An ancient Egyptian senet board in the Arizona State Museum

Irene Bald Romano, William John Tait, Christina Bisulca, Pearce Paul Creasman, Gregory Hodgins, Tomasz J Wazny

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

This article discusses a fragment of a rare, wooden slab-style Egyptian senet board that was given to the Arizona State Museum, University of Arizona (Tucson, Arizona) in 1922 by Lily S. Place, an American who lived in Cairo in the 1910s and 1920s and purchased ancient Egyptian objects from dealers and in the bazaars; it has no ancient provenience. Using a multi-disciplinary approach, the authors provide a reading and interpretation of the incised hieroglyphs, establish a radiocarbon date for the game board from 980 to 838 B.C.E., identify the wood as Abies (fir), probably Abies cilicica, demonstrate that the board was fashioned from freshly-cut wood, and identify the inlay substance as a green copper-wax pigment.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)71-85
Number of pages15
JournalZeitschrift fur Agyptische Sprache und Altertumskunde
Volume145
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - Jun 1 2018

Keywords

  • Abies (fir)
  • Ancient Egyptian game boards
  • Arizona State Museum
  • Copper-wax pigment
  • Radiocarbon dating

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Archaeology
  • Language and Linguistics
  • History
  • Archaeology
  • Linguistics and Language
  • Literature and Literary Theory

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