A toddler picked up a rock on a family trip. It was a 3,800-year-old artifact.

Ziv Nitzan was doing what all curious toddlers do on a nature walk: picking up rocks.

So her parents thought nothing of it when the 3-year-old gazed out onto an expanse along a footpath in central Israel one Saturday morning and plucked a small, rounded stone off the ground.

“She picks everything up off the ground,” her father, Shahar, said in a phone interview.

“She always finds small things and brings (them) with her,” her mother, Sivan, added with a laugh.

It wasn’t until Ziv dusted the sand off the stone – small enough to fit in the palm of her tiny hand – and asked her mother about its strange markings that her parents realized she might have picked up something much more interesting than a rock.

Ziv had accidentally unearthed a 3,800-year-old amulet, from the Middle Bronze Age, a period spanning from about 2100 to 1600 BCE, the Israel Antiquities Authority said Tuesday.

The tiny ornate object, which originated in ancient Egypt, was designed in the shape of a dung beetle, or scarab – a creature that was considered sacred by ancient Egyptians and symbolized new life.

“Scarabs were used in this period as seals and as amulets,” said Daphna Ben-Tor, the curator for Egyptian archaeology at the Israel Museum in Jerusalem who determined the artifact was genuine. “They were found in graves, in public buildings and in private homes. Sometimes they bear symbols and messages that reflect religious beliefs or status.”

The toddler made the discovery during a Feb. 8 family outing at the foot of Tel Azekah, an ancient hill about 30 miles south of Tel Aviv, Sivan said.

Tel Azekah is a significant archaeological site at a once fortified Judean city that was abandoned, destroyed and rebuilt over the course of thousands of years. It is believed to have been where David and Goliath had their biblical battle, according to the Antiquities Authority; the Philistines and Goliath set up camp at “Ephes Dammim, between Sokoh and Azekah,” and the Israelites camped in the Valley of Elah, according to the Bible.

“We have been excavating here for almost 15 years, and the excavation findings show that during the Middle Bronze and Late Bronze Ages, here in Tel Azekah thrived one of the most important cities in the Judean Lowlands,” Oded Lipschits, director of Tel Aviv University’s Tel Azekah dig, said in a statement.

“The scarab found by Ziv joins a long list of Egyptian and Canaanite finds discovered here, which attest to the close ties and cultural influences between Canaan and Egypt during that period.”

Ziv’s parents said they were shocked when they realized what their child had found. They recognized the markings as those of a scarab, but ran the amulet through Google Lens to be sure before contacting the Antiquities Authority the next day.

“There are thousands of stones over there and it was upside down, but somehow out of all those stones, she picked this one,” Sivan said.

Ziv is not the first kid to uncover a piece of ancient history in Israel. Yoli Schwartz, a spokeswoman for the Antiquities Authority, said children stumble upon artifacts a few times a year. “Sometimes after the rain, the earth is rich with archaeological finds and things come up,” she said in a phone call.

“We are full in history,” Schwartz explained. “We have more than 35,000 archaeological sites in Israel, and those are just the ones that we know of.”

“So it’s not that surprising” when kids make archaeological discoveries, she said, “but it’s amazing every time.”

Ziv is not quite old enough to appreciate the significance of what she found, but her two older sisters, ages 8 and 11, have been very excited, their mother said, with archaeologists from the Antiquities Authority planning to stop by their school to give a talk.

The authority, which awarded the toddler with a certificate of appreciation for good citizenship, will display the amulet at a special exhibit for Passover in mid-April.

“Thanks to her, everyone will be able to see it and enjoy it,” Eli Escusido, the authority’s director, said in the statement.