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Descriptive Attribute Value(s)
ID 403
ACCESSION NUMBER 14 1050
FIELD NUMBER 14-1-344
SUBJECT Rectangular decorated plaque with geometric motifs
DESCRIPTION This plaque is rectangular in shape and decorated with geometric motifs. The whole surface is engraved with parallel rows of small quadrangular boxes (3 rows on dorsal and ventral faces and two on the lateral oes). It was pierced lengthwise.
CHRONOLOGY Classic Kerma
CHRONOLOGICAL RANGE 1750-1550 BC
MATERIAL faience
MATERIAL (Note) faience
LENGTH (cm) 1.9
WIDTH (cm) 0.6
THICKNESS (cm) 0.4
DIAMETER (cm) 0.0
BIBLIOGRAPHY REISNER 1923: 234-236
REFERENCE Reisner, G.A., 1923, Excavations at Kerma. Harvard African Studies, 5, Cambridge, Mass.
ORNAMENTS_DESCRIPTION There are seventeen cylinder beads (0.5 cm in diameter), eighteen cylinder beads (0.3 cm in diameter), nine barrel beads (0.4 cm in diameter), fifty-four beads on ten strings (largest: 3.4 cm in length, smallest: 0.9 cm in length) and 202 amulet-beads. The amulet-beads include: eighty-two rectangular plaques with geometric motifs, twenty-nine Taweret figures, three Aha fugures, twelve baboons, one crocodile, seventeen elongated shapes with rounded tops, one human figure, five human hands, five rectangular beads each with a small protrusion; eleven U-shaped elements turned upside down; three rectangular plaques with small engraved lines; six rectangular plaques with dashed crosses; twenty-seven ladders.
PRESERVATION STATE Complete
MUSEUM MFA BOSTON
SPECIFIC LOCATION Storerooms
LINK ON-LINE https://collections.mfa.org/objects/365742/beads?ctx=b46f0722-2c06-48c3-b71c-5eb560dce8b6&idx=0
Coordinates N 19°36'43.52" E 30°26'42.23"
SECTOR Eastern cemetery
SPECIFIC CONTEXT K 444 body A
ARCHAEOLOGICAL MISSION HARVARD UNIVERSITY- BOSTON MFA EXPEDITION
DIRECTOR OF THE MISSION G. REISNER
YEAR OF EXCAVATION 1914
CREDIT LINE Photograph © Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Suggested Citation

Elena D’Itria. (2024) "Item 403 from Africa/Sudan/Kerma". In The Amulets of the Kerma Culture. Elena D’Itria (Ed). Released: In prep. Open Context. <https://opencontext.org/subjects/a2888b94-6a54-4117-91ef-14ad10b34264> ARK (Archive): https://n2t.net/ark:/28722/k2gt62b6q

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