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Lot Essay
Robert de Rustafjaell (1876-1943), lived in Egypt for ten years and during this time he devoted himself almost exclusively to Predynastic research and amassed a remarkable collection of flint implements.
This flint belongs to a rare class of artefacts, characterised by their finely worked surfaces and double sided form. Whether the anthropomorphic element held particular significance or value in Predynastic culture, and whether the objects themselves were of predominantly ritual, social or practical nature in their burial context is unknown. It would seem that the anthropomorphic shape of the figure inspired someone to incise facial details onto this example, however this was probably not done in antiquity. For a similar flint of human form found at Hierakonpolis, see Nekhen News, Vol. 23, 2011, p. 19.
This flint belongs to a rare class of artefacts, characterised by their finely worked surfaces and double sided form. Whether the anthropomorphic element held particular significance or value in Predynastic culture, and whether the objects themselves were of predominantly ritual, social or practical nature in their burial context is unknown. It would seem that the anthropomorphic shape of the figure inspired someone to incise facial details onto this example, however this was probably not done in antiquity. For a similar flint of human form found at Hierakonpolis, see Nekhen News, Vol. 23, 2011, p. 19.