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What to look for in the photograph
What to look for in the photograph
Details the record or source describes; every point cites its basis.
- 1 The crocodile-headed figure
The record's title: "Scarab with a Crocodile Headed Figure Holding a Flower". The record has no description beyond the title.
Per source 1 - 2 The hand holding the flower
Per the record's title the figure holds a flower; the record does not say which flower and does not interpret the scene.
Per source 1
Documented object · Amulets and scarabs
Scarab with a crocodile-headed figure
A small seal-amulet of glazed steatite that the museum records "From Canaan, Levant" and dates by an Egyptian dynasty. Place, dating scheme and culture are three separate questions here.
Date as given by the sourceca. 1640-1550 BCEAs worded by the source: ca. 1640-1550 B.C.; Second Intermediate Period, Dynasty 15
What you see
What you see
The photograph shows the base of the scarab, the flat side used for sealing: a crocodile-headed figure holding a flower inside an oval frame. The object is 2.1 cm long. The title the museum gave it describes exactly this image. Source 1.
What the record says
The record dates the scarab "ca. 1640-1550 B.C." and assigns it to the Second Intermediate Period, Dynasty 15, by the Egyptian chronology. The geography field says "From Canaan, Levant"; no site is named. The provenance begins with a purchase by Reverend Chauncey Murch between 1883 and 1907 and ends with the museum's purchase in 1910. The scarab is on view in Gallery 111.
An Egyptian date for an object from Canaan
The record gives a period and dynasty from the Egyptian scheme because scarabs are an Egyptian type that spread to Canaan as well. On this site the object stays in the Levant region, per the geography field, and is not attributed to the culture of Egypt: three questions, where the object is from, by which scheme it is dated and to which culture it belongs, receive three separate answers, each as the source words it.
Its place on the timeline
In the site's Levant scheme the range 1640 to 1550 BCE lies entirely inside the Bronze Age (3300 to 1200 BCE). The placement here is "by its dating": the record names no Levant period, and only the numeric range allows the placement.
Where it is now
The scarab is held by The Metropolitan Museum of Art, record 10.130.398, and on 22 October 2026 the record stated "On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 111".
The object's connections
The object's connections
Culture, period, place, type and holder: every connection comes from the record or a cited source.
Object
Scarab with a crocodile-headed figure
Period
- The Bronze Age: cities and connectionsBy its dating
Region
Kind of find
Displayed at
- The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New YorkGallery 111, The Met Fifth Avenue
Compare
- Scarab amulet from LishtTwo scarabs: one "from Canaan", one from a tomb at Lisht; the same form, two kinds of record
Source
Sources and further reading
The research and references behind this page. Rights to external content remain with their owners.
- 1
Scarab with a Crocodile Headed Figure Holding a Flower, collection record 10.130.398
The Metropolitan Museum of Art · Checked
- 2
Egypt, 2000–1000 B.C. (Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History, chronology)
The Metropolitan Museum of Art · Checked
- 3
The Eastern Mediterranean and Syria, 2000-1000 B.C.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art · 2000 · Checked
