EGYPT AT ITS ORIGINS 3, Proceedings of the Third International Conference “Origin of the State. Predynastic and Early Dynastic Egypt”, London, 27th July – 1st August 2008, 2011
The subject of this paper is a series of stone figurines carved in the shape of hippopotami from ... more The subject of this paper is a series of stone figurines carved in the shape of hippopotami from the back of which protrude circular ‘rims’. The research presented here shows that these objects were created (and presumably used) as pairs, each member being identical. The pairing of objects is not unique to these particular figurines, but it appears to be a phenomenon generally restricted to objects related to or in the image of hippopotami. On the other hand, deliberate twinning has been rarely observed and suggests specific or special motives in the creation of these identical sets of figurines.
Uploads
Papers by Xavier Droux
L’étude proposée ici se concentre sur l’identification des espèces de bovidés, étape nécessaire afin de situer ces représentations dans le contexte iconographique que ces espèces occupent dans la culture matérielle prédynastique. Ces palettes peuvent être réparties en deux catégories principales, en fonction du style adopté pour l’élaboration des cornes. La première catégorie regroupe des palettes aux cornes courbes et représentées de profil que l'on stipule être des mouflons à manchette, alors que la seconde catégorie regroupe des palettes dont les cornes sont façonnées en forme de lyre et représentées frontalement, que l'on stipule être des bubales.
In modern times, a missing piece of the bea- ker was replaced with a sherd from a dif- ferent C-ware vessel with decoration that doesn’t match the rest of the vessel, a pheno- menon never encountered before in the cor- pus of C-ware vessels, which inadvertently proves the authenticity of the beaker and of its fascinating decoration.
excavated at Naqada.
Museum in Cairo (JE 85928). A hippopotamus figurine stands inside a Predynastic elliptical bowl, which is itself decorated with modelled hippopotamus features. This vessel is placed in the context of Predynastic hippopotamus imagery; it is also compared to the corpus of vessels adorned with zoomorphic figurines, among which the hippopotamus is the most frequent species. The possible meaning and use of the Cairo bowl is investigated; a few exceptional objects that also stand alone in the corpus of hippopotamus representations are discussed; together, these objects offer a glimpse into unusual values attributed to the hippopotamus and demonstrate that the Predynastic Egyptians had a multi-faceted symbolic relationship with the hippopotamus.
Three tombs were uncovered, and discoveries include a wealth of fragile painted plaster artefacts and a sheep cranium with modified horns.
L’étude proposée ici se concentre sur l’identification des espèces de bovidés, étape nécessaire afin de situer ces représentations dans le contexte iconographique que ces espèces occupent dans la culture matérielle prédynastique. Ces palettes peuvent être réparties en deux catégories principales, en fonction du style adopté pour l’élaboration des cornes. La première catégorie regroupe des palettes aux cornes courbes et représentées de profil que l'on stipule être des mouflons à manchette, alors que la seconde catégorie regroupe des palettes dont les cornes sont façonnées en forme de lyre et représentées frontalement, que l'on stipule être des bubales.
In modern times, a missing piece of the bea- ker was replaced with a sherd from a dif- ferent C-ware vessel with decoration that doesn’t match the rest of the vessel, a pheno- menon never encountered before in the cor- pus of C-ware vessels, which inadvertently proves the authenticity of the beaker and of its fascinating decoration.
excavated at Naqada.
Museum in Cairo (JE 85928). A hippopotamus figurine stands inside a Predynastic elliptical bowl, which is itself decorated with modelled hippopotamus features. This vessel is placed in the context of Predynastic hippopotamus imagery; it is also compared to the corpus of vessels adorned with zoomorphic figurines, among which the hippopotamus is the most frequent species. The possible meaning and use of the Cairo bowl is investigated; a few exceptional objects that also stand alone in the corpus of hippopotamus representations are discussed; together, these objects offer a glimpse into unusual values attributed to the hippopotamus and demonstrate that the Predynastic Egyptians had a multi-faceted symbolic relationship with the hippopotamus.
Three tombs were uncovered, and discoveries include a wealth of fragile painted plaster artefacts and a sheep cranium with modified horns.
Corpora that are in the process of being made available include C-ware vessels, boat models, bulls amulets, zoomorphic palettes, and more.