had been on display in the Hecht Museum at the University of Haifa for 35 years.
The 3,500-year-old artefact was on display without any protective glass around it when the damage happened on Friday.
The boy and his mother are said to have been ‘scared’ after the urn was broken near the entrance to the museum and quickly left.
But the reaction from the museum’s director, Dr Inbal Rivlin, might surprise them.
He urged for the pair to return and invited them for a guided tour of the museum.
‘The mother and child were so frightened at that moment. She grabbed the child and they quickly left the museum,’ Dr Rivlin told local media.
‘I want to reach out to them and say don’t worry, we don’t hold anything against you.
‘Such incidents are rare, but they happen. We will repair the jug and return it to its place via a process called restoration.
‘It is a fascinating process, which we’ll record on video with our conservator, Roee Shafir. We invite the mother and child to come again for a guided.’
Dr Rivlin explained that the jar was not behind a display case because of the vision of the museum’s founder, Dr Reuven Hecht.
His intention was to make archaeological items as accessible as possible to the visitors.
He also issued a note of caution to parents suggesting they may need to give their children guidance before their visit, so exhibits are not touched unless it is explicitly stated that is allowed.
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Hecht Museum described the jar as rare and an ‘impressive find’ as most others of that period were found broken or incomplete.
It is understood to predate the days of David and King Solomon, and is typical of the Canaan region.
According to experts at the museum, it was intended for storing and transporting local consumption, mainly wine and olive oil.
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