Metropolitan Museum of Art — Egyptian Art (Open Access) · tool

Bifacial knife with handle

Source of record: Metropolitan Museum of Art — Egyptian Art (Open Access) — catalogued by the holding institution. View the original record →

Description

Early Dynastic Period, Dynasty 1–2, ca. 3100–2649 B.C. Flint. L.12.8 × W. 3.9 × Th. 0.8 cm (5 1/16 × 1 9/16 × 5/16 in.). From: Osiris Temple precinct, Abydos, Northern Upper Egypt, Egypt. Excavation: Egypt Exploration Fund excavations. Credit: Gift of Egypt Exploration Fund, 1902.

AI image analysis GPT-5.4-nano

Machine-generated from the object's image on Jul 2026. Not curatorial; treat deities, names, and signs below as the model's best reading, not authority.

The image shows a single flint stone artifact photographed against a light background, appearing as an elongated, bifacially worked piece.

A horizontally oriented, roughly oval/rectangular flint piece is shown with a mottled, pale beige-gray surface. The object has uneven edges and visible flaking/retouch along one or both faces, consistent with a stone tool that could have been bifacially worked. No attached handle components are clearly visible in this view, and there are no carved inscriptions or decorative elements discernible. The photograph does not reveal any clear hieroglyphs, cartouches, or modern text.

decorative Early Dynastic Period (per catalogue); image does not provide diagnostic dating features beyond the lithic form. fragmentary
Materials flint (chert-like stone)

Connections

Found at Abydos
Materials Flint
About this record's data
  • From the source institution — accession, description, dimensions, and dating are as catalogued by Metropolitan Museum of Art — Egyptian Art (Open Access).
  • AI-inferred — the image-analysis panel (deities, names, signs) is machine-generated and may be wrong.
  • Approximate location — most map points are plotted at the site centroid, not the exact findspot.
  • Inferred links — cross-references marked with a match method other than explicit-source-field were matched by us, not stated by the source.