Awl
Description
Object Label: Tools Egyptian workers, including artisans, farmers, and fishermen, required a wide variety of specialized tools. Woodworkers employed axes that had copper or bronze blades lashed to wooden handles with leather. Carpenters produced smooth surfaces with copper chisels, often with serrated edges. Tanners used broad, flat knives to cut strips of leather for sandals, harnesses, and whips, which they then pierced with metal awls. Field hands cut grain with curved sickles fitted with small flint blades. Fishermen relied on metal hooks with tiny barbs, much like their modern-day equivalents. Officials used siphons to inspect the liquid contents of vessels without breaking through the protective mud seals. Caption: Awl, ca. 1539–1292 B.C.E.. Bronze, wood, 11/16 x 3 5/8 in. (1.7 x 9.2 cm) handle: 1 11/16 in. (4.3 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of the Egypt Exploration Fund, 14.633.2. (Photo: Brooklyn Museum)
AI image analysis GPT-4o-2024-08-06
Machine-generated from the object's image on May 2026. Not curatorial; treat deities, names, and signs below as the model's best reading, not authority.
A wooden-handled awl or tool with a pointed metal tip.
The artifact depicted is a simple tool with a wooden handle and a pointed metal tip, likely used for piercing or engraving. The tool's construction is straightforward yet functional, showcasing typical craftsmanship. The wooden part appears to be smooth, while the metal is thin and tapered to a sharp point.
Cross-references (2)
- BKM-Accession 14.633.2 tier-2
- BKM-Object 3112 tier-2
About this record's data
- From the source institution — accession, description, dimensions, and dating are as catalogued by Brooklyn Museum — Egyptian, Classical, Ancient Near Eastern Art.
- 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.