Stone Jar
56.22.665
Information
Small bag-shaped jar with neck cut into triangular points which resembles a pomegranate fruit. Slight flat base and two small perforated lug handles. Formed from two horizontal halves and marked in ink, "Abydos, Tomb, Jan. 1924".
The jar has been dated to about 3500 - 3100 BC because of a similar vase published in Ali el-Khouli, ‘Egyptian Stone Vessels Predynastic Period to Dynasty III’ (Mainz, 1978) nos. 1501-1506. However, the earliest evidence for the pomegranate mostly comes from the Second Intermediate Period and the New Kingdom (e.g., archaeobotanical records at Tell el-Dab’a and pomegranate shaped vessels in the tomb of Tutankhamun). For these reasons the jar may be dated to the New Kingdom, rather than the Predynastic or Early Dynastic when breccia jars were much more common.