Beads

Dynasty Dynasty 19 (Ancient Egyptian, 1295–1186 BCE)

Period New Kingdom Period (Ancient Egyptian, 1550–1070 BCE)

Place of OriginEgypt, Balabish necropolis, Tomb 72

Date19th Dynasty (1292–1189 BCE)

Dimensions19 7/8 in. (50.5 cm)

Mediumfaience

ClassificationJewelry

Credit LineEgypt Exploration Fund

Object number

1915.89

Not on View

Label TextThese blue faience beads were found in Tomb 72 at Balabish, a large cemetery in Upper Egypt that served local communities during the Second Intermediate Period and New Kingdom (c. 1650–1070 BCE). The site lies near the desert edge, close to Abydos, and was excavated in 1915 by a team led by G.A. Wainwright and Thomas Whittemore. This strand belonged to a burial from the 19th Dynasty (1295–1186 BCE). Faience beads were valued for their color, luster, and symbolic associations with fertility, renewal, and divine protection.Published ReferencesWainwright, Gerald Averay, Balabish: Thirty-Seventh Memoir of the Egypt Exploration Society, London, George Allen & Unwin, Ltd., 1920, p. 72, no. 72.