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Middle Bronze Age II (around 1650-1550 BC)
Wood (modern recosntruction) with ivory inlays
H 13.5 cm, W 10.5 cm, D 15.5 cm
Tabaqat Fahl/Pella, northern Jordan Valley
The ivories decorating this box were excavated in 1984. The wood of the box had decayed but it was possible to reconstruct it from the positions of the ivories upon discovery, and by comparisons to contemporary Egyptian boxes.
The main panel on the lid has two lions with their paws on the heads of two intertwined cobras. Above is the winged sun-disc, the symbol of the Egyptian god Horus, while the sides have inlays in the form of the Eye of Horus. Next to the knob for closing the box is a viper snake. The free use of the Egyptian symbols, however, indicates that the carver was not Egyptian. The box is probably a product of Syro-Palestinian coast, noting that a species of small elephants was native to Syria up to the first millennium BC.
© Text: The Jordan Museum
© Photo: Haupt & Binder
Exhibits from the periods between 3600 and 332 BC, with additional information. Part of the visual informative tour through The Jordan Museum in Amman.
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