Food offering, plant fruit and nut kernels
Production date
1550 BCE-1060 BCE
Country
Egypt
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Object detail
Description
Fifty-six fruit and nut kernels, brown in colour, contained in a Egyptian woven fibre basket (E40070). These are of varying sizes and shapes. The basket and fruits were placed in a tomb and used as a provision of food for the dead. Plant kernels are identified as desert date (Balanites aegyptica); palm fruits (Areaceae) and legume pod (Fabaceae/Mimisaceae).
Classification
ARCHAEOLOGY Egyptian
Production date
1550 BCE-1060 BCE
Production place
Measurements
Complete fruit kernels / nuts L20-30mm
Media/Materials description
Plant kernels, of desert date (Balanites aegyptica), palm fruits (Areaceae) and legume pod (Fabaceae/Mimisaceae)
History and use
Baskets, such as this, were used to hold a variety of things, particularly food or household effects. This basket was collected from a tomb in Thebes, and held fruits of desert date (Balanites aegyptica), large legume-like pods possibly of Fabaceae/Mimosaceae, and palm fruits (Arecaceae). This basket may have been included in the tomb as a snack for the tomb owner in the afterlife, or made as an offering to the gods. Other baskets found in tombs held other food items, such as irregularly shaped pieces of bread.
Associated person
Registration number
E40070.3
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