10 IVORY AND THE ELEPHANT 



wide. On its upper rounded surface were somewhat roughly- 

 incised figures of a crocodile, of a toad sitting on a basket, of 

 the divinity Ta-urt, of a winged man, of a sphinx, etc. 

 This wand or staff came from Thebes, and had been broken 

 and repaired in ancient times. The other smaller specimen, 

 9j in. long, had its point roughly cut to represent a bearded 

 head. It came from Naqada and is attributed to the pre- 

 historic period of Egyptian civilization.* 



Another interesting ivory in the Hilton Price Collection 

 was a scribe's palette of the Eighteenth Dynasty, an inscrip- 

 tion stating that it had been made for Tehuti-mes, Chief of 

 the Royal Scribes [of Amenophis I]. Two deep holes at one 

 end of the palette evidently served to contain the red and 

 black paints used in forming the Egyptian characters, for 

 traces of these paints were still visible. In a groove hol- 

 lowed in the centre must have rested the reed pens which 

 were employed by scribes of this age. This object is 13| in. 

 long and If in. wide; it is in a fine state of preservation and 

 is said to be a unique specimen of its kind.f 



Some curious ivory rods were unearthed by Prof. Flinders 

 Petrie in 1895, between Ballas and Naqada, about thirty 

 miles distant from Thebes. These and other objects found 

 here are conjectured by Professor Petrie to have been the 

 work of a primitive Lybian tribe and to date from about 

 3000 B. C. There were also five small figures in ivory, four 

 of lions and one of a hare. The rods, several of which are now 

 in the Museum of the University of Pennsylvania, may possi- 

 bly have been used as divining rods, or perhaps were pieces 

 for some game; they came from a single tomb. They meas- 

 ure 5f in. in length, some of them being incised with diagonal 



*Catalogue of the Collection of Egyptian Antiquities, the property of the late F. G. 

 Hilton Price, Esq., London, 1911, p. 113. 



fCatalogue of the Collection of Egyptian Antiquities, the property of the late F. G. 

 Hilton Price, Esq., London, 1911, p. 112. 



