Egypt: A 4,000-Year-Old Handprint Discovered on a Clay Relic

Fingerprints on Archaeological Artifacts

Egypt: A 4,000-Year-Old Handprint Discovered on a Clay Relic

Fingerprints on Archaeological Artifacts

A 4,000-year-old handprint was discovered on a clay relic made for an Egyptian tomb during preparation for an exhibition at a museum.

Helen Strudwick, an Egyptologist at the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge, said the "rare and exciting" full-length handprint may have been left by the artifact's maker, who touched it before the clay had dried, according to the British news agency PA Media. The print was found on the base of a "spirit dwelling," a clay model of a building that would have been placed inside a tomb.

The relic on which the handprint was discovered dates back to around 2055-1650 BC. It had an open frontal area for serving food items, in this instance loaves of bread, lettuce, and a bull's head. Strudwick, senior Egyptologist at the Fitzwilliam Museum, said: "We've seen fingerprints left in wet varnish or on a coffin in decoration, but it's rare and exciting to find a complete handprint under this spirit's dwelling."

She continued: "It was left by the craftsman who touched it before the clay had dried," adding: "I've never seen such a complete handprint on an Egyptian artifact before." The researcher, who is also the curator of the museum's new exhibition "Made in Ancient Egypt," continued: "You can imagine the person who made this picking it up and carrying it out of the workshop to dry before firing."

She said: "Things like this take you directly to the moment the object was made and to the person who made it, which is the focus of our exhibition." Analysis of the object suggests that the potter who made it first created a frame of wooden sticks and then covered them with clay to create a two-story building supported by pillars.

According to the researchers, the handprint found at the bottom may have been left when someone, perhaps a potter, moved the house from the workshop to dry before firing in a kiln. Pottery was widely used in ancient Egypt, mostly as functional objects but sometimes as decorative pieces. The spirit dwelling will be on display at the Fitzwilliam Gallery's "Made in Ancient Egypt," which opens to the public on October 3.