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This block, carved in fine calcite, must have served a ritual purpose. It was probably not an embalming table because it lacks a hole through which the embalming fluids could drain. The block was most likely an altar upon which gifts of food and flowers were placed for a person of high social status.
Although it was found on a ramp in Ramesses the Third's temple at Medinat Habu, it is obvious that this is not its original location. The block could have been part of the funerary equipment of one of the four great ladies of the Late Period who were buried within the temple precinct: Amenirdas the First, Nitocris, Shepenwepet the Second, and Mehyten-waskhet. It may have been moved into the temple proper during the Christian era when it could have served another religious purpose, perhaps as a bishop's chair. |
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