TEL AVIV (AP) — A rare Bronze-Era jar accidentally smashed by a 4-year-old visiting a museum was back on display Wednesday after restoration experts were able to carefully piece the artifact back together.
Last month, a family from northern Israel was visiting the museum when their youngest son tipped over the jar, which smashed into pieces.
Alex Geller, the boy’s father, said his son — the youngest of three — is exceptionally curious, and that the moment he heard the crash, “please let that not be my child” was the first thought that raced through his head.
The jar has been on display at the Hecht Museum in Haifa for 35 years. It was one of the only containers of its size and from that period still complete when it was discovered.
The Bronze Age jar is one of many artifacts exhibited out in the open, part of the Hecht Museum’s vision of letting visitors explore history without glass barriers, said Inbal Rivlin, the director of the museum, which is associated with Haifa University in northern Israel.
It was likely used to hold wine or oil, and dates back to between 2200 and 1500 B.C.
Rivlin and the museum decided to turn the moment, which captured international attention, into a teaching moment, 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,“ said Rivlin.
Roee Shafir, a restoration expert at the museum, said the repairs would be fairly simple, as the pieces were from a single, complete jar. Archaeologists often face the more daunting task of sifting through piles of shards from multiple objects and trying to piece them together.
Experts used 3D technology, hi-resolution videos, and special glue to painstakingly reconstruct the large jar.
Less than two weeks after it broke, the jar went back on display at the museum. The gluing process left small hairline cracks, and a few pieces are missing, but the jar’s impressive size remains.
The only noticeable difference in the exhibit was a new sign reading “please don’t touch.”
A rare bronze-era jar, newly reassembled, returned to public exhibition after a four-year-old accidentally broke the jar in August during a visit in Hecht Museum of the University of Haifa, Israel, on Wednesday, Sept. 11, 2024. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)
A rare bronze-era jar, newly reassembled, returned to public exhibition after a four-year-old accidentally broke the jar in August during a visit in Hecht Museum of the University of Haifa, Israel, on Wednesday, Sept. 11, 2024. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)
A rare bronze-era jar, newly reassembled, returned to public exhibition after a four-year-old accidentally broke the jar in August during a visit in Hecht Museum of the University of Haifa, Israel, on Wednesday, Sept. 11, 2024. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)
BAMAKO, Mali (AP) — Jihadis attacked a military training camp near the airport in Mali’s capital on Tuesday as explosions were heard in the area. Within hours, the government said it was temporarily closing the airport in Bamako.
A security official said there was unspecified loss of life and significant damage, without elaborating.
A sweep operation was underway after gunmen attempted to infiltrate the Faladie gendarme school, the military said in a statement. The army said the situation was under control and asked people to avoid the area.
The armed extremists who attacked the military training camp have since been neutralized, Oumar Diarra, the army chief of staff, said on national television.
Later, the military confirmed that the attack took place in “multiple locations,” without providing details.
JNIM, which is linked to al-Qaida, claimed responsibility for the attack. Through its media arm, the website Azallaqa, the group said that it had inficted “major human and material losses” and set aircraft on fire. Militant groups often exaggerate their claims.
Earlier in the day, an Associated Press reporter heard two explosions and saw smoke rise in the distance of the camp and airport, both located on the outskirts of the city.
A security official told the AP that the attackers entered the training camp, causing a “loss of life and material damage,” but didn't provide any numbers or specifics. He said they attacked both the training camp and the military base near the airport.
At least 15 suspects were arrested, said the official, who was inside the base at the time of the attack. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorized to talk to reporters.
Soon after the attack, Mali's authorities closed the airport. Mohamed Ould Mamouni, communications officer at the ministry of transport, said flights were suspended indefinitely because of the exchange of gunfire that took place near it.
The U.S. Embassy in Bamako told its staff to remain at home and stay off the roads.
Mali, along with its neighbors Burkina Faso and Niger, has for more than a decade battled an insurgency fought by armed groups, including some allied with al-Qaida and the Islamic State group. Following military coups in all three nations in recent years, the ruling juntas have expelled French forces and turned to Russian mercenary units for security assistance instead.
Since taking power, Col. Assimi Goita has struggled to stave off growing attacks by the jihadis. Attacks in central and northern Mali are increasing. In July, approximately 50 Russian mercenaries in a convoy were killed in an al-Qaida ambush.
The mercenaries had been fighting mostly Tuareg rebels alongside Mali’s army when their convoy was forced to retreat into jihadi territory and ambushed south of the commune of Tinzaouaten.
Attacks in the capital of Bamako are rare, however. In 2022, gunmen struck a Malian army checkpoint about 60 kilometers (40 miles) outside the city, killing at least six people and wounding several others. In 2015, another al-Qaida linked extremist group killed at least 20 people, including one American, during an attack on a hotel in Bamako.
Tuesday's attack is significant because it showed that JNIM has the ability to stage a large-scale attack, Wassim Nasr, a journalist and senior research fellow at the Soufan Center, told the AP.
“It also shows once again that they are concentrating their efforts on military targets, rather than random attacks on civilian targets,” he said.
Sam Mednick reported from Goma, Congo, and Banchereau from Dakar, Senegal.
This video grab shows Malian security personnel detaining a man after Mali's army said a military training camp in the capital Bamako has been attacked early Tuesday, Sept. 17 2024. (AP Photo)
FILE - Leader of Mali's ruling junta Lt. Col. Assimi Goita, center, attends an independence day military parade in Bamako, Mali on Sept. 22, 2022. (AP Photo, File)
