Making Fire or Woodworking? Bone Artefacts from Djedkare’s Necropolis, South Saqqara (Egypt)

The paper discusses animal bone artefacts from the archaeological excavation in the area between the pyramid complexes of Pharaoh Djedkare’s and Queen Setibhor (5th dynasty, mid-3rd millennium BCE) at Djedkare’s Necropolis in South Saqqara, Egypt. Eight artefacts made from cattle (Bos taurus) astragali (talus bones) come from a large waste deposit layer, which provides evidence of long-term cultic activities associated with the funerary cults of the king and queen. The astragali display traces of drilling of varied intensity on the anterior surface, indicating that the artefacts were used as caps or bearing blocks for vertical bow or rotational drill kits used for drilling or fire-making by friction. The artefacts thus constitute evidence of activities beyond the funerary cults, probably related to woodworking, tool repairs, and/or fire-making, using animal bones that were readily available on site from the waste of funerary offerings.