Images

Bones decorated with carvings from Loughcrew, Co. Meath, Ireland, 2nd century BCE. National Museum of Ireland-Archaeology, Dublin.

The mummy, wrapped in linen bandages, is enclosed in a body-shaped envelope of cartonnage (a light-weight material composed of layers of gummed linen and plaster), which could be moulded to the desired shape. The surface is decorated with...

Saddle-shaped quern (grindstone) and its rubber, found at Rathgall Hillfort, Rath East, Co. Wicklow, Ireland, 900-500 BCE. National Museum of Ireland-Archaeology, Dublin.

Offerings were placed upon a reed mat, reproduced in stone as the offering tables of the Dynastic periods. On this royal example, the hieroglyph hetep "offering" is written on the surface. The sign comprises a bound reed mat with a domed...

Brick tomb chapels for the richer members of the society contained stone elements inscribed in hieroglyphics with religious texts to ensure an eternal supply of offerings for the deceased. On this block, the figures of Hetepneb, a local administrator...

Three gold torcs, found at Tipper South, Co. Kildare, Ireland, 1200-1000 BCE. National Museum of Ireland-Archaeology, Dublin.

Hollow gold balls, found at Tumna, Co. Roscommon, Ireland, in 1843, dating to the Late Bronze Age. National Museum of Ireland-Archaeology, Dublin. Eleven balls are said to have been found when a group of men were tilling land near Tumna...

The locality of excavation of this decorated flat axehead is unknown. Circa 1600 BCE. (National Museum of Ireland-Archaeology, Dublin, Republic of Ireland)

Mould for palstave, a form of early Bronze Age axes, found near Dromore, Co. Down, Ireland, 1500-1000 BCE. National Museum of Ireland-Archaeology, Dublin.

This "block statue" shows a man in the pious position of squatting on the ground like a temple guardian, hands folded across his knees. The hieroglyphic inscription identifies this sitter as Rey, overseer of the treasury and of the granaries...