A rare Bronze Age artifact dating from 2200 to 1500 BCE was smashed to pieces by a four-year-old boy visiting the Hecht Museum at the University of Haifa in Israel. The 3,500-year-old jar was designed to store olive oil, wine, and other items.
According to BBC News, the jar was on display near the museum's entrance without any protective glass because the museum believes displaying archaeological finds “without obstructions” adds “extra charm.” The boy's father, Alex, told BBC News that his son was “curious to see what was in it” and “pulled on the jar a bit.”
Alex initially believed that his son had not broken the bottle.
Following the incident, the Hecht Museum organised a tour for the boy and his family. “There are cases where exhibits are deliberately vandalised and such cases are handled seriously, including involving the police. This was not the case here. The bottle was accidentally destroyed by a young child visiting the museum,” museum director Lihi Laszlo told BBC News.
About the rare bottle
According to the museum, the jar was likely made to carry local products such as wine and olive oil and dates back to a time before the reigns of biblical Kings David and Solomon, which is characteristic of pottery from the Canaanite region on the eastern Mediterranean coast. Pottery found in archaeological excavations is often found broken or incomplete, so the jar's intact condition makes it a “striking find.”
