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

Arrowhead

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, reign of Djer, ca. 3100–2900 B.C. Ivory. L. 6.5 cm (2 9/16 in.). From: Umm el-Qaab, Tomb of Djer, Abydos, Northern Upper Egypt, Egypt. Excavation: Egypt Exploration Fund excavations. Credit: Gift of Egypt Exploration Fund, 1901.

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.

Photograph of a small, pointed projectile-shaped object with a central metal/stone blade-like tip, photographed against a yellow fabric background. A vertical handwritten/number marking appears on the front surface; no clear hieroglyphic text is visible.

The image shows a single slender, tapering object oriented vertically, with a narrow pointed tip at the top and a broader base. The surface appears off-white to beige with dark mottling and streaks, suggesting age and/or staining. Near the lower half there is an attached gray band or collar-like element around the object. A vertical set of red/brown handwritten digits and marks is visible on the front face (appearing similar to “01.4.8”); no carved hieroglyphs are discernible. The overall form resembles a small arrowhead or arrowhead-like tool, with no visible iconography (no deities, figures, or cartouches).

unclear Early Dynastic Period (per catalogue); exact attribution from image unclear poor
Materials ivory? (off-white carved surface; exact material uncertain from photo)metal/stone attachment/collar (gray band near base)
Visible text "Handwritten/numbering on object: unclear digits resembling “01.4.8” (exact transcription uncertain)"

Inscriptions (1)

Inscription #1 AI reading of the photograph

Visible text (machine reading)

Handwritten/numbering on object: unclear digits resembling “01.4.8” (exact transcription uncertain)

Connections

Found at Abydos

Cross-references (4)

  • Wikidata-Q Q116235336 tier-1
  • Collection-QID Q160236 tier-2 (wikidata-mediated)
  • Inventory-Number 01.4.48 tier-2 (wikidata-mediated)
  • MET-Object 547417 tier-2 (wikidata-mediated)
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.