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1889.27.47

Ball of yarn or string.

On display

1889.27.47

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Collection type
Object
Description
Ball of yarn or string.
Long description
Ball of twisted undyed yarn or string, possibly of flax.
Geographical reference
Egypt
Africa > Northern Africa > Egypt
Date / Period
Date made: 2055-1650 BC Archaeological period: Ancient Egyptian Middle Kingdom
Date collected
1889
Acquisition information
Donated: 10/1889
Materials and processes
Material Yarn, Material String, Process Twisted, Process Wound, Material Flax Yarn Plant
Dimensions
Diameter: max 36 mm
Object numbers
Accession number: 1889.27.47
Research and responses

See researchers file 'Veldmeijer' for copies of articles by Andre J. Veldmeijer about archaeological Egyptian cordage. [ZM 21/08/2008]

The Middle Kingdom period was 2055-1650 BC according to Shaw, I and Nicholson, P (1997) "British Museum Dictionary of Ancient Egypt" [SM (Verve) 13/10/2016]

This object, along with 1889.27.49, was researched by MSc student Alexandria Gour for the module ‘Provenance Research and the Ethnographic Archive’ in Spring 2025. She suggests that both objects constitute balls of flax, an identification based on three factors: the widespread usage and cultivation of flax during the Egyptian Middle Kingdom; analysis of the processes of creating rove and yarn from flax and comparing the documented end-results of this process to the morphological characteristics of the objects; a comparison of the objects with positively identified balls of flax yarn and rove from the same archaeological context in the collection of the Petrie Museum. She argues that the balls represent different stages in the manufacturing process, with 1889.27.49 being a ball of untwisted flax rove, and 1889.27.47 being an example of the next stage after twisting, a finished ball of yarn.

For more information see a copy of the provenance report in the related documents file. [JMC 08/09/2025]

Associated publications
Petrie, W.M.F. 1890. Kahun, Gurob and Hawara (London). [AS 06/07/2012]

Search terms: Cordage, Cord

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