Macehead, Merimde, c. 5100 BC

Macehead, Merimde, c. 5100 BC
Period:Egypt, Predynastic Period, Predynastic Period
Dating:5300 BC–5100 BC
Origin:Egypt, Lower Egypt, Merinde
Material:Stone (undetermined)
Physical:6.4cm. (2.5 in.) - 350 g. (12.4 oz.)
Catalog:STO.SS.00213

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Links to others from Predynastic Period

Fish cosmetic palette, 4000-3500 BC
Macehead, Merimde, c. 5100 BC
Prehistoric axe, Merimde, c. 5100 BC22
Shells amulet-pendant, c. 4500 BC

Links to others of type Mace

Macehead, Merimde, c. 5100 BC
  This ceremonial or votive macehead was made in Merimde, Egypt around 5100 BC.

Mace-head
A mace is a basic hand-held weapon, half-way between a club and a hammer. Egyptian maces generally consisted of a heavy spherical or apple-shaped stone head affixed on a stout wooden handle.

Although maces may or may not have been in fact a weapon of choice for Egyptian warriors and soldiers, they soon became symbols of military might. Indeed, Egyptian iconography is rife with depictions of Egyptian leaders smiting enemies with a mace, and some of the earliest tangible documentation of Dynastic Egypt was provided by ceremonial mace-heads, such as that of King Scorpion and King Narmer of Dynasty 1.


Bibliography (for this item)

Hoffman, Michael A.
1991 Egypt Before the Pharaohs: The Prehistoric Foundations of Egyptian Civilization. 2nd edition. University of Texas Press, Austin, TX. (173,
178, fig. 48
173-181)






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