This figure of a woman in a shawl is dated between 3100 -2700 B.C. She stands 13.5cm high, and is a finely carved from a piece of Hippopotamus ivory. Hippopotamus ivory is harder than elephant ivory and is much more difficult to carve. The woman depicted, with hair parted in the middle, stares forth with...
An Egyptian pottery wavy-handled jar inscribed for king Narmer. Formed of Nile alluvial clay, the surface ranging in color from light reddish-brown to beige-cream, of elongated ovoid form, on a slightly convex base, with rounded shoulders and an overhanging rim. The shoulders with triple-arching wavy handles, with a three-character inscription incised below one of the...
This ivory label originally attached to a pair of royal sandals, found at his tomb in Abydos, showing the king Den with an upraised mace, about to strike a captive. The king’s name is written before him in a Serekh, in the center of the top of the label. The king wears a bull’s tail,...
The Egyptian-German-Austrian archaeological mission excavating the tomb of Queen Merit-Neith of the 1st Dynasty in Umm El Qa’ab at Abydos in Sohag, succeeded in uncovering hundreds of sealed jars, containing remnants of wine, in addition to uncovering a group of funerary equipment. Mostafa Waziri, Secretary General of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, said the archaeological...
Made from the ivory from a hippopotamus, this dog was a figure piece from a game called “Mehen”, also known as The Serpant Game. Knowing the game pre-dates the period from which this collared dog was likely created in, it tells us that Egyptians had domesticated the dog possibly long before the unified Egypt even...
A false fringe of human hair in pin curl ringlet styleEarly Dynastic Period, 1st Dynasty,Excavated by Sir Flinders Petrie from the tomb of king Djer (also known as Zer or Sekhty), Tomb O, Umm el-Qa’ab, Abydos, Egypt. Wigs were composed of various materials such as human hair, wool, plant fibers, and horsehair. The most expensive...
“The Tarkhan dress” (UC 28614B) discovered by Sir Flinders Petrie in 1913, was found within the Tarkhan Necropolis (Mastaba 2050). Certified radiocarbon dating conducted by the University of Oxford, places the creation of this garment to Egypt’s 1st Dynasty, c. 3000 – 2800 B.C. Further testing by the British Museum certified its dating. “The Tarkhan...
Some important artifacts were found in the tomb of the 1st Dynasty king Djet, at Abydos in Petrie’s Tomb Z. Such as this wide-toothed comb, which is made of hippopotamus ivory. The king’s name is engraved inside the serekh, or palace facade. It is the earliest surviving depiction of the heavens symbolized by the outspread...
These six board game pieces were associated with a game called ‘Mehen’ coil, because it was played on a circular limestone board that took the form of a coiled snake, its skin divided into squares. Three playing pieces represent recumbent lions, and three recumbent lionesses. The game of the snake, or Mehen, was a board...
The Narmer macehead is an ancient Egyptian decorative stone mace head. It was found in the “main deposit” in the temple area of the ancient Egyptian city of Nekhen (Hierakonpolis) by British Egyptologist James Quibell in 1898. The mace is a club-like weapon with a heavy top stone that is pierced for the insertion of...
