Sayala club
| Sayala club | |
|---|---|
 Outline of the club and its handle decoration
|
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| material | Handle made of wood (passed) with gold plating; Head of breccia or rose quartz |
| Dimensions | |
| origin | Lower Nubia , Sayala |
| time | Predynastic Period , Naqada IIIa , around 3200 BC Chr. |
| place | Cairo , Egyptian Museum (until 1920, afterwards unknown) |
The Sayala club (also Seyala club ) is a magnificent club made of gold-coated wood and stone from the predynastic period ( Naqada IIIa, around 3200 BC) of Egyptian history . It was found in 1910/11 by Cecil Mallaby Firth in Sayala , a sub- sububanian , and then moved to the Egyptian Museum in Cairo , where it was stolen in 1920. Her further fate is unknown. The club is best known for its detailed depictions of animals.
Find history
The club was found by Cecil Mallaby Firth during the 1910/11 excavation campaign in grave 1 of cemetery 137 in Sayala (Lower Nubia). The grave, in which a local prince was believed to have been buried, was found looted, but still contained numerous objects that had been pushed together in one corner of the grave. These included stone and ceramic vessels, a lion's head made of rose quartz , make-up palettes , copper chisels and hatchets and the remains of two magnificent clubs. The heads made of breccia or rose quartz of the magnificent clubs were still preserved, as well as the gold coatings of old wooden handles. Both covers had horizontal ribbing in their lower part. One of the covers had no other decoration, whereas the Sayala club had detailed animal representations (see below).
The grave and its contents were announced by Firth in a first preliminary report in 1911. In this he also published a first drawing of the club. A detailed description, including photographs, did not appear until 1927. In the meantime, the Sayala club had been stolen from the Egyptian Museum in Cairo in 1920.
decor
The upper area of the handle was decorated all around with depictions of animals. At the top there was an elephant killing two snakes ; however, this interpretation is not undisputed. Below are a giraffe , a saddle stork , several horned bearers and predators , including a lion and a leopard . The club thus belongs to a larger group of Negad period art objects on which rows of animals are depicted. At the moment, however, no other club with a comparable decoration is known. The items with rows of animals include the handle of a comb ( Davis comb ) as well as several knife handles (e.g. Brooklyn knife handle , Carnavon knife handle , Pitt Rivers knife handle , Gebel-el-Tarif knife , knife from Gebel el- Arak ).
literature
- Rainer Michael Boehmer: Oriental influences on decorated knife handles from predynastic Egypt. In: Archaeological Communications from Iran. New Series, Volume 7, 1974, pp. 15-40.
- 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, ISBN 2-11-004264-8 , pp. 195–226.
- Cecil M. Firth: The Archaeological Survey of Nubia. In: Bulletin. No. 7, 1911, pp. 13-14, 18, ( online version ).
- Cecil M. Firth: The Archaeological Survey of Nubia. Report for 1910-1911. Government Press, Cairo 1927, pp. 204–208 ( PDF; 58.6 MB ).
- Helene J. Kantor: The Final Phase of Predynastic Culture. Gerzean or Semainean (?) In: Journal of Near Eastern Studies . Volume 3, 1944, pp. 110-136.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ Günter Dreyer: Motifs and dating of the decorated predynastic knife handles. Paris 1999, pp. 201-202.
- ^ Helene J. Kantor: The Final Phase of Predynastic Culture. P. 129.
- ↑ See Inge Hofmann: On the combination of elephant and giant snake in ancient times. In: Anthropos . Vol. 65, Issue 3/4, 1970, pp. 619-632, JSTOR 40457397 , accessed December 7, 2013.