Knife handle K 2186
The knife handle K 2186 is the handle made of ivory of a ceremonial knife from the predynastic period (probably Naqada IId, around 3200 BC) of Egyptian history . He was found in the 1990s in the U cemetery in Umm el-Qaab near Abydos .
Finding circumstances
The knife handle was discovered while sifting through the surface material. More detailed information on this is not available.
description
Only a fragment of the handle was found of this knife, which is likely to be placed on the back near the lower edge of the handle. The piece has a length of 3.06 cm, a height of 1.1 cm and a diameter of 0.3 cm. The lower end of the blade bed can be seen on the back of the fragment. The decor consists of two preserved of originally at least eight rows of animals oriented lengthways to the knife blade. The top row shows four mammals with drooping tails, which Günter Dreyer interprets as canids (however, caprids are shown in the associated drawing ). The bottom row shows three cattle . Due to the size and design of the depicted animals and their positioning, Dreyer puts the fragment close to the Brooklyn knife handle and suspects that both knives come from the same workshop.
literature
- Günter Dreyer : Motifs and dating of the decorated predynastic knife handles. In: Christiane Ziegler (ed.): L'art de l'Ancien Empire égyptien. Actes du colloque organisé au musée du Louvre par le Service culturel les 3 et 4 avril 1998 . La Documentation française: Musée du Louvre, Paris 1999, pp. 195–226.