Votive figurines from Tell el-Farkha and their counterparts
Year: 2012
Type: article
Abstract: The site of Tell el-Farkha is clearly divided into three zones : an administrative-cultic area at the Western Kom, a rich settlement at the Central Kom, and a poor settlement and cemetery at the Eastern Kom. Two cultic shrines, dated to the Proto-and Early Dynastic Periods, were uncovered at the Western Kom. In both areas votive deposits were discovered. The first includes offerings of figurines, rattles, miniature models of different objects as well as vessels of faience, pottery and stone. The second deposit consisted of a few dozen figurines made mostly of hippopotamus tusks, which depict humans, animals and models of various objects. Human representations are dominant among the votive objects. They can be divided into a number of groups : women (naked or dressed in robes), mothers or nannies/wet nurses with children, men, children, prisoners, dwarves and fantastic creatures. Other spectacular discoveries were excavated from the poorer settlement on the Eastern Kom, such as the remains of two gold figures, two large flint knives and a necklace of 382 beads. These two especially fine gold figures represent a Predynastic ruler and his son, or the same person during his heb-sed. The deposits discovered at Tell el-Farkha are the only ones in Egypt where such precise dating can be made. Many of the fi gures give clear evidence for the close connection between Tell el-Farkha and the emerging monarchy.
Author: Krzysztof M. Ciałowicz
Language: English
Subfield: Archeology (arts and humanities)
Field: Arts and Humanities
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W4300007199