(Haifa) A 4-year-old boy who accidentally broke a rare 3,500-year-old jar at an Israeli museum has been forgiven and even invited back, as the institution’s curators hope to turn the disaster into a lesson.
Alex Geller, the boy’s father, said his son – the youngest of three children – is exceptionally curious, and as soon as he heard the sound of the crash last Friday he hoped it wasn’t his son.
“He’s not a kid who usually breaks things, he just wanted to see what was inside,” Geller told The Associated Press.
PHOTO COURTESY OF THE HECHT MUSEUM/THE NEW YORK TIMES
The pots photographed before one of them was destroyed by the child.
The Bronze Age pot is one of several objects on unprotected display at the Hecht Museum, which is associated with the University of Haifa in northern Israel, said Inbar Rivlin, the museum’s director.
She explained that the pot was on display at the museum’s entrance and the family quickly left without finishing their visit. She wants to use the restoration of the object as an educational opportunity and make sure the Gellers feel welcome when they return.
Mr. Geller and his family live in the northern Israeli city of Nahariya, a few miles south of the border with Lebanon, in an area that has come under rocket fire from Hezbollah for more than 10 months in a conflict linked to the Gaza war.
They spent summer vacations visiting museums and taking day trips to Israel to escape the tensions, Mr. Geller said.
There were a lot of children at the museum that day. Mr. Geller said he prayed fervently that the damage had been done by someone else. When he turned around and saw it was his son, he was “completely shocked.”
“My wife reacted faster than me, she grabbed our son and took him outside, calmed him down and explained to him that what had happened was not normal,” Geller said.
He approached the security guards to let them know what had happened, hoping that it was a model and not a real artifact.
“We said if we had to pay, we would, no matter what. But they called and said the pot was insured and after checking the cameras and seeing it wasn’t vandalism, they invited us back for a make-up visit.”
Mr. Geller said his son did not fully understand the international interest in the broken pot, but his tight-knit community in Nahariya followed media reports with interest and was proud of its local celebrity.
Learning lessons
The Hecht Museum hopes to harness this interest to encourage more people to visit the museum and learn more about artifact restoration.
Using 3D technology and high-resolution videos of the pot, experts plan to complete the restoration in a matter of days. It could be put back on display as early as next week.
“That’s what’s really interesting for my older kids, this restoration process and all the technology they use there,” Geller said.
The vase, which had been on display at the museum for 35 years, was one of the only containers of its size and period to remain complete when it was discovered. It was likely used to hold wine or oil, and dates to between 2200 and 1500 B.C.
Roee Shafir, a conservation expert at the museum, said the repairs would be fairly straightforward because the pieces came from a single, complete jar. Archaeologists often face the more difficult task of sifting through piles of shards from multiple objects and trying to piece them together.
He said the restoration will take several days, as a special glue is used to connect a few pieces at a time. The process will be documented for educational purposes.
Mr Shafir, who will painstakingly reassemble the jar – although he says he hates puzzles – nevertheless wants the objects to remain accessible to the public, even if accidents happen. He said it is important for visitors to touch the objects because that connection can inspire a deeper interest in history and archaeology.
“I like people to touch. You don’t want to break things, but touching things is important,” he said.