The rare Bronze-Age jar that made international headlines when it got accidentally smashed by a boy at Israel’s Hecht Museum a few weeks ago, has been carefully pieced back together by experts and returned on display.
Technology played a major role in the safe and accurate restoration of the 3,500-year-old artifact, which has now become “the most famous jar in the world,” as the museum joked on its Facebook page.
“The local celebrity has undergone a medical process in recent days by Roy Shapir, our conservation expert, and is now again brilliantly placed in front of the museum. We invite the general public to come and witness the pitcher that taught us all a lesson or two in inclusion, compassion, sympathy, and also education,” the museum’s post concluded.
Bronze-Age artifact survives 3,500 years intact, gets broken by child
The bulbous ancient jug, dated to the Bronze Age between 2200 and 1500 BC, stood at the entrance of Hecht Museum for 35 years when a 4-year-old visitor by the name of Ariel accidentally dropped it to the ground on August 23, causing the artifact to break into a thousand pieces.
The boy was visiting the museum with his parents. According to his father, the child pulled the large clay jar slightly towards him to see if there was anything inside.
Then suddenly, the heavy container overturned and broke. The parents immediately reported the incident to a museum guard and experts rushed over.
The father remembers thinking: “Surely this couldn’t happen to my child?”
In the end, the museum guards assured the distressed parents and child that the ancient broken jar would receive restoration, and even invited them for a special tour.
An accident turned into a teaching moment
The Hecht Museum at the University of Haifa in northern Israel, known for its archaeological exhibits, boasts a vast collection of ancient treasures.
When Reuben and Edith Hecht founded the museum in 1984, their express desire was to make art accessible – and it appears that this was precisely what fueled the curiosity of the young boy.
The ancient jar was one of several objects displayed at the entrance, free from glass displays, as was the founder’s request – and the museum does not plan to change this concept.
On the contrary, the museum’s director Inbar Rivlin decided to turn the moment that captured international attention, into a teaching moment, thus inviting the Geller family back for a special visit and hands-on activity to illustrate the restoration process.
Rivlin added that the incident provided a welcome distraction from the ongoing war in Gaza. “Well, he’s just a kid. So I think that somehow it touches the heart of the people in Israel and around the world,” the museum director said.
Broken ancient jar restored with the aid of technology
Roee Shafir, a museum restoration expert, said the repairs were fairly simple since the pieces came from a single, complete jug. Archaeologists usually face a harder task of sifting through shards from multiple objects, and often try to piece these fragments together.
Experts used 3D technology and high-resolution videos to guide the reconstruction. They painstakingly glued the large jar together with special adhesive.
Less than two weeks after breaking, the jar returned on display. The glueing process left small hairline cracks and a few pieces were missing, but the jar’s impressive volume was unaffected.
Just to be on the safe side of things, the exhibit now has a new sign reading “please don’t touch”.
