Strand of Inscribed Scarabs

Strand of Inscribed Scarabs

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Thirteen of the nearly 400 scarabs found loose inside the coffin of Amenemhat were inscribed with a combination of hieroglyphs and geometric patterns. All had probably originally been inside a small basket that had been placed near the left side mummy's head. Amenemhat had been buried in a family tomb established by his father, Neferkhawet. The damp conditions inside the tomb, which was dug into the desert floor near the edge of the cultivated land, had caused the basket and other organic material to disintegrate.

Egyptian Art

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

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The Met collection of ancient Egyptian art consists of approximately 30,000 objects of artistic, historical, and cultural importance, dating from about 300,000 BCE to the 4th century CE. A signifcant percentage of the collection is derived from the Museum's three decades of archaeological work in Egypt, initiated in 1906 in response to increasing interest in the culture of ancient Egypt.