New research suggests that it may have been engraved at the dawn of the First Dynasty by 5,100 years ago.
The sculpture depicts a boat that may be a royal figure within it, but only the person’s head and right shoulder are visible. The sculptures are specifically similar to ancient Egyptian rock panels from the Protozoic period and the early First Dynasty. This is an era that is not well known to archaeologists. These similarities suggest that new sculptures may hold clues regarding the formation of the Egyptian state.
“Boats are one of the most frequently repeated motifs in Egyptian iconography,” said Dorian Vanhulle, research author of Dorian Vanhulle, director and curator of Belgium’s Musee du Malgré Tout, in a statement. “During periods of vampiemia and protozoic (4500 BC to 3085 BC), periods that foresaw Pharaon Egypt, boats are ubiquitous and invested in complex ideological and symbolic meanings.”
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The “interesting” rock sculpture was discovered in November 2022 on the west bank of the Nile River near Aswan in a study documenting local rock art prior to the construction of the city of New Aswan.
The sculpture shows “a gorgeous boat dragged to the right with five numbers,” Vanfull wrote. Behind the back, a person standing holds an oar. Next to this person is an enclosed area, perhaps a cabin, which appears to have a seated individual.
This person may be royalty, Vanfull writes. However, some details are not stored, making it difficult to interpret the individual. The person who sat there appears to have a long, slender jaw. This was “typically typical of the depiction of early rulers who could specify the false whiskers worn by kings since the first dynasty,” Vanfure wrote in his study.
The individual who sits has a “vertical stroke” on his head. This “may be some kind of headdress,” he writes.
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To this day of rock art, Vanfull has looked into its style. He noted that the boat’s sickle-like shape and the person pulling it resembles the portrayal of the boat from its protozoan and early dynasty, adding that the cabin resembles the portrayal of the late pre-boats. The boat also appears to have a “horn” at the top of the second cabin. This is a common feature at the beginning of the First Dynasty, he writes.
However, Vanhal does not consider this individual to be a nalmer. He founded the first Egyptian dynasty around 3085 BC. This is because the sculpture lacks the hieroglyphic symbol depicting the facade of the palace carrying the king’s name, and the facade of the palace carrying the god of Falconhead.
“This absence suggests that the person who sat there was not the king of the first dynasty,” Vanfure wrote in his study. Rather, he wrote that the sculpture was “produced at the dawn of the First Dynasty, perhaps shortly before the reign of Nalmah.”
The lack of select is “related details,” Alejandro Zimenez Serrano, an Egyptian scholar at Jane University in Spain, told Live Science in an email because he was not involved in the study. “This could indicate that the sitting figure predates the widespread use of this royal symbol in official rock art.”
The sculpture and others are well-made and have many similarities that Vanfull noted that local authorities may have commissioned rock art specialists long before the first pyramid was constructed.
According to Jiménez Serrano, the sculpture makes it particularly important that the limited corpus of this sculpture make it particularly important.
However, interpreting rock art is difficult, and Vanhulle and Jiménez Serrano pointed out many limitations in this study. For example, it is difficult to know whether the vertical stroke above a person’s head is actually a headdress or if the elongated chin is a fake beard. It is not clear whether the individual seated was a man or a woman.
“The study acknowledges that gender and status cannot be determined, but its social importance as a potential member of the ruling class is recognized,” Jimenez Serrano said.
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