![]() ![]() The image of an adze was the hieroglyph for the word “stp” meaning chosen.Ĭarpenter using an Adze, Tomb of Rekmire, New Kingdom It was originally made of stone (particularly basalt and diorite), but in later periods often had a metal blade, sometimes formed from meteoric iron. The adze (a cutting tool similar to an ax) was also used for planing and carving in carpentry, boat building and house building. It also involved the use of a number of tools, including an arm shaped incense burner, a serpent headed blade, numerous amulets and the adze and peseskhaf. Spells 21, 22 and 23 of the Book of the Dead refer specifically to this ritual. The ritual required the reading of numerous spells, and the sacrifice of a calf. In a royal burials, this may have been one way for the son of the king to confirm that he was the heir and successor of his father. It could also be performed by the son of the deceased wearing leopard skin robes. The ritual was conducted by the Sem Priest dressed in leopard skin robes. During the fourth dynasty of the Old Kingdom, only a bust of the tomb owner’s head was included! Opening the Mouth – Book of the Dead of Hunefer Many tombs included a statue of the deceased placed in a closed chamber known as a serdab. Thus, the statue could act as a useful backup should the body of the deceased be damaged or destroyed. ![]() When conducted on a statue (or from the New Kingdom, a coffin), it allowed the statue to act as a surrogate for the body. When performed on a mummy it allowed the spirit of the deceased to see, speak, hear, breathe, and to receive offerings of food and drink. The first references to this ritual are from the Old Kingdom, and it remained part of their burial practices throughout Egyptian history. It transformed the deceased into an akh, the reanimated and effective spirit that was one of the elements of the ancient Egyptian concept of the soul. The grave may not be the most famous prehistoric burial site in Ireland-that distinction belongs to Newgrange-but it is the oldest known grave in the country.The Opening of the Mouth (“wepet-er”) was the most important part of the burial ritual. The site it was uncovered from is also remarkable: The body was cremated before it was buried, a rare practice at the time, and it had the unusual distinction of a wooden post nearby to mark it. Although polished axes and adzes are known from pre-agricultural sites in Ireland and other parts of Europe, to find such a well-made, highly polished and securely dated example is unprecedented for this period of prehistory." "The adze is exceptional as we traditionally associate this polished axes and adzes like this with the arrival of agriculture in Europe, around 3000 years later. Researcher and paper co-author Ben Elliot said in a statement: Handled axes dating back as far as 44,000 years have been found elsewhere in the past, but this highly polished tool is believed to be the oldest adze discovered in Europe. This might indicate it was made especially for the funeral, and that blunting the blade was a symbolic act performed during the rites. It appears to have been used only for a brief period before someone went out of their way to blunt it. The polished shale tool, called an adze, was found buried with cremated remains in a pit first discovered 15 years ago. The artifact that led to this conclusion, discussed in a paper recently published in the Cambridge Archaeological Journal, was a stone axe. As The Irish Times reports, the grave suggests that Mesolithic Irish people led more complex lives than we previously believed. Now, more than 9000 years later, the site provides a window into the burial practices of the area’s ancient inhabitants. Between 75 BCE, a funeral took place on the banks of the river Shannon in what is today County Limerick, Ireland. ![]()
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