Two finger Amulet

This two finger amulet depicts stylized human fingers that are about life-size. Two-finger amulets were used exclusively for the dead and were often found on the lower left of the torso. This is the area of the incision that was made during the mummification process in order to remove the internal organs.

These amulets were meant magically to heal the wound. The first examples of this amulet type date to 26th Dynasty. Their preferred material was obsidian or other dark stones. Sometimes the amulets were gilded, and faint traces of gilding are present on this example.

Amulets in this form were always made from dark-colored glass or stone (as in this example) and may represent the embalmer’s fingers. They were usually placed on the left side of a mummified body’s torso, near the incision that had been made to remove the internal organs.

Here the amulet could heal the wound created during the mummification process so that its owner’s body would once again be whole in the afterlife.

Ancient Egyptians produced amulets in a variety of forms and from many different materials in order to provide protection in life, death, or both. Two-finger amulets like this example were used exclusively in a funerary context.

Late Period, ca. 664-332 BC. Glass and black-blue. Now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. 66.99.182