JAL328H1 Lecture Notes - Maat, Transliteration, Ptah
Document Summary
Egypt is isolated, but nearby to many civilizations. A tomb was dug in abydos dating back to ~ 3200 bc. Early use of symbols = used for trade, business, administrative purposes. Some of the symbols were present in earlier art on pottery, some new. Each has a hole drilled on the corner. Order of symbols = variable e. g. wheat e. g. the direction of the bird is the direction you start reading from. Likely drawn multiple times on a grid, then painted black and drilled. Symbols also appear on jars - smashed by looters. Found only in these tombs in abydos in upper egypt. Just prior to ~3200, these symbols disappear from commoner"s belongings. Then it vanished from household goods, and only found on tombs. Symbols only used by elite - banned from common use. Various attempts have been made but none require knowledge of the egyptian language. The images on the tags don"t seem to point to objects or items.
