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2015 March

Predynastic tusk man 1C - MMA.png

A FACE FROM EGYPT'S MOST DISTANT PAST

Jeff Burzacott March 20, 2015

The Great Pyramid of Giza was a thousand years into to the future when this little guy was made.

This figurine, carved from the tusk of a hippopotamus, was carved during ancient Egypt’s most distant era, the Predynastic Period, ca. 3900-3500 B.C.

It is hundreds of years before the rule of King Narmer, the founder of the First Dynasty who unified Upper and Lower Egypt in the 31st century B.C.

Egyptologists suggest that it is hard to imagine the tusk is anything but a powerful phallic symbol, enhanced by the ivory’s natural shape and the strong male features carved into it.

Who owned this striking talisman, however, will forever be a mystery.

This tusk figurine is in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (Accession Number: 23.2.31).

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Satisfy your passion for ancient Egypt.NILE Magazine June-July 2017 is out now. Inside:- The Tomb-1000 years of robbery and reuse.- Egypt's first ever funerary garden discovered.- World Museum's new ancient Egypt gallery.- Art and Archaeol…

Satisfy your passion for ancient Egypt.
NILE Magazine June-July 2017 is out now. Inside:
- The Tomb-1000 years of robbery and reuse.
- Egypt's first ever funerary garden discovered.
- World Museum's new ancient Egypt gallery.
- Art and Archaeology meet: the two worlds of Susan Osgood.
- The Royal Tombs of Ancient Egypt.
- Aswan's powerful governors.
- On This Day in Egyptology history.
- Plus much more.

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NILE Magazine

Because You Love Ancient Egypt