Early Middle Kingdom seals and seal impressions from Abu Ghâlib in the Western Niledelta
Tine Bagh

Only two objects from the early Middle Kingdom settlement site of Abu Ghâlib have yielded royal names: a fragmentary cylinder seal impression with the name of Sneferu and a fragmentary cylinder seal with the name of Senwosret II. Unfortunately neither is among the material now stored in the Medelhavsmuseum in Stockholm where most of the scarab seals, scaraboids and seal impressions published in the two preliminary reports by H. Larsen are otherwise kept together with a few fragmentary unpublished seal impressions.

Daphna Ben-Tor has recently drawn attention to how many of the designs from Abu Ghâlib can be compared to the scarabs from the famous Montet Jar from Byblos, and in Egypt good parallels are found in tombs at Kôm el-Hisn further north in the Western Niledelta and at other burial sites such as Gurob, Sedment and Matmar. W.A. Ward did not include the scarabs from Abu Ghâlib in his "Pre-12th Dynasty Scarab Amulets" as their backs and sides were not illustrated and far the larger part of the collection is actually made up of sealimpressions and not the seals themselves. As an investigation of the material, especially the pottery, kept in the Medelhavsmuseum has been initiated with the purpose of a final publication, the backs and sides of the seals and also the sealimpressions have been studied further as well as the context of the material in the excavation areas according to the diaries etc. The focus here will thus be on the context and purpose of sealings in an early Middle Kingdom settlement compared to their supposed amuletic function in tombs.