In the late 19th century, Sir Flinders Petrie uncovered a remarkable assemblage within the tomb of Meryrahashetef at Sidmant el-Gebel, Faiyum. Among the finds was the mummified head of a man, resting upon a calcite headrest. Though much of the flesh and linen wrappings had perished, leaving only the skeletal skull, Petrie identified the remains...
The Gebelein Man (British Museum. EA32751), also known informally as “Ginger” due to his red hair; is the mummy of a young Egyptian man found in Gebelein (modern Naga el-Gherira, 25 miles south of Thebes), dating from the Late Pre-Dynastic Period, c. 3400 B.C. During the period of Gebelein Man’s life and death, Egyptians were...
Mummy of an adult man, name unknown. The preparation has been carried out with great care and skill by the embalmer, and the rounded and shapely contours of a living body have been skillfully imitated. The features of the face are painted upon the outermost wrappings. The fingers and toes are each wrapped separately; the...
Wooden tomb models were deposited as grave goods in the tombs and burial shafts throughout ancient Egypt since its early history, most notably in the Middle Kingdom of Egypt. They included a wide variety of wooden figurines and scenes, such as boats, granaries, baking and brewing scenes and butchery scenes. These served as ways to...
Painted wooden model group: a peasant farmer wearing only a linen kilt, typical dress for a field worker, guides a team of two speckled oxen ploughing who draw a simple wooden plow which would have had a metal blade. He pushes down strongly on the handle and has sunk up to his ankles in the...
Kemsit sits on a wide, low-backed chair holding a vase of scented ointment to her nose. In front of her was the smaller figure of a male servant, of which only his hand remains, holding a small cup that is receiving the stream of liquid he was pouring into it with his other hand. This...
In this stele, Akhenaten is slouched on a low-backed, cushioned chair with side struts in the form of the ancient royal symbol for the unification of Upper and Lower Egypt, which is partly obscured by the long sash of his pleated kilt. The Aten disk was above him, in the center of the stele. The...
On the 15th of July 1799, amidst the dust and ruins near the town of el-Rashid (Rosetta) in the Nile Delta, a group of French soldiers under Napoleon’s command made a discovery that would forever alter our understanding of Ancient Egypt. The stone itself was not originally set up at Rosetta, but at a temple...
In this statue, King Amenhotep III is represented seated on a throne with his arms placed on his legs, palms down. He wears a short kilt, the nemes headdress with a fake beard, collar, and a bull’s tail which is visible between his legs. Both of his eyes have a rimmed upper eyelid – a...
The Battlefield Palette is decorated on both faces with scenes in low relief. On one face, two long-necked gazelles (gerenuk) are browsing on a central date-palm. Behind the head of one animal (on the Oxford fragment) is a bird with a hooked beak, possibly a form of guinea-fowl. The lower half of a palette of...
