Serrated Tool with Handle

ca. 1539–1292 B.C.E.

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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

Serrated Tool with Handle, ca. 1539–1292 B.C.E.. Bronze, wood, 5/8 x 3 11/16 in. (1.6 x 9.4 cm) handle: 2 1/4 in. (5.7 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of the Egypt Exploration Fund, 14.633.3. (Photo: Brooklyn Museum)

Title

Serrated Tool with Handle

Date

ca. 1539–1292 B.C.E.

Dynasty

Dynasty 18

Period

New Kingdom

Geography

Place excavated: Sawama, Egypt

Medium

Bronze, wood

Classification

Tool

Dimensions

5/8 x 3 11/16 in. (1.6 x 9.4 cm) handle: 2 1/4 in. (5.7 cm)

Credit Line

Gift of the Egypt Exploration Fund

Accession Number

14.633.3

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