Strata: Child’s Eagle Eyes Spy Egyptian Amulet

Four years ago, eight-year-old Neshama Spielman participated with her family in the Temple Mount Sifting Project in Jerusalem’s Emek Tzurim National Park. The Sifting Project, which sifts and analyzes the dirt illicitly removed from the Temple Mount by the Waqf in 1999, welcomes volunteers of all ages and from all around the world.¹

Neshama found a rare amulet bearing the name of Egyptian Pharaoh Thutmose III!

The partially preserved amulet (its bottom is missing) is shaped like a pendant and measures less than an inch wide and a quarter of an inch thick. Made of clay, the pendant has a hole at the top where a string could be inserted to make a necklace. The front side of the pendant displays the cartouche of Thutmose III. A cartouche is an oval frame that encircles the name of the pharaoh written in hieroglyphs. The symbol of an eye is depicted above the cartouche, and to the right of the cartouche is the symbol of a cobra.