What is an Egyptian Scarab Beetle?

There are a lot of scarabs in the world, but most people think of Egyptian scarab when they hear the word. They’re also called dung beetles because they’re often found rolling animal droppings into balls and pushing them across the ground.

Egyptian scarabs are beetles with a hard outer shell and a soft inner body. Beetles that roll balls of animal waste for some reason or another are known as “scarab beetles.” There’s also a kind of ancient Egyptian beetle where this popular jewelry is named after–the famous Scarab Beetle Jewelry! These beads were produced in ancient Egypt and were thought to protect the wearer from harm.

What Is a Scarab Beetle?

The scarab beetle’s stern exterior hides a hard-working and hard-to-find interior. This rigid exterior is the protective carapace, which keeps the beetle’s internal organs from being destroyed by the sulfur-infused dust found in deserts. The secret body is covered with a soft exoskeleton like tough skin but softer, flexible, and designed to absorb water for transport and protection.

The beetle’s exoskeleton is hard as a rock, but the larva’s soft outer body is warm and protective, so the beetle can fly while it’s in the larva stage. However, once it enters the adult stage, the beetle must continually consume moisture from its exoskeleton to stay hydrated and on its way to the following feeding site.

Why Do Scarabs Roll Balls of Animal Waste?

There are several reasons for a scarab beetle to be rolling balls of droppings. One reason may be for protection against poisonous plants and insects. This is why scarabs will also roll balls of their dung in the hopes of protecting them as they move across the ground to their next meal. Other reasons for this behavior include the feeding habits of the scarabs and the insect species.

Scarab beetles are very destructive. They use their sharp mandibles to dig up small roots and rocks and chew through vegetation, so rolling these waste balls protects them.

While scarabs may roll these balls of waste on purpose, they do not eat the animals.

The Kind of Egyptian Scarab Jewelry We See Today

Not all scarab jewelry is made from fossils. Archaeologists often tell of a line of jewelry that was made from jeweler’s cubes. The chips were made into jewelry and were considered to have healing powers. According to folklore, if an Egyptian princess wore them around her neck, her brother could only marry other princesses. For that reason, “scarab jewelry” became associated with fertility and longevity.

Other jewelry from this style was made from amber and agate.

The Ancients’ Secrets

From as early as the sixth century B.C., the Egyptians believed that the scarab beetle was their guardian. The scarab beetle was also a key to ancient Egyptian medicine. They believed that scarab beetles carried with them certain healing powers.

The Ancient Egyptian Scarab Beetle Jewelry

The ancient Egyptians thought that scarabs were good luck! So when I first learned about scarabs, I was intrigued by their significance, so when I had the chance to be in Egypt, I did a bit of research.

There is quite a bit of debate about what kind of beetle an Egyptian scarab was. The scarabs we think of are beetles with enormous round wings. These are considered to be species that belong to the genus Anthribidae (previously called “army beetles” or “armored beetles”). Other “scarab beetles” in Egypt’s history were usually brown or black and, although still beetles, were almost always less than an inch long (picture an ant-sized bug).

They etched scarab beetle beads. The beetles you see were probably pinched during the production of the beads.

Egyptian Scarab Beetles Around the World

Egyptian scarabs range from very small to quite large, although they’re not as large as the beetles from China. They can be found in almost every continent on Earth except Antarctica.

Although they are most commonly found in North America and some southern states such as Texas, they are most common in the desert area of the south part of the United States.

Chinese scarabs, on the other hand, are a different story. They’re a little more significant and more common.

Another significant difference between scarabs from the two regions is that the Egyptians are black, whereas the Chinese are usually red. Another critical factor is the way they grow their elytra. They start minor and may not even have many elytra at all.

How Egyptian Scarab Help Us

An Egyptian Scarab Beetle is specially adapted for digging. It uses its long abdomen to slice through hard soil and dig up to 6 feet (2 meters) underground. Because scarabs have potent mandibles and could quickly eat them, many Egyptians thought the scarab beetle could control the weather and rain. However, Egyptologists still maintain that this belief is not substantiated by science but is the most ancient superstition.

Scarab beetles were found all over ancient Egypt, but the most famous examples were in tombs of Pharaohs. Unfortunately, these would often take multiple years to create since it took a long time to dig and polish those tiny fragments of beautiful carvings, stone tools, jewelry, etc.

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Why is Egyptian scarab important to Egyptians?

The scarab became a symbol of Egypt, which is interesting because most people don’t even know what one looks like. They’re not hard to find in Egypt, however, so you could perhaps make one yourself! They are usually about the size of a large grain of rice. The scarab itself is made of hard stone and carved into a cobra figure, or sometimes a winged scarab beetle. The scarab symbolizes resurrection, a phoenix, the animal symbol of the god Horus, and “life.”

How did the scarab become associated with Egypt?

In ancient Egypt, the scarab was considered to be the symbol of the sun god. Egyptians believed that the creature brought the sun from the underworld after it rose in the morning. Therefore it represented life and was thus associated with the rising of the sun.

The Meaning of an Egyptian Scarab Beetle in Ancient Egypt

Scarabs are often thought of as amulets and objects of divination or related to fertility. But they are also considered objects of fear because their protective shell makes them unattractive to many animals. If a human or animal attempts to bite them, their hardened exterior will “pierce” the creature’s flesh.

But the skin of the scarab is made of chitin, which is hard and an excellent insulator, so a scarab isn’t bothered at all by its carapace. It might be kept as a pet, but it has a hard time finding a suitable mate since it’s wild.

Ancient Egyptian Geography

The phrase “Egypt” means “Land of the Nile.” The country of Egypt is in the Nile basin, which is a mass of fertile soil stretching for 600 miles and is home to over 26,000 miles of rivers and canals.

The jewelry-making process of the ancient Egyptians

The scarab beetles were selected and captured by chariot drivers as they pushed piles of manure into balls. By looking at the pattern on the beetle’s shell, he could tell which kind of beetle it was. Then, the beetles were turned over, and the solid underside was removed. This exposed the soft side of the beetle’s body, which was the place where the jewelry was made.

To make the jewelry, the beetle was rubbed with mud and placed in boiling water for 20 minutes, and then it was cleaned and dried. Next, a paste was rubbed on the body and then pressed together by finger and thumb, and then was pressed through a small hole to the back where it was fastened with a thin metal ring.

The invention of these dung beetle jewelry beads is one of the discoveries made by the Ancient Egyptians.

conclusion

There are many interesting facts about these scarabs, but the one that most intrigues me is that Ancient Egyptians made them into a necklace to cover their mothers’ breasts after birth!

> You can find more myths and bizarre items found on Lost Art of the ancients

I hope you enjoyed this article. We have all sorts of articles on different subjects at enchanted jewels.

See also: how to find a pocket watch