Archaeologist Discovers an Ancient Egyptian Piece of Pottery, Reveals One of Their Sacred Rituals

An exciting discovery of an ancient Egyptian fragment of pottery has provided fresh details about how the civilization approached their holy death rituals, especially the deep "Opening of the Mouth" ceremony, stated Archaeology Magazine. The pottery fragment, an ostracon, was found by popular archaeologist, Flinders Petrie, in the artists' quarter behind the Ramesseum, a great temple opposite ancient Thebes across the Nile.

The significance of the find lay in the fact that it was a unique representation of one of Egypt's most sacrosanct rituals. Ancient Egyptians believed death was not the end but rather a rest stop on the way to a complicated, demanding, and sometimes dangerous journey to the afterlife. The "Opening of the Mouth" ritual was part of this journey wherein priests symbolically restored life to the deceased, whether represented by a cult statue, tomb painting, or mummified body, explained Stephen Quirke, of University College London, according to Archaeology Magazine.

What makes ostracon even more unique is, it represents both a historical find and perhaps a peek into ancient Egyptian humor. It was a drawing of a girl's profile, done in the profile that was conventionally used for statues, but it included a monkey and is, therefore, supposed to be humorous. Quirke writes that this may be a student's caricature of the very serious "Opening of the Mouth" ritual, indicating that even their most sacred ceremonies were not safe from gentle ridicule. The use of ostraca—that is, discarded potsherds serving as an ancient equivalent of scratch paper—was extremely common throughout the ancient world. These fragments provided an inexpensive, easily available surface on which artists, students, and scribes could practice their craft.

The place of its finding within what is believed to be an artists' school suggests this could have been created during the training of a student; however, the remarkable skill present in the drawing does point to considerable artistic maturity. The archaeological context of this find gives much to say about ancient Egyptian artistic education. To find such an ostracon in an artists' school, with thousands of other practice pieces, is evidence of a grueling system through which Egypt's artistic legacy was maintained over millennia. These schools served as crucial centers for preserving and transmitting artistic conventions that would eventually adorn temples, tombs, and religious artifacts throughout the kingdom, according to Britannica.

This also serves as a rare window into the more human side of ancient Egyptian society. Whereas most ancient remains emphasize grandeur and solemnity within religious practices, this ostracon would suggest that everyday citizens—and the artists in training in particular—presumed security with their tradition such that sometimes they could treat it humorously and lightly. It does not make the rituals any less important; they are simply more humanizing to those practicing them. In this way, the "Opening of the Mouth" ceremony had deep roots in Egyptian religious life.