Ancient jar smashed by “curious” 4-year-old is back on display at museum after repairs

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, told CBS News partner BBC News that his son — the youngest of three — was “curious about what was inside” the container. The moment he heard the crash, the thought “please let that not be my child” raced through his head, he said. 

The jar, which dates back to between 2200 and 1500 B.C. and was likely used to hold wine or oil, 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.

Rivlin and the museum decided to turn the incident, 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.

Geller told the BBC that he was “in shock” when he saw the damage, but Roee Shafir, a restoration expert at the museum, said the repairs would be fairly simple, since 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 relic remains accessible to the public, with no glass protecting it. 

The only noticeable difference in the exhibit was a new sign reading “please don’t touch.”