03 · OBJECT · DYNASTY I

Ivory tablets

A label can remember an event

Oil, quantity and date fit on a small token tied to a vessel.

Museum documentation · free public access, no account required.

Specific historical reenactment of A label can remember an event, Abydos and Saqqara, Egypt, ca. 3100–2900 BCE. — **DECLARED VISUAL RECONSTRUCTION · EXISTING EDITORIAL RESOURCE · TRACEKEEPERS**
Generated reconstruction · Declared visual hypothesis
Declared visual reconstruction for museographic context; it is not a photograph of the original nor documentary evidence.

History and context

Ivory, bone or wooden tablets from Abydos and Saqqara were associated with containers and recorded quality, quantity and events. They are material administration: each brand accompanied a specific good.

The wow effect is not in its size, but in its scope. A minimal tablet could link a delivery of oil with a royal date and a larger archive.

The tablets could be hung from jars of expensive oil. Images of events, names and quantities brought together royal memory and material control in a few centimeters.

The fact that the verbs were not written completely reminds us that reading them required shared knowledge. They were aids within an institution, not self-sufficient texts for any reader.

Evidence and interpretation

Documented fact: UCL documents 1st Dynasty tablets linked to jars, with information about products and events. Interpretation and caution: Not all of them worked in the same way, and translating their signs as a modern administrative calendar simplifies their uses. Documented extension: UCL records tablets from the First Dynasty associated with jars and found mainly in royal tombs of Abydos and tombs of Saqqara. Interpretation and expanded caution: The scenes are not complete calendars and various sign readings remain disputed.

Catalogue facts

Narrative date: c. 3100–2900 BCE
Location: Abydos and Saqqara, Egypt
Material: Inscribed ivory, bone or wood
Context: Goods labeling
Curatorial reading: The documented fact and its interpretation appear separately in the evidence block.
Use: Labels attached to oil containers
Information: Quality, quantity, name and annual event
Documentary coverage: 2 museum, heritage, primary corpus or research sources for this stop.

A SHARED TOPIC, DIFFERENT MOMENTS

Objects connected through time

Follow a topic across the collections. A shared tag is a way to compare objects, not proof that one culture influenced another.

The order uses the midpoint of each approximate date range; ranges can overlap. Spacing does not represent elapsed time. Swipe, scroll or use the arrows. With the sequence focused, use ← / →, Home or End.

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c. 3100–2900 BCE

Ivory tablets

Ancient Egypt

Date range for the assemblage of tablets and labels.

Current record

Ivory11 dated objects

8 / 11In the centre: Ivory tablets

Also connected, without a comparable date (1)

These objects are not placed after the others: an unknown date does not mean a more recent object.

Nile towards NubiaAncient Egypt · ca. 3300–2800 BCE

You can scroll the first group without JavaScript. The other topics are also available below.

Bone

Hohle Fels flute · ≈35,000–40,000 years · Prehistory
Rondelle de Mas-d'Azil · ≈18,000–16,000 years · Prehistory
El Miradero spatula-idols · ≈4000–3800 cal BCE · Prehistory
Naqada labels · ca. 3300–3100 BCE · Ancient Egypt
Ivory tablets · c. 3100–2900 BCE · Ancient Egypt — You are viewing
453 astragali from Alarcos · 4th–3rd centuries BCE · necropolis chronology · Iberians

Without a comparable date (not part of the chronological order):

Bone needle · No individual dating published on this record · Prehistory
Ishango, without genealogical shortcut · More than 20,000 years; context ca. 25,000–20,000 BP · Batwa / Twa histories
Oracle bones · from ca. 1200 BCE · Ancient China

Tablets

Ivory tablets · c. 3100–2900 BCE · Ancient Egypt — You are viewing
Jemdet Nasr · c. 3100–2900 BCE · Sumer
Account of malt and barley · c. 3100–2900 BCE · Sumer
Before the Hittites · c. 19th century BCE · Hittites
Plimpton 322 · Paleo-Babylonian period · around 1800 BCE · Sumer
Sumerian King List · Towards 1800 BCE · Sumer
Love song to Shu-Sin · Paleo-Babylonian copy, around 1900–1600 BCE according to CDLI · Sumer
Si.427 tablet · Towards 1900–1600 BCE · paleobabylonian; uncertain chronological attribution in CDLI · Sumer
Sumerian Flood of Nippur · Towards 1650 BCE · Sumer
Boğazköy Archive · Above all 17th–13th centuries BCE · Hittites
Linear B · c. 1375 BCE · Greek worlds
Alaksandu of Wilusa · c. 1300 BCE · Hittites
Treaty with Egypt · c. 1259 BCE, year 21 of Ramesses II · Hittites
Flood Tablet · 7th century BCE · Sumer
Babylonian map of the world · Towards 700–500 BCE · Sumer
Rations for women and children · Towards 509–493 BCE · Achaemenid Persia

Writing

Without a comparable date (not part of the chronological order):

49 Classical Voices · Authors and traditions between the 6th century BCE and 4th century CE · Iberians
Cyrus speaks as king of Babylon · After the conquest of Babylon in 539 BCE · Achaemenid Persia
Indian Ocean Kiswahili · from the first millennium CE; major development in medieval and modern times · Bantu-speaking worlds
Oracle bones · from ca. 1200 BCE · Ancient China
The cost of transcription · 19th century–current digital edition · San histories
Translating faith · 16th–18th centuries · Bantu-speaking worlds
Voices from outside · Fifth century BCE–Late Antiquity · Garamantes
Writing with gaps · Diverse chronologies · Garamantes
Zalmoxis · testimony of Herodotus, 5th century BCE; no biographical date of the divinity. · Thracians

Accounting

Cylinder seal · c. 3500–3100 BCE · Sumer
Naqada labels · ca. 3300–3100 BCE · Ancient Egypt
Susa accounting bulla · 3500–2900 BCE · proto-urban period; towards 3300 BCE as a guide, not exact date · Sumer
Ivory tablets · c. 3100–2900 BCE · Ancient Egypt — You are viewing
Jemdet Nasr · c. 3100–2900 BCE · Sumer
Account of malt and barley · c. 3100–2900 BCE · Sumer
Weights · ca. 2600–1900 BCE · Indus civilisation
Before the Hittites · c. 19th century BCE · Hittites
Linear B · c. 1375 BCE · Greek worlds
Maya's cubit · 1330–1295 BCE · end of the 18th dynasty · Ancient Egypt
Rations for women and children · Towards 509–493 BCE · Achaemenid Persia

A closer look

About 1 min to read · 1 section. Further reading and sources · free access. Editorial review recorded: September 5, 2026.

Flip the label

The British Museum's Den EA55586 label was not linked to an oil jug: a pair of sandals is incised on the reverse, identifying the type of object with which it was associated. The front combines the king with raised mace, a captive, the banner of Upuaut and the name of the Inka official behind the sovereign. The piece preserves the suspension hole and was restored from three fragments. Reading both sides allows us to distinguish material content, authority and ceremonial image, and avoids attributing a single function to all the labels of the first dynasty.

Museum · British Museum · Ivory label for a sandal of King Den, EA55586Access recorded: September 5, 2026.

Location and territory

LOCATED SITE

Abydos · EgyptMarker of the archaeological landscape of Abydos.

Sources and references

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Ivory tablets

History and context

Evidence and interpretation

Catalogue facts

Objects connected through time

Ivory tablets

Lion-man

Hohle Fels

Brno II Articulated Figure

Lespugue

Zaraysk Bison

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Naqada labels

Ivory tablets

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Ivory with names

Articulated doll from Tarragona

A closer look

Flip the label

Location and territory

Sources and references

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