Gebel el-Arak Knife

Purchase The Gebel el-Arak knife was bought for the Louvre by the philologist and Egyptologist Georges Aaron Bénédite in February 1914 from a private antique dealer, M. Nahman, in Cairo. Bénédite immediately recognised the artefact's extraordinary state of preservation as well as its archaic date. On 16 March 1914, he wrote to Charles Boreux, then head of the département des Antiquités égyptiennes of the Louvre, about the item the unsuspecting dealer had offered him. It was: [...] an archaic flint knife with an ivory handle of the greatest beauty. This is the masterpiece of predynastic sculpture [...] executed with remarkable finesse and elegance. This is a work of great detail [...] and the interest of what is represented extends even beyond the artistic value of the artefact. On one side is a hunting scene; on the other a scene of war or a raid. At the top of the hunting scene [...] the hunter wears a large Chaldean garment: he head is covered by a hat like that of our Gudea [...] and he grasps two lions standing against him. You can judge the importance of this asiatic representation [...] we will own one of the most important prehistoric monuments, if not more. It is, in definitive, in tangible and summary form, the first chapter of the history of Egypt (emphasis in the original). At the time of purchase, its blade and handle were separated, as the seller did not realise that they fitted together. Boreux later proposed that the knife be restored, and that the blade and handle be joined together. This was done in March 1933 by Léon André, who worked mainly on consolidating the ensemble, and conserving the ivory handle. The most recent restoration of the knife was undertaken in 1997 by Agnès Cascio and Juliette Lévy. The knife was one of the main arguments in the elaboration of his Dynastic race theory. Provenance At the time of its purchase by Bénédite, the knife handle was said by the dealer to have been found at the site of Gebel el-Arak (جبل العركى), a plateau near the village of Nag Hammadi, south of Abydos. However, the knife's true provenance is indicated by Bénédite in his letter to Boreux. He wrote: [...] the seller did not suspect that the flint [blade] belonged with the handle and presented it to me as witness of the recent finds from Abydos. That the knife did indeed originate from Abydos is supported by the otherwise total absence of archaeological finds from Gebel el-Arak, while intensive excavations by Émile Amélineau, Flinders Petrie, Édouard Naville and Thomas Eric Peet were taking place at this time at the Umm el-Qa'ab, the necropolis of predynastic and early dynastic rulers in Abydos. == Description ==

Blade The blade of the knife is made of homogenous finely grained yellowish flint, a type of Egyptian flint called chert. Chert is widely available in Egypt and appears across the archaeological record as a material in lithic tool usage from the Paleolithic up to the New Kingdom. The blade was produced from the original stone in five stages: • Roughing of the original stone. • Preformation of the blade by percussion flaking. • Polishing of both sides of the blade. This operation is required before the ripple-flaking, see below. One side of the blade was left polished and did not receive further work, thus showing a smooth ground surface, maybe to imitate a metal blade. Specialists of the Predynastic period of Egypt, such as Béatrix Midant-Reynes, argue that the quality and amount of work required for the creation of the blade goes beyond what is required for a functional knife. Thus the purpose and value of the knife would be artistic, the blade being a demonstration of technical skills aiming at the beauty of the result. This hypothesis is strengthened by a detailed use-wear analysis of the blade which demonstrates that the knife has never been used. The blade weights 92.3 grams, its precise dimensions are as follows: Handle The handle is made of the ivory of an elephant tusk, and not from a hippopotamus canine tooth as was first thought. The handle was carved along the axis of the tusk, as evidenced by a dark spot located above the head of the "Master of Animals", which is the tip of pulp cavity of the tusk. The precise dimensions of the handle are as follows: ==Reliefs==

The handle of the knife is carved on both sides with finely executed figures arranged in five horizontal registers. The side of the handle with the knob shows Mesopotamian influence featuring the Master of Animals motif, very common in Mesopotamian art, in the form of a figure wearing Mesopotamian clothing flanked by two upright lions symbolising the Morning and Evening Stars (now both identified with the planet Venus). Robert du Mesnil du Buisson said the central figure is the god El. David Rohl identifies him with Meskiagkasher, who "journeyed upon the sea and came ashore at the mountains". Nicolas Grimal refrains from speculating on the identity of the ambiguous figure, referring to it as a "warrior". Modern scholarship generally attributes the back reliefs to Mesopotamian influence, and more specifically attribute the design of the clothed wrestler to the Mesopotamian "priest-king" Master of Animals images of the Late Uruk period. These figurines are generally carved on ivory tusks and seemingly wear long cloaks. Some authors have suggested that the reliefs represent a battle between warriors of the cities of Abydos and Hierakonpolis, the two main rival Egyptian cities of the period, and that the victor was Abydos, the presence of the lion-fighting Mesopotamian king remaining unexplained and attributed to artistic influence from Mesopotamia. In effect, most of Egypt became unified under rulers from Abydos during the Naqada III period. This side of the handle also contains a "knob", a perforated suspension lug that would have supported the knife handle, keeping it level while resting on a level surface and also could have been used to thread a cord to hang it from the body as an ornament. Another knife with very similar iconography, including depictions of warriors, prisoners and nearly identical types of ships can be seen in the Metropolitan Museum of Art (Accession number: 26.241.1). Parallels Several of the themes and designs visible in the Gebel el-Arak knife can also be seen in other contemporary Egyptian works of art, such as the fresco from Tomb 100 at Hierakonpolis (–3200 BCE), with the scene of the Master of animals, showing a man fighting against two lions, the individual fighting scenes or the boats. Stylistically, the Gebel el-Arak Knife belongs to an important group of Naqada II ivory carvings. Some of the figures found in Hierakonpolis, or the enemies of the Bull Palette, also dated to the same period, show similarities, such as the penile sheath worn by men. File:Hierakonpolis ivory head.jpg|Shaven-headed man with beard, from Hierakonpolis. File:Hierakonpolis Male statuettes.jpg|Male statuettes with shaven heads and penile sheaths, from Hierakonpolis. File:Jebel Sheikh Suleiman.jpg|Petroglyphs from Gebel Sheikh Suleiman. File:Wierookbrandervoorstelling.jpg|Qustul incense burner fragments and reconstitution File:Dynastie 0 Stabaufsatz.jpg|Naqada IId carving, with dynastic rulers and animals, and kneeling soldiers on the reverse. File:Hippopotamus Tusk with Carved Head Naqada I-II.jpg|Man with torus-like headgear, reminiscent of the Mesopotamian king. Late Naqada I- Early Naqada II 3800-3400 BCE, Brooklyn Museum. File:Hippopotamus Tusk with Carved Head Naqada I-II (detail).jpg|Carved head of bearded man with torus-like headgear, reminiscent of the Mesopotamian king. Late Naqada I- Early Naqada II 3800-3400 BCE, Brooklyn Museum. == Similar knives ==

Today a total of 17 similar ceremonial knives with decorated handles are known. These knives comprise: E.4975. • The Ashmolean knife handle from the Main Deposit at Hierakonpolis (Naqada IID), depicting rows on kneeling prisoners on one side, and on the other side an enthroned ruler with a white crown. The ruler seems to be standing in from of a sanctuary, and is accompanied by the symbol of an elephant trampling snakes. • The ritual knife of the Brooklyn Museum, discovered by Jacques de Morgan in the Tomb 32 at Abu Zeidan near Edfu, and similar in size to the Gebel el-Arak knife. The handle of the knife, made of elephant ivory, is decorated with 227 animals carved in 10 registers on both faces. The figures are tightly packed and entirely cover the handle. They represent real animals, all depicted at approximatively the same size and arranged in processions by species: elephants (some walking on snakes), storks, lions, oryxes and bovids. Other less common animals interrupt the processions: a giraffe, a heron, a bustard and a dog chasing after an oryx. Finally, two electric catfish are represented on the outer margin of the handle. The only non-animal figure is a rosette, a royal symbol of Mesopotamian origin found on Egyptian artifacts of the predynastic period and until the 1st dynasty, such as the Scorpion Macehead and Narmer palette. • The Pitt-Rivers knife, bought in the mid 19th century by Reverend G. Chester from an antique dealer who reported finding it in Sheikh Hamada, near Sohag in Upper Egypt. The knife dates back to the late predynastic period, from ca. 3300 BC to 3100 BC, and is now on display at the British Museum's Early Egypt gallery, room 64, under the catalog number EA 68512. The blade of the knife is virtually identical in style to that of the Gebel el-Arak knife, although slightly larger. Similar motifs are found on pottery and clay seals from funerary contexts of the predynastic and early dynastic periods, most notably in Abydos. • The Gebel-Tarif knife, dating to the Naqada III period. On one side, the handle of the knife shows two snakes encircling rosettes. The other side is arranged in four rows. The top and second rows depict scenes of predation with a leopard and a lion attacking ibexes. Beneath these is a domesticated heavy hunting dog wearing a collar pursued by a lion or another dog. The knife is now in the Egyptian Museum under the catalog number CG 14265. Two worn and battered knives can be found at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and at the National Archaeological Museum (France). File:Gebel-Tarif.png|The Gebel-Tarif knife of the Naqada III period. The "snake twist around rosette" is another Mesopotamian motif. File:Pitt-Rivers knife, British Museum.jpg|Pitt-Rivers knife, ca. 3325 cal. BCE. British Museum. File:Carnavon knife handle.jpg|The Carnarvon knife handle, circa 3200 BCE. Metropolitan Museum of Art. The "snake twist around rosette" is another Mesopotamian motif. ==See also==