The faces and hieroglyphs on this 3,500-
year-old carving were destroyed by
someone in ancient times.
Credit: ©GM - Tell Edfu Project 2018
An intentionally damaged limestone carving
found within a 3,500-year-old shrine at Tell
Edfu, in southern Egypt, shows what appears
to be an ancient couple who someone tried
to vanquish in the afterlife.
The carving depicts a man and woman
standing beside each other, with hieroglyphic
inscriptions giving their names and
occupations. "The faces of the couple were
[damaged]," and hieroglyphic writing on the
carving had been "scratched out," Nadine
Moeller, the director of the Tell Edfu Project,
told Live Science. "Erasing a private
person's name in ancient Egypt is usually a
sign of someone wanting to erase the
memory of this person and therefore
obliterate their existence in the afterlife ,"
explained Moeller, who is also a professor at
the University of Chicago's Oriental Institute.
"For the ancient Egyptians, being
remembered after death was very important,
so they would receive offerings in the
netherworld. By erasing someone's name,
you are also taking away their identity and
the good deeds they did during their
lifetimes for which they will be remembered
after death," Moeller added. [The 25 Most
Mysterious Archaeological Finds on Earth]
The intentionally damaged limestone
carving was found within a shrine
located in this 3,500-year-old villa at Tell
Edfu in southern Egypt.
Credit: ©GM - Tell Edfu Project 2018
The scratched-out hieroglyphs are difficult
to read, and researchers are in the process
of trying to reconstruct and decipher the
symbols. So far, they can tell that the man
"held the title of 'major' and the women held
the honorific title 'noble woman,'" Moeller
said, noting that the couple "belonged to
[the] administrative elite of the town of
Edfu."
The identity and motive of the person who
tried to wipe out their existence is not
known. It's also not clear when, exactly, in
ancient times the carving was intentionally
damaged.
Ancestor shrine
www.nature.com/articles/
d41586-019-00083-3
Credit: ©GM - Tell Edfu Project 2018
The shrine in which the carving was found is
located within a villa that is about 440
square yards (3,960 square feet) in size and
was constructed sometime between 1500
B.C. and 1450 B.C., researchers said in a
statement released by the University of
Chicago. The shrine appears to have been
used to worship the ancestors of the people
who lived in the villa, researchers found.
Several other artifacts were found in the
shrine, including a statuette carved in black
diorite stone, which depicts a scribe
clutching a papyrus roll. Hieroglyphic
inscriptions on the statuette indicate that
the scribe's name was "Juf," and he may or
may not be the man shown in the
intentionally damaged carving.
