A Bead Collar

Necklaces such as this are usually called A bead collar by Egyptologists

, reflecting the Egyptian term wesekh. As with many items buried in tomb , they could be understood on a number of different levels. Though it is often used for simple adornment, the brilliant blue color of faience is also highly symbolic of new life and rebirth ; collars may also have had a particular ritual significance, as the ( later ) Book of the dead makes reference to a spell for a gold collar to be placed on the throat of the deceased spell 158.

This board collar is composed of one row of horizontally-strung beads and five vertically-strung rows , two semicircular terminals, and fourteen pendants. The beads are a mixture of colors : bright blue, white, and purple . The terminals , one of which is broken , have six holes in the straight side adjacent to the rest of the beads ,and one hole in the rounded side, through which would have been threaded the material which permitted the collar to be hung round the neck . Many terminals from later periods are shaped like falcon heads.

This necklace was found in a subsidiary burial on the north side of the temple/ tomb of nebhepetre Mentuhotep II, the Eleventh Dynasty king who reunified Egypt in about 2020BC. The burial was in a simple chamber at the bottom of a shaft, which showed evidence of reuse in the new kingdom and third Intermediate period. No trace has survived of the name of the tombs occupant, who was burials in a large rectangular limestone sarcophagus, although all other contemporary burials in the area were of women. Remains of more jewelry and some tomb models were also found. The named female burials were principally on the west side of the platform; each had its own chapel, built during the earliest construction phase of the temple. These women were described as kings wives in their chapel inscription but not in their burials, and this has led one scholar to suggest that they were cultic wives of the king when he was fulfilling a particular ritual role, of the ithyphallic god Min . Hence they might have been a harem for him on earth, and were then buried in his mortuary temple. Although the owner of this necklace was not necessary one of this women, she must also have been of high status to have received a burial in this highly privileged temple location.

Later eleventh dynasty c 2050-200BC

From Deir-elbahari tomb 4 in the mortuary temple of Nebhepetre Mentuhotep gift of the Egypt Exploration fund in 1905

Length 54,3 cm EA 41668

by: hassan.sh

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