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Glossary of ancient Egypt artifacts

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This is a glossary of ancient Egypt artifacts.

Glossary of ancient Egyptian artifacts and materials

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  • Amulet – an amulet is an object that is typically worn on one's person, that some people believe has the magical or miraculous power to protect its holder.
  • Ankh – a symbol of life held by Ra
  • Benben stone (also known as a pyramidion) – the top stone of the Egyptian pyramid
  • Canopic jar – vessel containing internal body organs removed during mummification
  • Canopic chest – the common chest contained the four Canopic jars
  • Cartonnage – papyrus or linen soaked in plaster, shaped around a body and used for mummy masks and coffins
  • Cenotaph – an empty tomb or a monument erected in honor of a person or group of people whose remains are elsewhere
  • Crook – a symbol of pharaonic power. Symbol of the god Osiris
  • Faience – glasswork articles, amulets, etc.
  • False door – an artistic representation of a door, a common architectural element in the tombs
  • Flail – a symbol of pharaonic power. Symbol of the god Osiris
  • Flint knife – prestige funerary good, from the Naqada period until the end of the Early Dynastic Period
  • Funerary cone – small cones made from clay that were placed over the entrance of the chapel of a tomb, used almost exclusively in the Theban necropolis (Mesopotamia had clay nails)
  • Headrest – found in tombs, etc. Typically personal, or a memorial headrest
  • Imiut fetish – a religious object used in funerary rites; a stuffed, headless animal skin, often of a feline or bull, tied by the tail to a pole, terminating in a lotus bud and inserted into a stand
  • Microlith – ancient Egyptian stone flakes
  • Menat – an amulet worn around the neck. Also a musical instrument, a metal rattle (see also: sistrum)
  • Menhed – a scribe's pallet
  • Mummy – body after mummification
  • Naos – religious shrine; portable shrine for carrying a god
  • Ostracon – pottery sherd, limestone Sherd, used as writing material
  • Cosmetic palette – slab of stone, sometimes decorated, used for preparing cosmetics. See: Narmer Palette; and: Category:Archaeological palettes.
  • Papyrus – a material made from papyrus reeds, used as writing and painting material
  • Pectoral (Ancient Egypt) – many forms. (Up to 13 additional Gardiner-unlisted determinative hieroglyphs for the "pectoral"; See Gardiner's sign list.)
  • Rosetta Stone – A stone with three languages on it, which unlocked the Egyptian language
  • Saqqara Bird – wooden bird model
  • Sarcophagus – a funeral receptacle for a corpse, most commonly carved in stone
  • Scarab – amulet or seal in the form of an abstract dung beetle
  • Senet – a board game
  • Shabti – figurines placed in the tomb as substitutes for the tomb owner in the next world
  • Sphinx
  • Pyramid – a monumental structure with a square or triangular base and sloping sides that meet in a point at the top, especially one built of stone as a royal tomb in ancient Egypt
    • Statuary – pharaonic and non-pharaonic. (Range of sizes.)
    • Amulets – numerous, (and predynastic).
  • Stele
    • Boundary Stele – placed at boundaries.
    • Memorial Stele – pharaonic or non-pharaonic.
    • Monumental Stele – offered to gods, special individuals.
    • Votive Stele – private, dedication.
    • Victory Stele – pharaonic.
  • Talatat – limestone wall blocks, at times painted.
  • Ushabtishabtis from the 21st Dynasty and later.

See also

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References

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  • Reeves, Nicholas. Ancient Egypt, The Great Discoveries, a Year-by-Year Chronicle,
  • Nicholas Reeves, (Thames and Hudson Ltd. London), c.2000. Glossary: p. 242