"May you receive that favourite harpoon of yours..." Old Kingdom spears/harpoons and their contexts of use
Abstract
The article examines the roles of spears and harpoons in textual and other sources of the Old Kingdom. Firstly, palaeographic evidence is discussed, then Pyramid Texts, iconographic material and finally material culture, i.e. the preserved artefacts, are reviewed.
It is argued that mabA is the name of a complete artefact, mAw.t is the wooden haft, bwn is the name for double harpoons, bound and used together, and qs is the name for the blade, regardless of the material, be it bone, horn or metal. According to the Pyramid Texts, harpoons were connected to the king's victories over his enemies personifying chaos, his rebirth and resurrection.
Whereas in iconography and palaeography, distinction between spears and harpoons is usually clear, it is often not the case in material culture. It is shown that artefacts named as harpoons in material culture were used as spears in the iconography.
Preserved specimens of barbed points from 4th and 3rd millennium BC Egypt have maximal length below 20 cm, the longest points for the hippopotamus hunt are most probably not preserved in the archaeological record.