4,000-year-old handprint found on Egyptian clay model

Daily Express

28-07-2025

Published on: Monday, July 28, 2025
Published on: Mon, Jul 28, 2025
By: Bernama Text Size: The 4000-year-old handprint was discovered on an ancient Egyptian clay model during preparation for an exhibition. LONDON: A 4,000-year-old handprint on a clay model, which was meant to be placed in an Egyptian tomb, was discovered during preparations for a museum exhibition, reported PA Media/dpa. The "rare and exciting" complete handprint was likely left by the artisan who crafted the item, having touched it before the clay had dried, an Egyptologist at Cambridge's Fitzwilliam Museum said. The imprint was left on the base of a "soul house" – a clay model in the shape of a building which would then be placed inside a burial. The model on which the handprint was discovered has been dated to around 2055–1650 BCE. It had an open front space where food items were laid out, in this example, loaves of bread, a lettuce and an ox's head. Soul houses may have acted as offering trays or provided a place for the soul of the deceased to live within the tomb. Helen Strudwick, senior Egyptologist at the Fitzwilliam Museum, said: "We've spotted traces of fingerprints left in wet varnish or on a coffin in the decoration, but it is rare and exciting to find a complete handprint underneath this soul house." "This was left by the person who touched it before the clay dried." "I have never seen such a complete handprint on an Egyptian object before." The researcher, who is also curator of the museum's new Made in Ancient Egypt exhibition, continued: "You can just imagine the person who made this, picking it up to move it out of the workshop to dry before firing." "Things like this take you directly to the moment when the object was made and to the person who made it, which is the focus of our exhibition." Analysis of the item suggests the potter who made it first created a framework of wooden sticks and then coated it with clay to make a building with two storeys supported by pillars. Staircases were formed by pinching the wet clay. During firing, the wooden framework burnt away, leaving empty spaces in its place. The handprint found underneath was probably made when someone, perhaps the potter, moved the house out of the workshop to dry before firing in a kiln, according to the researchers. Ceramics were widely used in ancient Egypt, mostly as functional objects but occasionally as decorative pieces. The soul house will be on display in the Fitzwilliam's Made in Ancient Egypt exhibition, which opens to the public on October 3. * Follow us on our official WhatsApp channel and Telegram for breaking news alerts and key updates! * Do you have access to the Daily Express e-paper and online exclusive news? Check out subscription plans available.
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