Error is the price we pay for progress.
“
| — | Alfred North Whitehead, Process and Reality (via philosophybits) |
NÖRDLINGEN, GERMANY, a meteorite-bounded town in Bavaria
Nordlingen is a town nearly 15 million years in the making. Although it has only been populated in a modern sense for the last 1200 years, the town is neatly centered in the middle of a crater caused by a giant meteor crashing into the Bavarian countryside.
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Dagger of Princess Ita
In the tomb of Princess Ita, daughter of Amenemhat II, this dagger was found in her coffin, together with a collection of jewels that included bracelets, anklets a necklace, and the remains of a belt.
The pommel is in the shape of a light crescent of lapis lazuli. The hilt is beaten gold and is inlaid with disks of lapis lazuli and green feldspar. The disks are inlaid with diagonal crosses of thin gold and between the disks are curvilinear squares inlaid with light brown carnelian. The elegant bronze blade is mounted in the solid gold shoulder and attached by three gold rivets. The tongue of the bronze blade and the shoulder strap fit exactly into the hilt.
The form of the blade is Phoenician in origin, and the patterns on the handle were common in Crete. It has been suggested that the dagger was imported from Byblos in Phoenicia or from Crete, or was manufactured in Egypt by a foreign craftsman at the royal court.
From the Tomb of Princess Ita next to the pyramid of king Amenemhat II at Dahshur. Middle Kingdom, 12th Dynasty, reign of Amenemhat II, ca. 1914-1879 BC. Now in the Egyptian Museum, Cairo. JE 31069
Minmesout Embalmer’s Knife
A bronze embalmer’s knife with figure of Anubis seated on a handle shaped like a papyrus plant that bears the name of the owner, Minmesout.
New Kingdom, 19th Dynasty, ca. 1292-1189 BC. Now in the Louvre. N 2116
Photos: Georges Poncet
