subject: Ivory Figure Of A Woman [print this page] this remarkable figure came from a grave at Badari , excavated in the 1920s,and is one of the oldest human-shaped statutes know from Egypt . the head ,nose and eyes are disproportional large but, like the rest of the figure ,have been carefully worked. the arms are separated from the body and rejoin it at the hips, with only the most cursory indications of hands. The breast and genitalia are very prominent. like the arms ,the whole figure has been made with great care and polished to a fine finish, showing a remarkable degree of technical competence at a very early date in Egypts history.
the nipples and the pupils are marked by drill holes, and may have been intended to be inlaid with some other material. The function of the figurine is not clear. The very pronounced feminie attributes may suggest that the figurine was intended to represent a fertility deity, or indeed as an expression of fertility and re birth, but it could also be a servant figure. The excavators, Brunton and caton-Thompson, found tow other figurines in their excavations (which were less accomplished than this example) they are not common, and remain enigmatic. The tomb in which this figurine was found was otherwise rather uninformative. No bones were located, and the only other finds were a possible polishing pebble and a few beads of steatite and turquoise. Most graves in this cemetery were circular or oval pits. They were, in essence, fairly similar to the British Museum (see pages 26-7). Better-preserved tombs contained pottery, flints, arrowheads, and slate palettes among their grave goods.
The Badarian culture is earliest of the upper Egyptian cultures, and was the last to be identified. It was named after the type-site of badari in Middle-Egypt, which Brunton and Caton-thompson excavated. Subsequent excavations in the 1930s by Caton-thompson at Hemmamiya brought to light a stratigraphic sequence which confirmed the dating of the cemeteries at Badari to about 4400 4000BC.
Predynastic period, Badari culture, about 4400 4000BC.
From Badari
Gift of the British School of Archaeology in Egypt in 1929
