Our scarab is just such a variation. Created in green jasper, the artist has simplified the beetle’s upper body so that there is no division between its thorax and elytra, or wing case, although he has attempted to suggest their division by means of an incised dash along each vertical side of the beetle’s body. The beetle’s head is suggested by the arrangement of the two oblique incisions which likewise separate it from the plate while the clypeus is indicated by series of incised dashes.

Its bottom surface depicts a symmetrical composition flanked at the top and bottom by a bird with wings outstretched in a typical Egyptian gesture of protection. The schematic design of this bird precludes its precise ornithological identification, but it is assuredly intended to be identified as a sky deity, either the goddess Mut depicted as a vulture or the god Horus depicted as a falcon. Two royal ovals, containing three identical hieroglyphs, fill the middle field and these are separated by an ankh-sign.

Our scarab can be assigned to the “Green Jasper Group,” a specific classification of uniquely Canaanite scarabs created during the Middle Bronze Age. These high-quality examples seek to replicate contemporary ancient Egyptian types, but were created without a first-hand knowledge of the ancient Egyptian language with the result that the hieroglyphs cannot be translated. They serve, therefore, as decorative elements, but may have also been possessed of talismanic properties.