WHEN YOU
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The Egyptian Scarab: A Representation of Renewal
When you look at this Egyptian scarab, you see revival.
Or at least that is what the ancient Egyptians saw. They carved these amulets to look like beetles because to them, beetles were the representation of new beginnings, the resurrection of the sun each morning, and renewal. This was because of the dung beetle (Scarabaeus sacer). While to the modern eye a beetle rolling balls of dung may not be symbolic of renewal, when Egyptians saw beetles rolling and burying balls of dung (unaware of the eggs buried within) and then new beetles hatching from the ground, they viewed this as an act of creation. They used the image of the dung beetle to represent Khepri, the god of the rising sun, creation, and renewal.
Painting of Khepri from the entrance to a tomb
A religious representation of the sun god of renewal, the Egyptian scarab also represents a physical renewal of the earth. While dung beetles may not actually self-generate and renew as the Egyptians thought, they do have potential to revive the earth. The tunnels they create through their burrowing can aerate soil, and by burying dung they return nutrients back to the ground. This capability has been recognized to have potential in agriculture and farming, and in Australia a project was conducted where beetle species that could break down cow patties were brought in to disintegrate and control the cattle dung. This led to better pasture health, as nutrients were returned to the soil and caused a significant reduction in flies, pests, and disease. Using dung beetles also had the benefit of reducing the methane (a greenhouse gas) emissions from the dung pats by safely burying them.
Scarabaeus Sacer specimen (courtesy of the Orma J. Smith Museum of Natural History)
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The Egyptian scarab displays how a species can change in terms of how it is important to culture. Originally valued as a symbolic representation, the Scarabaeus sacer now has a revival in what it represents: a solution to current problems. The recent decline in the population of this species caused by habitat loss and pesticides points to the need for a renewal in how we value them. Looking at the Egyptian scarab shows us one way to help revive the planet is to take steps to restore the population of the dung beetle.
Egyptian scarab (courtesy of the Orma J. Smith Museum of Natural History)