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The Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology

Then uncheck the 'Search all' box, but check the 'Petrie Museum of Egyptian and Sudanese Archaeology' box, and put in the catalogue number you are searching for, I have used UC13577 in the example below.

But if you put in just UC13577, you will get an error message, as shown:

Either put in

LDUCE-UC13577

or

*UC13577

or just

*13577

(The asterisk is the code used on this website for any string.)

All these work at the time of writing.

So, once more with feeling......

Et voilà!  We have success!

Happy hunting!

Notes:

• The catalog often adds spaces to your search at the start and end of the string which must be removed, or else the search will fail.

• For a short catalog number such as 4602, you will get 18 hits if you use *4602, and 11 hits if you use LDUCE-UC4602. It is then a matter of finding the object you are after from a small number of hits.

• If you wish to use a better quality image from the result of your search, click on the image, when a separate small window will open. Keep clicking the + sign until the image will not enlarge further, then copy the image, and paste to a graphics program.

Handaxes from El Amrah and Naqada

Made from chert pebbles (UC13575 and UC13577).

Photo: Don Hitchcock 2018
Source: Original, Petrie Museum, London, England
Text: Card / online catalogue, the Petrie Museum, © 2015 UCL. CC BY-NC-SA license.

Far Left: UC13575

Flint handaxe, Acheulean; with cortex butt. From El Amrah, Nile level.

Age 400 000 BP - 350 000 BP.

Length: 135 mm

Photo: Don Hitchcock 2015
Source: Original, Petrie Museum, London, England
Text: Card / online catalogue, the Petrie Museum, © 2015 UCL. CC BY-NC-SA license.

Front: UC63925, small Palaeolithic tool lying on the table, length circa 63 mm, Accession Number LDUCE-UC63925

Photo left: © 2017 University College London. Licensed under CC BY-NC-SA licence
Photo right: Don Hitchcock 2015
Source: Original, Petrie Museum, London, England
Text: Card / online catalogue, the Petrie Museum, © 2015 UCL. CC BY-NC-SA license.

Second left: Acheulian Handaxe

(Acheulian - Old Palaeolithic : about 1800 000 BC - 200 000 BC; typical are large bifacially flaked handaxes, picks and cleavers; people lived as gatherers of wild plants and scavengers/hunters of animals)

Age of this specimen 400 000 BP - 350 000 BP.

Flint handaxe, developed Acheulean, with cortex butt. Found 9 miles NNW of Naqada at 1400 ft above sea-level, on a hill-top plateau.

Lanceate bifaces like this one are the most aesthetically pleasing and became the typical image of developed Acheulean bifaces. Their name is due to their similar shape to the blade of a lance. Bordes defined a lanceate biface as elongated (l/m > 1.6 , i.e. maximum length / maximum width > 1.6) with rectilinear or slightly convex edges, acute apex and rounded base, 2.75 < l/a < 3.75. L/a is maximum length / distance from point of maximum width to base and expresses the position of maximum width in relation to the length.

They are often globular to the extent that it is not a flat surface, at least in its basal zone, with m/e < 2.35 , m/e meaning the ratio of maximum width / maximum thickness and expresses the thickness relative to width, or 'refinement' of the axe.

They are usually balanced and well finished, with straightened edges. They are highly characteristic of the latter stages of the Acheulean – or the Micoquian, as it is known – and of the Mousterian in the Acheulean Tradition (closely related to the Micoquian bifaces).

Length 174 mm

Accession Number LDUCE-UC13577

Photo: Don Hitchcock 2015
Source: Original, Petrie Museum, London, England
Text: Card / online catalogue, the Petrie Museum, © 2015 UCL. CC BY-NC-SA license.

Additional text: Wikipedia, ikarusbooks.co.uk/resources/Lsarc.pdf

Third left: UC75136, retouched flint flake, handaxe?, Abydos

Age 400 000 BP - 350 000 BP.

Length 98 mm, width 63 mm.

Accession Number LDUCE-UC75136

Photo: Don Hitchcock 2015
Source: Original, Petrie Museum, London, England
Text: Card / online catalogue, the Petrie Museum, © 2015 UCL. CC BY-NC-SA license.

Fourth left: UC13579: Flint handaxe, developed Acheulean, with cortex butt one side.

Found by Seton-Karr at a low level at al-Ga'ara SE of Dendera.

Length 151 mm, Accession Number LDUCE-UC13579.

Lanceate bifaces like this one are the most aesthetically pleasing and became the typical image of developed Acheulean bifaces. Their name is due to their similar shape to the blade of a lance. Bordes defined a lanceate biface as elongated (l/m > 1.6 , i.e. maximum length / maximum width > 1.6) with rectilinear or slightly convex edges, acute apex and rounded base, 2.75 < l/a < 3.75. L/a is maximum length / distance from point of maximum width to base and expresses the position of maximum width in relation to the length.

They are often globular to the extent that it is not a flat surface, at least in its basal zone, with m/e < 2.35 , m/e meaning the ratio of maximum width / maximum thickness and expresses the thickness relative to width, or 'refinement' of the axe.

They are usually balanced and well finished, with straightened edges. They are highly characteristic of the latter stages of the Acheulean – or the Micoquian, as it is known – and of the Mousterian in the Acheulean Tradition (closely related to the Micoquian bifaces).

Photo: Don Hitchcock 2018
Source: Original, Petrie Museum, London, England
Text: Card / online catalogue, the Petrie Museum, © 2015 UCL. CC BY-NC-SA license.

Additional text: Wikipedia, ikarusbooks.co.uk/resources/Lsarc.pdf

Fifth left: UC13583 (both sides): Flint Palaeolithic biface tool, ovate. From 'Mahamid'. Found at Armant, 200 metres above the plain (900 ft above sea-level). From the Montague porch collection.

Length 122 mm, Accession Number LDUCE-UC13583

Photo: Don Hitchcock (left) 2015, (right) 2018
Source: Original, Petrie Museum, London, England
Text: Card / online catalogue, the Petrie Museum, © 2015 UCL. CC BY-NC-SA license.

Stone tool

Palaeolithic Period

Accession Number LDUCE-UC63930

Photo: Don Hitchcock 2018
Source: Original, Petrie Museum, London, England
Text: Card / online catalogue, the Petrie Museum, © 2015 UCL. CC BY-NC-SA license.

Sixth left: UC75146: Retouched Palaeolithic flint flake x2. Found at Abydos.

Accession Number LDUCE-UC75146, only one of the two flakes is shown in this display.

Photo: Don Hitchcock 2018
Source: Original, Petrie Museum, London, England
Text: Card / online catalogue, the Petrie Museum, © 2015 UCL. CC BY-NC-SA license.
Additional text: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/museums-static/digitalegypt/paleo/handaxes.html

Sixth left: UC75146: Retouched Palaeolithic flint flake x2. Found at Abydos.

Accession Number LDUCE-UC75146, both flakes are shown in this image from the catalog.

Photo: © University College London, licensed under CC BY-NC-SA licence.
Source: Original, Petrie Museum, London, England
Text: Card / online catalogue, the Petrie Museum, © 2015 UCL. CC BY-NC-SA license.

Acheulian handaxes

Far Left: UC13669

Handaxe, flint, Acheulean, made on a large flake. From the collection of Montague Porch 1905, presented to the museum by the public museum of Weston-super-mare, January 1960. Wadi Jen, Valley of the Kings at 250m Thebes, 1905

Length 170 mm, Accession Number LDUCE-UC13669

Second left is probably LDUCE-UC13887, the opposite side to that shown in the Petrie catalog.

The shape and colour of the flint, as well as the very distinctive patches of white cortex, the general unfinished state and lack of patina make this identification quite plausible.

Flint ovate handaxe, unpatinated; three patches of cortex, Chellean or unfinished Acheulean. From the collection of Montague Porch 1905, presented to the museum by the public museum of Weston-super-mare, January 1960.

Collection Place Thebes, 'American House' = an expedition house on West Bank presumably.

Length 160 mm

Accession Number LDUCE-UC13887

Third left: Unidentified handaxe.

Photo: Don Hitchcock 2018
Source: Original, Petrie Museum, London, England
Text: Card / online catalogue, the Petrie Museum, © 2015 UCL. CC BY-NC-SA license.

Acheulian handaxes

Far Left: UC13669

Both sides of the handaxe are pictured here.

Handaxe, flint, Acheulean, made on a large flake. From the collection of Montague Porch 1905, presented to the museum by the public museum of Weston-super-mare, January 1960. Wadi Jen, Valley of the Kings at 250m Thebes, 1905

Length 170 mm, Accession Number LDUCE-UC13669

Photo: Don Hitchcock (left) 2018, (right) 2015
Source: Original, Petrie Museum, London, England
Text: Card / online catalogue, the Petrie Museum, © 2015 UCL. CC BY-NC-SA license.

Acheulian handaxes

Second left is probably LDUCE-UC13887, the opposite side to that shown in the Petrie catalog.

The shape and colour of the flint, as well as the very distinctive patches of white cortex, the general unfinished state and lack of patina make this identification possible.

Flint ovate handaxe, unpatinated; three patches of cortex, Chellean or unfinished Acheulean. From the collection of Montague Porch 1905, presented to the museum by the public museum of Weston-super-mare, January 1960.

Collection Place Thebes, 'American House' = an expedition house on West Bank presumably.

Length 160 mm

Accession Number LDUCE-UC13887
Photo: (left) Don Hitchcock 2018
Photo: (right) © University College London, licensed under CC BY-NC-SA licence. Source: Original, Petrie Museum, London, England
Text: Card / online catalogue, the Petrie Museum, © 2015 UCL. CC BY-NC-SA license.

From Left to Right, back row: First left: ( Unknown UC identification - Don )

( Note that in this image at this time UC63932 and UC63933 cards are interchanged - Don )

Second: Tool, UC63933 Third: UC63932, axe blade, Abydos NN, River Terraces, Levalloisian (mousterian)

( Both UC63933 and UC63932 are possibly from Abydos NN, River Terraces, and are Levalloisian (mousterian) as per the label in the vitrine in this image - Don )

Fourth: Tanged point ( probably Aterian, as for the next point beside it in the row - Don )

Fifth: Dendera, UC13602, Aterian point, Seton Karr Collection. (Middle Palaeolithic 200 000 - 40 000 BC)

(Also labelled as a Mousterian tool at www.ucl.ac.uk/museums-static/digitalegypt/paleo/handaxes.html)

Flint foliate biface, with cortex one side of butt. Aterian? Collected by Seton-Karr 4 miles east of Dendera.

Collection Place 4 miles east of Dendera

Length: 138 mm Accession Number LDUCE-UC13602

Above from collections.ucl.ac.uk/Details/petrie/16376

The Aterian is a Middle Stone Age (or Middle Palaeolithic) stone tool industry centred in North Africa, from Mauritania to Egypt, but also possibly found in Oman and the Thar Desert. The earliest Aterian dates to circa 150 000 BP, at the site of Ifri n'Ammar in Morocco. However, most of the early dates cluster around the beginning of the Last Interglacial, around 150 000 BP to 130 000 BP, when the environment of North Africa began to ameliorate. The Aterian disappeared around 20 000 years ago.

The Aterian is primarily distinguished through the presence of tanged or pedunculated tools, and is named after the type site of Bir el Ater, south of Tébessa. Bifacially-worked, leaf-shaped tools are also a common artefact type in Aterian assemblages, and so are racloirs and Levallois flakes and cores. Items of personal adornment (pierced and ochred Nassarius shell beads) are known from at least one Aterian site, with an age of 82 000 BP.The Aterian is one of the oldest examples of regional technological diversification, evidencing significant differentiation to older stone tool industries in the area, frequently described as Mousterian. The appropriateness of the term Mousterian is contested in a North African context, however.

Armant, UC13706, 13723, 13727, 13737, Aterian Points, from the Porch Collection.

Sixth: UC13706, Aterian Point, Length 190 mm, from the Porch Collection, Thebes, Gabanet el Giroud 209m.

Flint biface spear head, perhaps Aterian, cortex on butt, repaired. From the collection of Montague Porch 1905, presented to the museum by the public museum of Weston-super-mare, January 1960, Accession Number LDUCE-UC13706

Seventh: UC13723, Tanged flint bifacial Aterian spear head point, length 157 mm, from the collection of Montague Porch 1905, presented to the museum by the public museum of Weston-super-mare, January 1960.

Collection Place Armant, 209m, accession Number LDUCE-UC13723

Eighth: UC13727, Tanged point of flint, Aterian Point, From the collection of Montague Porch 1905, presented to the museum by the public museum of Weston-super-mare, January 1960.

Collection Place Armant, 200m.

Length 139 mm, accession Number LDUCE-UC13727 Ninth: UC13737, Tanged point, Aterian Point, from the Porch Collection

Front, left to right:

Front, first left: tool of translucent flint, UC63930

Accession Number LDUCE-UC63930

Second: UC63926

Accession Number LDUCE-UC63926

Third: UC63927

Accession Number LDUCE-UC63927

Fourth: UC13543, Thebes, Tortoise core. From the Seligmann Collection

A tortoise core is a style of core typical of flintworking in the Levallois technique where the aim is to produce large oval flakes with a sharp edge all round. This results in a core that has one flattish face and a low domed back that, overall, resembles a tortoise.

Unstained flint tortoise core: Thebes, found on surface of gravel, 'Wadi Mermus', Thebes. From the C.G. Seligman Collection.

length 120 mm, Accession Number LDUCE-UC13543

Fifth: Flint handaxe, UC63928, Accession Number LDUCE-UC63928

Sixth: Flint handaxe, UC63929, Accession Number LDUCE-UC63929

Behind: UC13532: Mousterian tool, Middle Palaeolithic, 200 000 BP - 40 000 BC

Stained flint tool, heavy Mousterain Point. Found on the 'older gravel terrace' at Thebes. From the C.G. Seligman Collection. length 71 mm, Accession Number LDUCE-UC13532 Seventh: UC13549, Aterian point, from the Seligmann Collection.

Flint, unstained, Aterian Point with tang. From Sheikh Moussa gravels, Thebes. From the C.G. Seligman Collection. Length 74 mm, Accession Number LDUCE-UC13549 Eighth: UCxxxx2, Shouldered point, from the Seligmann Collection

Photo: Don Hitchcock 2018
Source: Original, Petrie Museum, London, England
Text: Card / online catalogue, the Petrie Museum, © 2015 UCL. CC BY-NC-SA license.
Additional text: Wikipedia, www.oxfordreference.com

Flint handaxe

Palaeolithic Period

Accession Number LDUCE-UC63928

Photo: Don Hitchcock 2018
Source: Original, Petrie Museum, London, England
Text: Card / online catalogue, the Petrie Museum, © 2015 UCL. CC BY-NC-SA license.

Flint handaxe

Palaeolithic Period

Accession Number LDUCE-UC63929

Photo: Don Hitchcock 2018
Source: Original, Petrie Museum, London, England
Text: Card / online catalogue, the Petrie Museum, © 2015 UCL. CC BY-NC-SA license.

Tortoise core closeup, as above.

A tortoise core is a style of core typical of flintworking in the Levallois technique where the aim is to produce large oval flakes with a sharp edge all round. This results in a core that has one flattish face and a low domed back that, overall, resembles a tortoise.

Unstained flint tortoise core: Thebes, found on surface of gravel, 'Wadi Mermus', Thebes. From the C.G. Seligman Collection.

Length 120 mm, Accession Number LDUCE-UC13543

Photo: Don Hitchcock 2018
Source: Original, Petrie Museum, London, England
Text: Card / online catalogue, the Petrie Museum, © 2015 UCL. CC BY-NC-SA license.

UC13903: Quartz backed blade, thick; from the 1944-1945 Anthony Arkell excavations on the Khartoum Mesolithic site for the Khartoum Hospital, surface find. The number '3703' on the object is the old Khartoum Museum number for a large group of objects.
Length 31 mm, Accession Number LDUCE-UC13903.

UC13904: Quartz backed blade, crescentic; from the 1944-1945 Anthony Arkell excavations on the Khartoum Mesolithic site for the Khartoum Hospital, square L25.
Length 22 mm, Accession Number LDUCE-UC13904.

UC13905: Quartz backed blade, crescentic; from the 1944-1945 Anthony Arkell excavations on the Khartoum Mesolithic site for the Khartoum Hospital, square L25.
Length 22 mm, Accession Number LDUCE-UC13905.

UC13906: Quartz backed blade, thin; from the 1944-1945 Anthony Arkell excavations on the Khartoum Mesolithic site for the Khartoum Hospital, square M29 at 1600 - 1800 mm.
Length 20 mm, Accession Number LDUCE-UC13906.

UC13907: Quartz backed blade, crescentic; from the 1944-1945 Anthony Arkell excavations on the Khartoum Mesolithic site for the Khartoum Hospital, square M26, 1200 mm - 1300 mm.
Length 20 mm, Accession Number LDUCE-UC13907.

UC13908: Quartz backed blade, crescentic; from the 1944-1945 Anthony Arkell excavations on the Khartoum Mesolithic site for the Khartoum Hospital, square M17 layer I.
Length 16 mm, Accession Number LDUCE-UC13908

UC13909 (?): Quartz backed blade; from the 1944-1945 Anthony Arkell excavations on the Khartoum Mesolithic site for the Khartoum Hospital, square not recorded.
Length 16 mm, Accession Number LDUCE-UC13909.

Photo: Don Hitchcock 2018
Source: Original, Petrie Museum, London, England
Text: Card / online catalogue, the Petrie Museum, © 2015 UCL. CC BY-NC-SA license.

Stained flint biface. Ovate. From 'Mahamid'. From the C.G. Seligman Collection.

Length 75 mm.

Accession Number LDUCE-UC13527

Photo: Don Hitchcock 2018
Source: Original, Petrie Museum, London, England
Text: Card / online catalogue, the Petrie Museum, © 2015 UCL. CC BY-NC-SA license.

Predynastic Period

Harpoon

Bone harpoon, from hole 35 = 1606, Badari Pl.XXXIV, 6; Pl.LIV, 2

Collector Guy Brunton, Caton-Thompson, Gertrude, Hemamieh, Tomb 1606, 44-63(?)

Collected at Badari, Accession Number LDUCE-UC9497

Photo: Don Hitchcock 2018
Source: Original, Petrie Museum, London, England
Text: Card / online catalogue, the Petrie Museum, © 2015 UCL. CC BY-NC-SA license.

Badarian: 4 400 BC - 4 000 BC

Pottery

These three pottery cups were joined by a cross-bar. A cross line design in dark red paint on pinky buff ground has been used to decorate the cups. One cup which has broken off has had its edges filed in ancient times. Another cup is broken, with rough broken edges. From tomb 23/1649.

( I have been unable to find out what rite this piece was used for - Don )

Accession Number LDUCE-UC9506

Photo: Don Hitchcock 2018
Source: Original, Petrie Museum, London, England
Text: Card / online catalogue, the Petrie Museum, © 2015 UCL. CC BY-NC-SA license.

Naqada Period

The abstract style of these amulets is generally considered to represent a bull's head, seen from above, with the horns curved down over the muzzle. Such amulets became popular in Late Predynastic times and continued to be made into the Second Dynasty. They attest to a new reliance on positive powers for protection.

Bull's head amulet in white limestone. The horizontal perforation at the back has been broken. From Hemamieh North Spur, ( grid reference? ) F:232 at ( depth? ) 1'6".

Collection Place Hemamieh

Collection Place Notes F:232 1'6"

Accession Number LDUCE-UC10328
Photo: Don Hitchcock 2018
Source: Original, Petrie Museum, London, England
Text: Card / online catalogue, the Petrie Museum, © 2015 UCL. CC BY-NC-SA license.
Additional reference: Brunton & Caton-Thompson (1928), LXXI, 63

Naqada Period

Siltstone Amulet

Siltstone amulet/tag type 101G, eyes inlaid with ivory (?) discs. From Naqada Tomb 1865.

( Note that the distinction between palette and amulet appears to depend on size, since a larger but similar object would no doubt have been identified as a palette. The museum card calls it a palette, while the online catalog identifies it as an amulet. In addition, this is properly called siltstone, since it does not exhibit the fissility of slate, despite the identification on the museum card - Don )

Height 66 mm, width 87 mm, Accession Number LDUCE-UC4345

Photo: Don Hitchcock 2018
Source: Original, Petrie Museum, London, England
Text: Card / online catalogue, the Petrie Museum, © 2015 UCL. CC BY-NC-SA license.

Naqada Period

Naqada I
Tusk, plain, with sixteen holes around the widest end. Hippopotamus tusk, upper canine germ (juvenile). From Naqada Tomb 1587.
Length 79 mm, Width 25 mm, Accession Number LDUCE-UC4159.

Naqada II
String of beads, steatite, carnelian and fluorite, length 51 mm, from Naqada Tomb 1413, Accession Number LDUCE-UC4602.

Naqada II: String of beads, garnet, glazed composition (faience), gold foil on plaster beads.
Length 212 mm.
From Naqada Tomb 1413, Accession Number LDUCE-UC4603

Brown pebble. From Naqada, Grave 1413.

(  Flint pebbles were employed as mullers in grinding the colour on cosmetic palettes. This pebble shows the effect of this application since it is rounded and polished by use.  - Don )

Height 40 mm, length 33 mm.
Accession Number LDUCE-UC36033

Naqada II: Pierced wide ivory comb with grooved teeth, slight notching at top. From Naqada Tomb 1413.
Length 46 mm, width 38 mm
Accession Number LDUCE-UC4599

Photo: Don Hitchcock 2018
Source: Original, Petrie Museum, London, England
Text: Card / online catalogue, the Petrie Museum, © 2015 UCL. CC BY-NC-SA license.

Naqada I: 3 900 BC - 3 650 BC

Siltstone palette

Boat-shaped siltstone palette. Type 30. From el Amrah tomb alpha120.

Width 170 mm, Accession Number LDUCE-UC10789.

Photo: Don Hitchcock 2018
Source: Original, Petrie Museum, London, England
Text: Card / online catalogue, the Petrie Museum, © 2015 UCL. CC BY-NC-SA license.

Naqada Period

Cosmetic palette, siltstone, type 31D., from Naqada Tomb 171.

Diameter 117 mm, height 53 mm, Accession Number LDUCE-UC4690

Number 29 of the sketches below.

Photo: Don Hitchcock 2018
Source: Original, Petrie Museum, London, England
Text: Card / online catalogue, the Petrie Museum, © 2015 UCL. CC BY-NC-SA license.

Petrie's organisation of prehistoric pots

While this is a very useful resource, the image is not of the highest quality - but it is at least better than the one available at

archive.org/details/diospolisparvac01macegoog/page/n8/mode/2up

even if you download the higher resolution individual jpg files.

Rephotography: Don Hitchcock 2018
Source: Poster, Petrie Museum, London, England
Text: Card / online catalogue, the Petrie Museum, © 2015 UCL. CC BY-NC-SA license.

Naqada I: 3 900 BC - 3 650 BC

Black top pot

Black top pot, type B 58c, From Naqada Tomb 1817.

Height: 119 mm, diameter 84 mm, Accession Number LDUCE-UC5699.

Photo: Don Hitchcock 2018
Source: Original, Petrie Museum, London, England
Text: Card / online catalogue, the Petrie Museum, © 2015 UCL. CC BY-NC-SA license.

Naqada I: 3 900 BC - 3 650 BC

Bowl

Pottery bowl, white cross-lined. Yellow-white decoration on polished red background, with an image of a loom (?) being laid out - if so, the earliest depiction of a loom.

On this decorated dish may be seen two stick figures standing on either side of what has been identified as a loom for making textiles. If this is a representation of a loom, it is the earliest example known in the world.

Painted pottery appeared for the first time in the Naqada I period.

From Badari, Tomb 24/3802, Accession Number LDUCE-UC9547.

From the Naqada IC period, circa 3 700 BC.

Photo: Don Hitchcock 2018
Source: Original, Petrie Museum, London, England
Text: Card / online catalogue, the Petrie Museum, © 2015 UCL. CC BY-NC-SA license.

Strange forms of slate have been found in Egypt for some years past; but no account of their source was known, and their age and purpose were quite uncertain. The cemeteries of the New Race have explained the whole subject; the slates were placed in the graves, and their purpose was for grinding malachite, and occasionally hematite, probably for face-paint. That such forms should be used for palettes may seem almost beyond belief; but the evidence of the patches of malachite on them, and the worn hollows for grinding, are found on every class.

The monstrous rhombs (93-99) have been quoted as impossible for merely grinding a little patch of face-paint, and have been suggested for shields. But the inexorable evidence is as plain on these as on any other forms ; the patches of malachite are on them, and on some the deeply hollowed grinding-places (94-97, 99) stained with haematite and malachite, prove that the colour was not merely casual or ornamental, but had been ground on them for years during the life of the owner.

They run through all the periods of the New Race burials, both early, middle, and late. The general division is that the well-formed animal figures and the rhombs are of the earlier age, while the worst of the animal figures, 7, 53, 59, 60, 70, 82, 83, 86, and the squares, are of the later age, with late pottery and cylinder jars. Associated with the slates are continually found selected yellow flint pebbles for using as mullers in grinding the colour.

The forms are very varied. Of quadrupeds there are the ibex or the mouflon, indistinct species of deer (9-4), elephant (5-8), and turtle (9-19). Birds are common (20-27), and a curious double-bird occurs in several forms (28-33). Fish are very common (36-61).

The double-bird is made in an anchor form, with a long handle above (62-68), and also in a long form (69-92), in which the heads become lessened until, in 91 and 92, occurs in several forms (28-33). Fish are very common (36-61). The double-bird is made in an anchor form, with a long handle above (62-68), and also in a long form (69-92), in which the heads become lessened until, in 91 and 92, the outline is almost rhombic. This passes into the rhombs (93-99). The squares arc sometimes plain (100,102), but more often scored around the edge with lines (101, 103-108). And many rough unshaped pieces are found (109-111). The degradation of many of the types is remarkable, especially the tortoise, where it acquires deers' heads for feet (11, 12) or loses almost all trace of feet (17, 18) ; the double-bird which becomes the shape of the pelta (32, 33), or a rhomb (92); and the fish, which become mere ovals 59-61.

The total numbers of the various classes (including rude ones and fragments) are: ibex or moufflon, 1; deer, 3; elephant, 4 ; turtle, 13; bird, 11; double-birds, 6o; fishes, 130; rhombs, 99; squares, 28; rough, 37.

At Ballas the types belonged to the later styles, agreeing with most of that cemetery being of late New Race. There were 12 animals and tortoises, 39 fish, 14 double-birds, and 31 rhombs and squares.

Source and text: Petrie & Quibell, (1895)

Naqada I

Siltstone palette in the form of fish, back slightly damaged. From Naqada Tomb 1257.

Length 49 mm, width 34 mm, Accession Number LDUCE-UC4276.

Other information on the museum card: S.D. 42, type 40d. PE.XLV,8 & XLIII, 40G.

Photo: Don Hitchcock 2018
Source: Original, Petrie Museum, London, England
Text: Card / online catalogue, the Petrie Museum, © 2015 UCL. CC BY-NC-SA license.

Naqada II

String of beads, carnelian and glazed steatite. From Naqada Tomb T 16. Xia Nai catalogue number 303, Accession Number LDUCE-UC4358.

Photo: Don Hitchcock 2018
Source: Original, Petrie Museum, London, England
Text: Card / online catalogue, the Petrie Museum, © 2015 UCL. CC BY-NC-SA license.

Naqada

Siltstone palette, type 101R, double bird motif, one beak broken; with inlaid eyes. From Naqada Tomb 10. Height 59 mm, width 115 mm.

Photo: Don Hitchcock 2018
Source: Original, Petrie Museum, London, England
Text: Card / online catalogue, the Petrie Museum, © 2015 UCL. CC BY-NC-SA license.
Accession Number (from the online catalog) LDUCE-UC4518. Note that there is a typo on the Museum Card, it reads UC5418.

First Dynasty: 3 100 - 2 890 BC

Necklace

Necklace of different types of beads and pendants from a royal tomb.

1 large 'T' shaped spacer in garnet; 12 barrel beads in garnet; 32 garnet spherical beads; 69 small spherical garnet beads; 2 long cylindrical spacers in powdery? limestone(?), white faience(?), or gypsum(?); 1 cylindrical spacer in carnelian; 118 small coral(?)/carnelian(?) barrel beads; 7 small coral(?)/carnelian(?) tubular beads; 10 large barrel beads in carnelian; 8 short carnelian barrel beads; 4 largish tubular beads in carnelian; 2 domed (button shaped) circular beads in carnelian; 4 largish dome (button shaped) circular beads (with 4 perforations) in carnelian; 2 bifurcated long beads in carnelian; 1 large tubular bead, slight bifurcating; 2 rectangular cylinder spacers (each with flat and 2 convex sides), 1 in carnelian, 1 in white faience(?), limestone(?) or gypsum(?); 2 large cylindrical/tubular beads in carnelian (some of the beads have fallen out).

From Abydos, Tomb of Mena (?) recorded on Shiah card as Tomb of Mena(?)

Material: garnet, carnelian, coral.

Garnet strings length: 100 mm.
Garnet strings length: 107 mm.
Garnet strings length: 110 mm.
Garnet strings length: 120 mm.
Carnelian or coral strings length: 173 mm
Carnelian or coral strings length: 271 mm.
Carnelian or coral strings length: 374 mm.
Carnelian or coral strings length: 105 mm.

Accession Number LDUCE-UC51360A.

Photo: Don Hitchcock 2018
Source: Original, Petrie Museum, London, England
Text: Card / online catalogue, the Petrie Museum, © 2015 UCL. CC BY-NC-SA license.

Second Dynasty: 2 890 BC - 2 670 BC

Copper Harpoon

Model copper harpoon cut from sheet metal with a hooked head and two barbs; conserved since publication. From the royal tomb of Khaskhemwy in the Umm el-Qa'ab at Abydos, tomb of Khasekhemwy, opposite chamber 21. RT II, IXA, 5; T & W, XLIV, 36.

Height 116 mm, length 16 mm, Accession Number LDUCE-UC36835.

Photo: Don Hitchcock 2018
Source: Original, Petrie Museum, London, England
Text: Card / online catalogue, the Petrie Museum, © 2015 UCL. CC BY-NC-SA license.

Fifth Dynasty: 2 494 BC - 2 345 BC.

Bead Dress

Part of a network dress of blue and black faience beads, mostly cylinders, and two blue and black faience breast 'caps', as well as a quantity of loose beads, and two strings of Mitra beads, probably part of the original dress. The back of the dress has not been reconstructed.

From Qau burial 978. The dress was found in a box in a niche at the foot of the grave. Because of its size, it is estimated to be suitable for a girl of 12 years old.

Reconstructed height 95 cm, width 24 cm, Accession Number LDUCE-UC17743.

The Egyptian bead net dress was for the most part a ceremonial dress. It was worn by a dancing girl for entertaining at banquets. Tomb carvings show banquet scenes showed unclothed servant girls carrying trays laden with delicacies. Without music and dance, no banquet was possible. From what we see on tomb paintings, music and dance played a big part in the lives of the ancient Egyptians, both in secular and religious activities. Male and female dancers and musicians would excite the festivities with harps, lyres and lutes which were all string instruments. They would also incorporate a type of oboe, which was most often played by women, and drums to keep up the beat of the music and the hearts of the guests. At the banquet, guests would be treated to dancing girls wearing jewels and lithe acrobats who twisted, jumped and turned. The musicians encouraged the guests to join in by chanting, clapping or playing tambourines or cymbals. The dress was also used by females in ceremonies where they would take a box of offerings to the Gods. As a funerary garment, the dress would have covered only the front body, however, a relatively large number of beaded shrouds have been used to wrap mummies from the twenty-first dynasty.

The Westcar papyrus relates a tale set during the reign of Sneferu, the first king of the Fourth Dynasty, 2 613 BC - 2 589 BC. The king was bored and his chief lector Djadjaemankh advises him to gather twenty young women and use them to sail him around the palace lake. Sneferu orders twenty beautiful oars made, and gives the women nets to drape around them as they sail.

However, one of the girls loses an amulet - a fish pendant made of turquoise so dear to her that she will not even accept a substitute from the royal treasury, and until it is returned to her neither she nor any of the other women will row. The king laments this, and the chief lector folds aside the water to allow the retrieval of the amulet, then folds the water back.

Photo: Don Hitchcock 2018
Source: Original, Petrie Museum, London, England
Text: Card / online catalogue, the Petrie Museum, © 2015 UCL. CC BY-NC-SA license.
Additional text: Hazel Sanchez, hazelsanchez.wordpress.com

Fifth Dynasty: 2 494 BC - 2 345 BC.

Bead Dress

The dress was probably meant for dancers. Each of the 127 shells around the fringe contains a small stone, with the result that a rattling sound would be produced when the wearer danced.

Accession Number LDUCE-UC17743.

Photo: Don Hitchcock 2018
Source: Original, Petrie Museum, London, England
Text: Card / online catalogue, the Petrie Museum, © 2015 UCL. CC BY-NC-SA license.

Date uncertain: 2 033 BC - 1069 BC

Body of a goddess

The Egyptians used an alloy of copper and tin (bronze) which is easier to melt and harder than pure copper ore. Egyptian bronzes also contain lead, which lowers the melting temperature. Some bronzes have a black patina that highlights the gold inlays.

Gold is not uncommon in the desert, east of the Nile, in Egypt and Nubia. Electrum, a natural alloy of gold and silver also occurs. The 'black bronzes' are special alloys (copper, silver, gold) whose patina highlights the incrustations of metals in contrasting colours.

This inlay of yellow gold threads and red gold 'rivets', only visible in the full size images ( click on any image to zoom in ), imitates bead netting.

Height 12 cm.

Catalog: Sully, salle 7, E 27430
Photo: Don Hitchcock 2015
Source: Original, Musée du Louvre
Text: © Musée du Louvre

The Seventh and Eighth Dynasties

2 181 BC - 2 160 BC

Twelve gold cowries, on modern string with many small electrum beads, also disc beads of blue faience, recorded as coming from the ankles area, though cowries were usually strung on girdles in the Middle Kingdom and Third Intermediate Period. From tomb 7923 at Qau. Beads also recorded in 1938-1939 by Xia Nai (Shiah) during his PhD research, on his bead-card no. 777.

Length 600 mm, Accession Number LDUCE-UC18092

Photo: Don Hitchcock 2018
Source: Original, Petrie Museum, London, England
Text: Card / online catalogue, the Petrie Museum, © 2015 UCL. CC BY-NC-SA license.

The Seventh and Eighth Dynasties

2 181 BC - 2 160 BC

String of beads

1 Amazonite stone barrel, 4 carnelian (2 barrel, 1 short barrel, 1 short cylinder) and about 30 tiny blue faience, from Qau, Tomb 7923, Shiah No. 780, length 73 mm, Accession Number LDUCE-UC18093

Amazonite, also known as Amazonstone, is a green tectosilicate mineral, a variety of the potassium feldspar called microcline. Its chemical formula is KAlSi₃O₈, which is polymorphic to orthoclase.

Its name is taken from that of the Amazon River, from which green stones were formerly obtained, though it is unknown whether those stones were Amazonite. Although it has been used for jewellery for well over three thousand years, as attested by archaeological finds in Middle and New Kingdom Egypt and Mesopotamia, no ancient or medieval authority mentions it. It was first described as a distinct mineral only in the 18th century.

Photo: Don Hitchcock 2018
Source: Original, Petrie Museum, London, England
Text: Card / online catalogue, the Petrie Museum, © 2015 UCL. CC BY-NC-SA license.
Additional text: Wikipedia

The Seventh and Eighth Dynasties

2 181 BC - 2 160 BC

Amulets and Beads

Gold crown amulet (63D6), five steatite cylinder beads (75A18, B6, B10, B16); one carnelian cylinder bead (75J10), two carnelian spheriod ring beads (82H6, H10), one carnelian ring bead (86L2), few blue faience ring beads (86N16), few shell ring beads (86M6, M12), one black faience drop pendant bead (89T6), one grey/white crumb bead (94H6) Carnelain amulet (17D6) missing.

Qau, Tomb 5262, Accession Number LDUCE-UC20666

Photo: Don Hitchcock 2018
Source: Original, Petrie Museum, London, England
Text: Card / online catalogue, the Petrie Museum, © 2015 UCL. CC BY-NC-SA license.

The Seventh and Eighth Dynasties

2 181 BC - 2 160 BC

Long String of Beads

Long string of marine shell ring beads (86, M6, M12, M10), black faience ring beads (86N10) and blue faience ring beads (86N16)

Qau, Tomb 5262, Accession Number LDUCE-UC20663

Photo: Don Hitchcock 2018
Source: Original, Petrie Museum, London, England
Text: Card / online catalogue, the Petrie Museum, © 2015 UCL. CC BY-NC-SA license.

The Seventh and Eighth Dynasties

2 181 BC - 2 160 BC

Amulets, Beads

Carnelian lion amulet (15B21), two carnelian spheroid ring beads (86C16, L4) a few shell ring beads (86M10, N6). Long string of black faience ring beads (86N6, N8, P18) and blue faience drop pendant bead (89L8)

From Qau, Tomb 5286, Accession Number LDUCE-UC20671

Photo: Don Hitchcock 2018
Source: Original, Petrie Museum, London, England
Text: Card / online catalogue, the Petrie Museum, © 2015 UCL. CC BY-NC-SA license.

First Intermediate Period: 2 170 BC - 2 025 BC

Beads, Amulets

Circa 2 100 BC, Qua/Bedari Tomb 5313.

String of carnelian beads (2), leg amulets and 20 small Conus shells. From the intact tomb of a pregnant woman, Badari 5313, found at ankles. Modern stringing.

Circa 2 100 BC, Qua/Bedari Tomb 5313.

Items displayed here are taken from the intact tomb (western chamber) of a pregnant female found with black wavy hair. The artefacts represent 'magical beliefs'. Discovered in 1925 by the British School of Archaeology in Egypt, headed by Guy Brunton.

Length: 145 mm, Accession Number LDUCE-UC18070

Photo: Don Hitchcock 2018
Source: Original, Petrie Museum, London, England
Text: Card / online catalogue, the Petrie Museum, © 2015 UCL. CC BY-NC-SA license.

Ninth - Tenth Dynasties: 2 160 BC - 2 040 BC

Ring beads

String of white marine shell ring beads (86P10), Qau, Tomb 3421, Accession Number LDUCE-UC20807.

Photo: Don Hitchcock 2018
Source: Original, Petrie Museum, London, England
Text: Card / online catalogue, the Petrie Museum, © 2015 UCL. CC BY-NC-SA license.

Ninth - Tenth Dynasties: 2 160 BC - 2 040 BC

Beads

One carnelian barrel bead (78F2), two carnelian ring beads (82C9, 86L2), one carnelian pendant bead (89M10) and string of black faience and shell ring beads (86M11, P10)

Qau, Tomb 3421, Accession Number LDUCE-UC20809

Photo: Don Hitchcock 2018
Source: Original, Petrie Museum, London, England
Text: Card / online catalogue, the Petrie Museum, © 2015 UCL. CC BY-NC-SA license.

Ninth - Tenth Dynasties: 2 160 BC - 2 040 BC

Bead Collar

Green glazed faience bead collar in original order of stringing. 7 rows of cylinders juxtaposed in the following arrangement:

Row 1: short vertical cylinders; Row 2: 2 horizontal alternate with two vertical; Row 3: 2 vertical alternate with two horizontal; Row 4 as row 3; Row 5: vertical larger cylinders; Row 6: 21 horizontal cylinders with 20 pendants, having loops at each end, in between; Row 7: horizontally placed long and short cylinders.

Large semicircular spacers at each end.

( I have fixed typos in the text - Don )

From Sedment, Tomb 1512, burial of a woman, Accession Number LDUCE-UC31717.

Photo: Don Hitchcock 2018
Source: Original, Petrie Museum, London, England
Text: Card / online catalogue, the Petrie Museum, © 2015 UCL. CC BY-NC-SA license.

Ninth - Tenth Dynasties: 2 160 BC - 2 040 BC

Bead Collar

Green glazed faience bead collar in original order of stringing. 7 rows of cylinders juxtaposed in the following arrangement:

Collar of dark blue and green glazed faience beads (5 are black banded) in the original order of stringing - plain and fancy cylinders and barrels placed in a square arrangement (total 35); 9 lines drop from squares 14-21 of vertically placed short, medium and long plain and fancy cylinders; each terminating in a fancy spheroid.

From Sedment, tomb number not recorded, Accession Number LDUCE-UC31718.

Photo: Don Hitchcock 2018
Source: Original, Petrie Museum, London, England
Text: Card / online catalogue, the Petrie Museum, © 2015 UCL. CC BY-NC-SA license.

Ninth - Tenth Dynasties: 2 160 BC - 2 040 BC

Bead Collar

Dark blue and green glazed faience bead collar in original order of stringing - plain and fancy cylinders arranged vertically in the first three rows; 4th row - 25 vertical barrels; 5th row and sides - 30 plain and fancy horizontal and vertical (at sides) cylinders; 8 fancy spheroids - 3 at each end of first 3 rows and 1 at each far end of top row.

From Sedment, tomb number not recorded, Accession Number LDUCE-UC31716.

Photo: Don Hitchcock 2018
Source: Original, Petrie Museum, London, England
Text: Card / online catalogue, the Petrie Museum, © 2015 UCL. CC BY-NC-SA license.

Twelfth Dynasty: 1 991 BC - 1 802 BC

Pharaoh Senusret I

Circa 1 971 BC - 1 926 BC

This limestone relief was once part of a Middle Kingdom temple at Koptos. It was reused in the Ptolemaic period as foundation material for another building.

The scene depicts the king participating in an important royal ritual called the Sed Festival, being conducted in front of the local deity of Koptos, Min, a fertility god. The festival's purpose was the renewal of the physical and supernatural energies of the ruler.

The limestone wall-block has a sunk relief depiction, internally carefully modelled, showing King Senusret I with oar and hepet-tool*, running the sed-festival race before the god Min. Now in five pieces rejoined, and some small fragments.

Collected from Koptos, found face down at the bottom of the Ptolemaic foundations at Koptos temple.

Height 111 cm, width 154 cm, Accession Number LDUCE-UC14786 i-ii.


( The hepet-tool* may have been part of the steering gear on a boat, or may have been a navigational aid. The implement was important enough to have its own hieroglyph, Aa5, shown at left. The use as a navigational aid seems more likely than the hepet being part of the steering gear, since careful examination of the steering gear of the many available images and models of Egyptian boats shows nothing like the hepet - Don )

Photo: Don Hitchcock 2015
Source: Original, Petrie Museum, London, England
Text: Card / online catalogue, the Petrie Museum, © 2015 UCL. CC BY-NC-SA license.
Hepet tool hieroglyph: Wikimedia Commons

The hepet is tantalisingly similar in shape to the gnomon on a sundial. The angle of the gnomon should be equal to the latitude. At Memphis, often the capital of ancient Egypt, the latitude is approximately 30°N. At Thebes, the occasional southern capital, it is approximately 26°N. The angle of the hepet held by Senusret is 64°, the complement of which is 26°.

Photo and text: Don Hitchcock 2015
Source for base photograph: Petrie Museum

Twelfth Dynasty: 1 991 BC - 1 802 BC

Pharaoh Senusret I

Circa 1 971 BC - 1 926 BC

When this sculpture was first displayed at UCL in 1894, Min's phallus was covered by a label, so as not to offend Victorian sensibilities.

Photo and text: Don Hitchcock 2015
Source for base photograph: Petrie Museum

Twelfth Dynasty: 1 991 BC - 1 802 BC

Kahun Medical Papyrus

Created during the rule of Amenemhat III, circa 1 860 BC - 1 814 BC.

This is part of the 'Kahun Medical Papyrus', with gynaceological content, and contains prognoses, diagnoses and prescriptions for conditions of pregnant women.

The papyrus is written in a short-hand style of hieroglyphs called hieratic. It describes prognoses, diagnoses, and prescriptions for conditions of pregnant women. It is the earliest written mention of the idea that the womb wandered around the body.

Headings of prescriptions are written in red. Hieratic script, in 3 pages, all on recto. Page 1 = 29 lines; p.2 = 30 lines; p.3 = 28 lines.

Verso: short account of Amenemhat III. This papyrus deals with issues related to women’s health surrounding childbirth. The first part deals with various aches and pains and their treatment and the second mostly with issues surrounding conception. Nearly everything is described as originating in the uterus.

Collection at Kahun, Workmens' Town

Material: papyrus paper

Pages 1 and 2: height 357 mm, length 640 mm.

Page 3: height 342 mm, length 438 mm.

Frame: height 380 mm, width 532 mm, depth 7 mm.

Accession Number LDUCE-UC32057i

Photo: Don Hitchcock 2015
Source: Original, Petrie Museum, London, England
Text: Card / online catalogue, the Petrie Museum, © 2015 UCL. CC BY-NC-SA license.

Twelfth Dynasty: 1 991 BC - 1 802 BC

Will of Antef Meri

Created during the rule of Amenemhat III, circa 1 860 BC - 1 814 BC.

Deed of conveyance (living will) by Mery son of Intef, for his son Intef (same name as grandfather), on papyrus. As with all inheritance documents, and most legal documents, it concludes with a list of witnesses, from which two names are partly preserved.

Mery wrote this will at an advanced age, when he was about to retire. His will records his wishes regarding the transference of his office to his son and the inheritance of his estate, including all his possessions.

Recto: endorsement on back of right hand edge, 'title to property made by the regulator of the corps, Intef's son Mery, to his son, Mery's son, Intef, called Iuseneb'; hieratic in black ink; papyrus in good condition but frayed at edges. The text has been translated as:

'[Recto] Year 39, month 4 of the season of flood, day 29 Property transfer document made by the Controller of the Temple Staff Intef’s son Mery, also called Kebi, for his son Intef, also called Iuseneb. I am giving my position of Controller of the Temple Staff to Mery’s son Intef, also called Iuseneb, in exchange of his retirement-support, because I am now grown old. Let him be appointed at once. As for the previous document which I made for his mother: it is cancelled. As for my house which is in the district of Hut…t, it is for my children born to me by Nebtennisut, the daughter of the Guard of the District Counselor Sobekemhat, with all its contents. The name list of witnesses in whose presence this property transfer document has been written: The Controller of the Temple Staff: Sa-bastet’s son, called Sa-bastet as well, The (?) Senusret’s son, called Senebubu [Verso] Property transfer document made by the Controller of the Temple Staff Intef’s son called Mery for his son Intef, also called Iuseneb.

Collected at Lahun, Kahun Workmens' Town

Fragment Recto height 187 mm. Recto: Length 350 mm, height 187 mm (As mounted in glass)

Verso: length 47 mm, height 56 mm.

Fragment recto length 350 mm, fragment verso height 56 mm, fragment verso length 47 mm.

Frame height 270 mm, width 370 mm, depth 6 mm, Accession Number LDUCE-UC32037

Photo: Don Hitchcock 2018
Source: Original, Petrie Museum, London, England
Text: Card / online catalogue, the Petrie Museum, © 2015 UCL. CC BY-NC-SA license.

Twelfth Dynasty: 1 991 BC - 1 802 BC

Gold Amulet

Gold amulet, very fine. A cylinder with gold casing on a copper core. 3 600 small globules of gold soldered on to a casing to form a series of triangles, with a loop on one end for suspension. The interior is hollow, in which conservation revealed three copper wire balls (one in pieces) and organic material, now stored separately in a capsule. One of the earliest and finest examples of granulation.

Collected at Harageh, tomb 211, excavation by Suefi, Ali Muhammad, Haregehm XIV, 5; O.D.U. 11, 9
Length 52 mm, Accession Number LDUCE-UC6482

Photo: Don Hitchcock 2018
Source: Original, Petrie Museum, London, England
Text: Card / online catalogue, the Petrie Museum, © 2015 UCL. CC BY-NC-SA license.

Second Intermediate Period: 1 700 BC - 1 550 BC

Beads

Sixteenth Dynasty?

String of blue glazed (bl.gl.) beads: cylinders between amulets with a pair of string holes - alternative Tauret/Taweret and crocodile, (exactly like 28408), from a large basket.

Taweret was portrayed as a bipedal hippopotamus with limbs like those of a feline.

From Sedment, Mayana, Cemetery K, Tomb 1288, of an old woman, Accession Number LDUCE-UC28410

Photo: Don Hitchcock 2018
Source: Original, Petrie Museum, London, England
Text: Card / online catalogue, the Petrie Museum, © 2015 UCL. CC BY-NC-SA license.

Second Intermediate Period: 1 700 BC - 1 550 BC

Beads

String of beads: five black faience ring beads, thirty six large carnelian barrel beads (several chipped), two feathered carnelian barrel beads, one large, one small and two very large carnelian barrel beads.

Length 550 mm, largest bead length 30 mm.

From Abydos, West of Shuneh el Zebib, tomb 830, cemetery over Early Dynastic cemetery, Accession Number LDUCE-UC43128

Photo: Don Hitchcock 2018
Source: Original, Petrie Museum, London, England
Text: Card / online catalogue, the Petrie Museum, © 2015 UCL. CC BY-NC-SA license.

Eighteenth Dynasty: 1 550 BC - 1 292 BC

Sandals

Pair of fine palm-fibre sandals from Sedment, Tomb 136, white ant damage. Tie of one (B) missing.

Length 335 mm, width 165 mm, Accession Number LDUCE-UC16555

Photo: Don Hitchcock 2018
Source: Original, Petrie Museum, London, England
Text: Card / online catalogue, the Petrie Museum, © 2015 UCL. CC BY-NC-SA license.

Eighteenth Dynasty: 1 550 BC - 1 292 BC

Princess Sitamun/Sitamen

Reign of Amenhotep III, circa 1 388 BC – 1 350 BC.

A sandstone block fragment from the temple of king Amenhotep II on the west bank at Thebes, with raised relief, and a preserved area with the head of Princess Sitamen, daughter of Amenhotep III, wearing a vulture headdress and holding a floral sceptre, facing right, and above part of her name in a cartouche.

Sitamun is considered to be the eldest daughter of Pharaoh Amenhotep III and his Great Royal Wife Tiye. She was later married to her father around Year 30 of Amenhotep III's reign.

Height 565 mm, width 490 mm, Accession Number LDUCE-UC14373.

Photo: Don Hitchcock 2018
Source: Original, Petrie Museum, London, England
Text: Card / online catalogue, the Petrie Museum, © 2015 UCL. CC BY-NC-SA license.
Additional text: Wikipedia

Nineteenth Dynasty: 1 292 BC - 1 187 BC

Djed pillar

Ivory djed pillar, possibly for inlay.

Collected at Qua, Tomb 562, Brunton, Guy, Qau and Badari III, cf. XXXVI, 26

Length 95 mm, top width 35 mm, base width 27 mm, depth 8 mm, Accession Number LDUCE-UC26092.

Photo: Don Hitchcock 2018
Source: Original, Petrie Museum, London, England
Text: Card / online catalogue, the Petrie Museum, © 2015 UCL. CC BY-NC-SA license.

21st Dynasty: 1 077 BC - 943 BC

Neskhons

Painted wooden stela of Neskhons, wife of the High Priest of Amun Pinedjem (II): depiction of (right) Neskhons facing left and offering to right-facing Osiris, seven vertical columns of hieroglyphs above identifying the god as Osiris with epithets and her as 'the Osiris the great head of the first troupe of Amun-Ra king of the gods, the god's servant of Khnum lord of the First Cataract, king's son of Kush, overseer of the southern hill-lands, god's servant of the Lady of Offerings of Serudet, head of noblewomen Neskhons true of voice'.

Height 395 mm, Accession Number LDUCE-UC14226.

Photo: Don Hitchcock 2018
Source: Original, Petrie Museum, London, England
Text: Card / online catalogue, the Petrie Museum, © 2015 UCL. CC BY-NC-SA license.

22nd Dynasty: 943 BC - 716 BC

Beads

Row One a (top left)

Amulets and beads on one string: beads, fancy barrels, faience; spheroids and one barrel, carnelian, cylinders, gold (on copper?); one barrel, alabaster?; amulets, a) gr. gl. baboon; b) gr. gl. Sekhmet; c) stone implement, alabaster; d) hawk; e) lyre.

From Lahun/Illahun.

Length 340 mm, Accession Number LDUCE-UC6824.

Row One b (top right)

String of beads, various shapes in antimony

From Lahun/Illahun.

Length 130 mm, Accession Number LDUCE-UC6825.

Rows Two and Three

String of beads: rings, cylinders, drops, fancy barrels, pendants (Brunton types 46 N, P) of faience; barrels, amber; flattened spheroid, antimony. Labelled as 'found together', but find not documented.

Found at Lahun/Illahun together with 6827, 6828, 6829.

Length 440 mm, Accession Number LDUCE-UC6826.

Row 4

String of beads. Multiples (segmented) 56K and other types, black faience.

From Lahun/Illahun.

Length 410 mm, Accession Number LDUCE-UC6827.

Photo: Don Hitchcock 2018
Source: Original, Petrie Museum, London, England
Text: Card / online catalogue, the Petrie Museum, © 2015 UCL. CC BY-NC-SA license.

Photo (above): Don Hitchcock 2018
Photo (left): Petrie Museum, © 2015 UCL. CC BY-NC-SA license.

25th Dynasty / Nubian Dynasty / Kushite Empire: 746 BC - 656 BC

Nairytisitnefer

Coffin case of Nairytisitnefer

Circa 700 BC.

This coffin case contained the mummified body of a woman called Nairytisitnefer. She came from a rich priestly family at Thebes, and died about 700 BC. We know the names of her parents and grandfathers, and the fact that she was married, but nothing else.

Nairytisitnefer's fine-quality coffin, made of wood covered with linen and plaster is full of religious meaning. It is covered with images and prayers from the Book of the Dead intended to bring about her rebirth in a perfect form.

The Book of the Dead is a modern name for Ancient Egyptian manuscripts containing compositions drawn from about 175 individual 'chapters'. These were known to the Ancient Egyptians as 'chapters for coming forth by day'. They comprise a collection of hymns, spells, and instructions for securing eternal life.

Description of the front of the coffin lid

Line 1, under the collar
Nairytisitnefer worships Osiris and other gods represented as mummies.

Line 2
Nairytisitnefer, led by the god Thoth, is questioned by the gods to find out if she is worthy to proceed to the next world and become 'true of voice'.

Line 3
Nairytisitnefer's mummy lying on a funerary bed, captioned:
Words spoken. The deceased the married woman Nairytisitnefer, true of voice.

Line 4
Inscription in 13 columns giving Nairytisitnefer's ancestry:
words spoken by Nairytisitnefer, true of voice, daughter of Basa, prophet of Montju, Lord of Thebes, true of voice, her mother being the married woman, Taawy, true of voice, daughter of the beloved of the god, the hour-watcher in Karnak, Iuefenamun, true of voice, son of the similarly-titled Djedmontuiuefankh, true of voice, O Osiris, bull of the West, the Great God who is in...

Line 5
A group of gods seated on both sides of the symbol of the god Osiris, captioned:
Words spoken by Nairytisitnefer, daughter of Basa, the god's father, offerer in Thebes, true of voice.

Line 6
The god Anubis flanking five lines of damaged text beginning: Words spoken by the deceased [Nairytisitnefer].

Description of the interior of the coffin base:

Words spoken by Nairytisitnefer [her parentage is listed again, in the same form as on the lid]. The heart [or mind]of Nairytisitnefer is given to her in the house of minds, and her heart to her in the house of hearts. The mind of Nairytisitnefer belongs to her, and she is content with it. Nairytisitnefer [her parentage is listed again, in the same form as on the lid].

Length 755 mm. Catalog: Wood, linen, plaster, From the Besenmut family burial(s) at Thebes, Catalog No. UC14230
Photo: Don Hitchcock 2018
Source: Original, Petrie Museum, London, England
Text: Card at the Petrie Museum, © 2015 UCL. CC BY-NC-SA license.

26th Dynasty: 664 BC - 525 BC

Group of Amulets

( The image above displays a series of amulets found at Ammur. Individual items are treated separately below - Don )

Photo: Don Hitchcock 2018
Source: Original, Petrie Museum, London, England
Text: Card / online catalogue, the Petrie Museum, © 2015 UCL. CC BY-NC-SA license.

26th Dynasty: 664 BC - 525 BC

Amulet

Faience amulet, blue glaze: seated female lion-headed deity on block throne. Left arm broken but wrist and hand crossed on breast holding lotus; right arm by side hand palm down on knee. Heavy wig with solar disk and uraeus, loop for suspension behind. From Kafr Ammar, Grave 380.

Height 47 mm, width 10 mm, Accession Number LDUCE-UC37140

Photo (left): Petrie Museum, © 2015 UCL. CC BY-NC-SA license.
Text: Card / online catalogue, the Petrie Museum, © 2015 UCL. CC BY-NC-SA license.

26th Dynasty: 664 BC - 525 BC

Amulet

Faience amulet, blue glaze, of a seated female lion-headed deity on block throne, with incised marks. Both hands are crossed on the breast holding flails. the deity wears a heavy wig with a Uraeus and the amulet has a loop for suspension on the back.

From Kafr Ammar, Grave 380.

Height 39 mm, width 9 mm, Accession Number LDUCE-UC37141.

Photo (left): Petrie Museum, © 2015 UCL. CC BY-NC-SA license.
Text: Card / online catalogue, the Petrie Museum, © 2015 UCL. CC BY-NC-SA license.

26th Dynasty: 664 BC - 525 BC

Amulet

Faience amulet, blue glaze. Standing female lion-headed deity left foot forward, hands by side, wig and uraeus loop for suspension behind.

From Kafr Ammar, Grave 380, height 52 mm, width 8 mm, Accession Number LDUCE-UC37145.

Photo (left): Petrie Museum, © 2015 UCL. CC BY-NC-SA license.
Text: Card / online catalogue, the Petrie Museum, © 2015 UCL. CC BY-NC-SA license.

26th Dynasty: 664 BC - 525 BC

Amulet

Faience amulet, blue glaze: seated female lion-headed deity on block throne, with incised marks. Both hands palms down on knee. Heavy wig with a Uraeus and loop for suspension on the back.

From Kafr Ammar, Grave 380.

Height 40 mm, width 8 mm, Accession Number LDUCE-UC37142.

Photo (left): Petrie Museum, © 2015 UCL. CC BY-NC-SA license.
Text: Card / online catalogue, the Petrie Museum, © 2015 UCL. CC BY-NC-SA license.

26th Dynasty: 664 BC - 332 BC

Amulet

Faience amulet, blue glaze: seated female lion-headed deity, left arm crossed on the breast holding a lotus flower, right arm by the side, bent to knee. Heavy wig with uraeus on head, and loop for suspension. Block throne.

From Kafr Ammar, Grave 380, height 41 mm, width 11 mm, Accession Number LDUCE-UC37139.

Photo (left): Petrie Museum, © 2015 UCL. CC BY-NC-SA license.
Text: Card / online catalogue, the Petrie Museum, © 2015 UCL. CC BY-NC-SA license.

Late Period: 664 BC - 332 BC

Beads

Faience tube beads, decayed green glaze, with two large carnelian ring beads and one large decayed dark blue faience tube bead.

From Kafr Ammar.

Length 514 mm, diameter 3 mm, Accession Number LDUCE-UC37290.

Photo: Don Hitchcock 2018
Source: Original, Petrie Museum, London, England
Text: Card / online catalogue, the Petrie Museum, © 2015 UCL. CC BY-NC-SA license.

Third Intermediate Period: 1 077 BC - 656 BC

Bead Net Amulets

Centre: Large scarab, decayed faience turquoise glaze, pierced in six places for attachment to a bead net. The reverse is plain.

From Kafr Ammar.

Length 63 mm, width 45 mm, Accession Number LDUCE-UC37480A

Near left and right:

Decayed turquoise faience glazed wings of a scarab, pierced in three places for attachment to a bead net.

From Kafr Ammar.

Length 57 mm, width 57 mm, Accession Number LDUCE-UC37480B

Far left and right:

Decayed turquoise faience amulets, depicting Amset, Duatmutef, Qebsenuf and Hapy, from a bead net.

LDUCE-UC37481 to LDUCE-UC37484

From Kafr Ammar.

Photo: Don Hitchcock 2018
Source: Original, Petrie Museum, London, England
Text: Card / online catalogue, the Petrie Museum, © 2015 UCL. CC BY-NC-SA license.

Ptolemaic Dynasty: 305 BC - 30 BC

Two Goddesses

Limestone wall-relief block, with heads and torsos of two goddesses facing left in low relief, background left rough, as for UC14518.

Width 340 mm, height 210 mm, Accession Number LDUCE-UC14519.

Photo: Don Hitchcock 2018
Source: Original, Petrie Museum, London, England
Text: Card / online catalogue, the Petrie Museum, © 2015 UCL. CC BY-NC-SA license.

Roman Period: 30 BC - 395 AD

Vessels

(left) Alabaster vessel with large hole in one side. (The ring of 37168 was inside this with one faience blue disk bead and one faience blue ring bead).

Height 141 mm, diameter 20 mm, Accession Number LDUCE-UC37174

(centre) Alabaster vessel with one large and two smaller holes in the lower part, Accession Number LDUCE-UC37098

(right) Alabaster vessel, two pieces joined, with section of shoulder and part of rim missing, from Kafr Ammar, Grave 99.

Length 13 mm, diameter 62 mm, LDUCE-UC37097.

Photo: Don Hitchcock 2018
Source: Original, Petrie Museum, London, England
Text: Card / online catalogue, the Petrie Museum, © 2015 UCL. CC BY-NC-SA license.

Roman Period: 30 BC - 395 AD

Jewellery

1. Gold Necklace

Gold necklace of nine flat hollow beads decorated, as well as two gold tubular beads and fifty small gold ring beads.

From Kafr Ammar, Grave 99.

length 277 mm, bead length 16 mm, bead width 8 mm, string length 325 mm, Accession Number LDUCE-UC37095



2. Gold Ring


Gold finger ring with large circular bezel with incised female figure in draped robe.

From Kafr Ammar tomb 99, Tomb 99.

Length 23 mm, height 20 mm, Accession Number LDUCE-UC8707.

Photo: © 2017 University College London. Licensed under CC BY-NC-SA licence
Source: Original, Petrie Museum, London, England
Text: Card / online catalogue, the Petrie Museum, © 2015 UCL. CC BY-NC-SA license.

3. Bead

White stone barrel bead with large hole, on silver wire.

From Kafr Ammar, Grave 99.

Length 18 mm, width 17 mm, Accession Number LDUCE-UC37096.

3. Beads

Faience, double-ring beads of white, blue, black and yellow glaze. Original stringing (?).

From Kafr Ammar, Accession Number LDUCE-UC37175.

4. Ivory disk

Ivory disk pierced in centre, plain on the back, with four incised rings. Repair or adaptation to the central hole can be seen from the remains of a shaft of the same material, perhaps spindle remains?

From Kafr Ammar tomb 99, Tomb 99.

Diameter 29 mm, weight 3 gm, Accession Number LDUCE-UC37101.

Photo: Don Hitchcock 2018
Source: Original, Petrie Museum, London, England
Text: Card / online catalogue, the Petrie Museum, © 2015 UCL. CC BY-NC-SA license.

Roman period: 30 BC - 395 AD

Portrait

Second Century AD.

Wax encaustic portrait on a wood panel of a young woman with dark hair in rows of curls across the forehead. The skin pigment is extremely patchy but predominantly cream, the lips maroon, the eyes dark brown and white. There is no trace of jewellery except for ball ear rings. She is wearing a peach/ red chiton and a darker red haematon. The background is blue-grey.

The encaustic method is a painting technique in which pigments are mixed with hot liquid wax.  

The portrait is virtually complete, but in two main pieces, restored from fragments (including Temp. No.427, on left side as viewed). It is longitudinally cracked. There are traces of oiled bandages from mummy binding at the top and lower edge, where there are a few small linen patches. The back is stained in places by oil.

Length 356 mm, width 197 mm, Accession Number LDUCE-UC38103

Photo: Don Hitchcock 2015
Source: Original, Petrie Museum, London, England
Text: Card / online catalogue, the Petrie Museum, © 2015 UCL. CC BY-NC-SA license.

Roman period: 30 BC - 395 AD

Portrait

Encaustic wax mummy portrait of the head and shoulders of a dark haired young man, clean shaven, facing left, wearing a gold fillet. The portrait is on a thin wooden panel.

The encaustic method is a painting technique in which pigments are mixed with hot liquid wax.  

From Hawara, length 350 mm, width 230 mm, Accession Number LDUCE-UC19613

Photo: Don Hitchcock 2015
Source: Original, Petrie Museum, London, England
Text: Card / online catalogue, the Petrie Museum, © 2015 UCL. CC BY-NC-SA license.

Roman period: 30 BC - 395 AD

Portrait

Encaustic wax mummy portrait of the hair and shoulders of dark curly-haired young man with slight beard and moustache, face left, wearing a gold fillet, pink toga and white scarf, on a thin wooden panel.

The encaustic method is a painting technique in which pigments are mixed with hot liquid wax.  

From Hawara, Height 335 mm, width 175 mm, Accession Number LDUCE-UC19612

Photo: Don Hitchcock 2015
Source: Original, Petrie Museum, London, England
Text: Card / online catalogue, the Petrie Museum, © 2015 UCL. CC BY-NC-SA license.

Roman period: 30 BC - 395 AD

Portrait

Lime (Tilia sp.) panel from Hawara cemetery with encaustic wax mummy portrait of Petrie's 'red youth', with curly light beard and moustache, and face left. Sharp tool was used to delineate the shape of the face, ears and eyebrows.

Encaustic wax mummy portrait of head and shoulders of curly-headed male youth with light beard and moustache, face left, on thin wood panel.

The encaustic method is a painting technique in which pigments are mixed with hot liquid wax.  

Height 395 mm, width 270 mm, Accession Number LDUCE-UC19610

Photo: Don Hitchcock 2015
Source: Original, Petrie Museum, London, England
Text: Card / online catalogue, the Petrie Museum, © 2015 UCL. CC BY-NC-SA license.

Roman period: 30 BC - 395 AD

Portrait

Circa 100 AD - 200 AD

Wax encaustic portrait on wood of a girl with short (or pulled back) hair; face damaged by a tool; intact left eye aquamarine blue. Central gold leaf pendant on head and small gold earrings; gold chain necklace with oval pendant in centre. Dark purple red chiton and brown himation; background pale blue. Panel split longitudinally, in three major sections.

Collectied from Hawara Cemetery, Mummy no. 33. From a group burial with 34 and 35 (UC30088) and two mummies with portraits removed before burial.

The encaustic method is a painting technique in which pigments are mixed with hot liquid wax.  

Height 330 mm, width 188 mm, Accession Number LDUCE-UC36215.

Photo: Don Hitchcock 2015
Source: Original, Petrie Museum, London, England
Text: Card / online catalogue, the Petrie Museum, © 2015 UCL. CC BY-NC-SA license.

Roman period: 30 BC - 395 AD

Portrait

Circa 100 AD - 200 AD

Wax portrait on wood of a woman with short black curly hair, wearing silvered glass or coral and gold pendant earrings, and two strings of beads- one of amethyst or garnet and beryl, with gold, and the other of silvered glass or coral and gold.

Light purple chiton, with dark purple himation over each shoulder, which has yellow bands at each edge. The middle of the portrait is lost.

Collected at Hawara Cemetery, Mummy No 35, From a group burial with portraits nos 33 and 34, and two mummies with portraits removed before burial, leaving an empty space.

Height 397 mm, length 222 mm, Accession Number LDUCE-UC30088.

Photo: Don Hitchcock 2015
Source: Original, Petrie Museum, London, England
Text: Card / online catalogue, the Petrie Museum, © 2015 UCL. CC BY-NC-SA license.

Roman period: 30 BC - 395 AD

Portrait

Wax encaustic portrait on wood panel of a man with dark hair in curls, skin reddish-brown, lips deep pink, eyes dark brown and white. The head faces towards the right. The portrait is broken off at the neck. There is a cream surround to the portrait, which is split longitudinally into three main sections. The left and central panels are complete, but the right panel is fragmentary around edge. There is damage to the paint on the hair and neck. Marked 'BB' in pencil on reverse. From Hawara cemetery, Body BB.

Height 226 mm, width 159 mm, Accession Number LDUCE-UC38315

Gilt stucco border

Shown with the portrait described above is the right side of a gilt stucco border for the wax encaustic mummy portrait with part of the curved top, made on a linen canvas base and applied as a loose arch of decoration over the picture.

The gilding has an embossed vine pattern with bunches of grapes and leaves from a sinusoidal stem in the panel.

Hawara, Accession Number LDUCE-UC42571

Photo: Don Hitchcock 2015
Source: Original, Petrie Museum, London, England
Text: Card / online catalogue, the Petrie Museum, © 2015 UCL. CC BY-NC-SA license.

Roman period: 30 BC - 395 AD

Portrait

Panel portrait painted in encaustic, cut at the upper corners for insertion in the wrappings of the mummified body. The portrait depicts a woman with a short hairstyle and separated curls around the brow, wearing a deep red purple tunic with dark purple clavus band, gold ball earrings, and gold bead necklace with a gold ring pendant. The woman is identified in Greek letters either side of neck as Isarous, an Egyptian name in Greek form, one of the only encaustic panel portraits with a name.

Collected at Hawara Cemetery.

Height 365 mm, width 180 mm, Accession Number LDUCE-UC19611.

Photo: Don Hitchcock 2015
Source: Original, Petrie Museum, London, England
Text: Card / online catalogue, the Petrie Museum, © 2015 UCL. CC BY-NC-SA license.

References

1. Brunton, G., Caton-Thompson G., 1928: The Badarian Civilisation and Predynastic Remains near Badari, London
2. Petrie W., Quibell K., , 1895: Naqada and Ballas, London

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