Skip to main content

Scribal writing board

Object(s) photograph: Site: Giza; view: cemetery G 2000

Stucco scribal writing board; long narrow vertical columns of hieroglyphs outlined in black and filled in with different colors; in fragments.

Details

  • ID
    MFAB_13.4301
  • Department
    Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
  • Classification
    Tools & equipment-Writing
  • Findspot
    Giza (provenance unknown), probably somewhere in cemetery G 2000
  • Material
    Stucco
  • Credit Line
    Harvard University–Boston Museum of Fine Arts Expedition
  • Object Ownership Information
    MFA
  • Period
    Old Kingdom, Dynasty 6
  • Notes
    This object was excavated by the Harvard University–Boston Museum of Fine Arts Expedition, but was not recorded in any object register book. Excavated by the Harvard University–Museum of Fine Arts Expedition; 1913: assigned to the MFA in the division of finds by the government of Egypt.
  • Remarks
    Two scribal writing boards were recovered during Reisner's excavations at Giza. There is some confusion concerning these objects due to incomplete record keeping; the photo register entries providing the most, but not necessarily most accurate, information. One was found in 1904 in pit G 1011 A (letter C on map; mentioned on tomb card for G 1011 C [A altered to read C]; in situ photos: C10181_OS, C10182_OS). That writing board is presumably the one in the collection of the Egyptian Museum Cairo (JE 37734; photos: B11772_OS, B11773_OS, B11774A_OS). Information for the other writing board (MFA 13.4301) is provided only by the photo register entry (photo A1021_NS, dated July 1913); the reference in that entry to "found 1905-06 by Lythgoe" may or may not be a mistaken reference to the other writing board. The most that can be stated concerning the provenance for MFA 13.4301 is that it may have been found somewhere in cemetery G 2000.

Tombs and Monuments 1

Published Documents 2

Full Bibliography

  • Brovarski, Edward. "Two Old Kingdom Writing Boards from Giza." Annales du Service des Antiquités de l'Égypte 71 (1987), pp. 27, 32, 49-50, 52, pl. II.

    Smith, William Stevenson. "The Old Kingdom in Egypt," The Cambridge Ancient History, rev. ed. of vols. I & II, Cambridge University Press, 1962, p. 63 note 4 (incorrectly listed as 13-4-301).