Tell el-Dabʿa: The scarabs, seals and seal impressions of the areas H/I to H/VI at Ezbet Helmi

In the area of the extenxive palace complexes at Ezbet Helmi, a large number of scarabs, seals and seal impressions was found, including those with the names of kings. By originating from stratified contexts, this group of finds provides a good overview of the development of stamp seals at the beginning of the New Kingdom.

Extensive palace structures dating to the 2nd Intermediate Period and the early New Kingdom have been excavated at ʿEzbet Helmi, located west of Tell el-Dabʿa, under the direction of Manfred Bietak since 1990. The excavations revealed a large number of scarabs, seals and seal impressions, of which only a small selection of seal impressions have so far been published. The pieces of the 2nd Intermediate Period are closely related typologically to the numerous scarabs from Tell el-Dabʿa published by Christa Mlinar; the corpus of scarabs and seals of the New Kingdom, however, forms a new group of material culture of Tell el-Dabʿa. Through their origin from stratigraphically reliable contexts, the series of ʿEzbet Helmi will provide important reference material for the development and typology of stamp seals in the early 18th Dynasty (1543–1292 BC).

Principal investigator