Sickle Fragment

Sickle Fragment

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

This object is a fragment of a wooden sickle. Ancient Egyptians used sickles such as this to harvest the grain that they made into bread and beer for daily consumption and for funerary offerings. Many tomb reliefs show sickles in use, such as in the Old Kingdom tomb of Raemkai (MMA 08.201.1) and in the New Kingdom tomb of Sennedjem (MMA 30.4.2). Sharp pieces of flint (now missing) were set into a groove on the interior of the curved part of the sickle, and held in place with an adhesive. Some of the adhesive still remains in the groove. The handle of this sickle is missing, but was originally attached with small pegs, two of which are still in place. The placement of the pegs and handle indicate that this sickle was probably made for a right-handed farmer.

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.