The Gebel el-Arak Knife, also Jebel el-Arak Knife, is an ivory and flint knife dating from the Naqada II period of Egyptian prehistory (3500—3200 BC), showing Mesopotamian influence. The knife was purchased in 1914 in Cairo by Georges Aaron Bénédite for the Louvre, where it is now on display in the Sully wing, room 633. At the time of its purchase, the knife handle was alleged by the seller to have been found at the site of Gebel el-Arak, but it is today believed to come from Abydos.
Purchase and origin
Purchase
The Gebel el-Arak knife was bought for the Louvre by the philologist and Egyptologist Georges Aaron Bénédite in February 1914 from a private antique dealer, M. Nahman, in Cairo. Bénédite immediately recognised the artefact's extraordinary state of preservation as well as its archaic date. On 16 March 1914, he wrote to Charles Boreux, then head of the département des Antiquités égyptiennes of the Louvre, about the item the unsuspecting dealer had offered him. It was: [...] an archaic flint knife with an ivory handle of the greatest beauty. This is the masterpiece of predynastic sculpture [...] executed with remarkable finesse and elegance. This is a work of great detail [...] and the interest of what is represented extends even beyond the artistic value of the artefact. On one side is a hunting scene; on the other a scene of war or a raid. At the top of the hunting scene [...] the hunter wears a large Chaldean garment: he head is covered by a hat like that of our Gudea [...] and he grasps two lions standing against him. You can judge the importance of this asiatic representation [...] we will own one of the most important prehistoric monuments, if not more. It is, in definitive, in tangible and summary form, the first chapter of the history of Egypt (emphasis in the original).Letter of G. Benedite to C. Boreux, Département des Antiquités Egyptiennes, Louvre
At the time of purchase, its blade and handle were separated, as the seller did not realise that they fitted together. Boreux later proposed that the knife be restored, and that the blade and handle be joined together. This was done in March 1933 by Léon André, who worked mainly on consolidating the ensemble, and conserving the ivory handle. The most recent restoration of the knife was undertaken in 1997 by Agnès Cascio and Juliette Lévy.
Provenance
At the time of its purchase by Bénédite, the knife handle was said by the dealer to have been found at the site of Gebel el-Arak (جبل العركى), a plateau near the village of Nag Hammadi, south of Abydos. However, the knife's true provenance is indicated by Bénédite in his letter to Boreux. He wrote: [...] the seller did not suspect that the flint [blade] belonged with the handle and presented it to me as witness of the recent finds from Abydos. That the knife did indeed originate from Abydos is supported by the otherwise total absence of archaeological finds from Gebel el-Arak, while intensive excavations by Émile Amélineau, Flinders Petrie, Édouard Naville and Thomas Eric Peet were taking place at this time at the Umm el-Qa'ab, the necropolis of predynastic and early dynastic rulers in Abydos.
Description
Blade
The blade of the knife is made of homogenous finely grained yellowish flint, a type of Egyptian flint called chert. Chert is widely available in Egypt and appears across the archaeological record as a material in lithic tool usage from the Paleolithic up to the New Kingdom. The blade was produced from the original stone in five stages: Roughing of the original stone. Preformation of the blade by percussion flaking. Polishing of both sides of the blade. This operation is required before the ripple-flaking, see below. One side of the blade was left polished and did not receive further work, thus showing a smooth ground surface, maybe to imitate a metal blade. Ripple-flaking on one side of the blade. This consists in uniformly removing long and thin strips of stone with parallel pressure flaking, creating a regular pattern of S undulations on the surface of the stone. Analysis of the shock waves on the surface of the blade reveals they were produced from the top to the bottom of the blade and from left to right, in a counterclockwise fashion. This work was probably made with pointed copper tools. The ripple-flaking of this side of the blade has no incidence on its sharpness, indicating that it may have served an artistic purpose. Fine serration of the edge of the blade by micro-flaking. This step produces the sharpness of the blade.