Fantastic creatures and cobras from Tell el-Farkha

Among figurines discovered in the votive deposit from Tell el-Farkha there is an interesting group composed of two representations of fantastic creatures and four of attacking cobras. The most important of these figurines is the representation of a griffin with a human head, hands and breasts and a body of a large feline, holding a large wine jar between his legs, who is the first known such an obvious representation of this creature in small plastic. The only analogy, however disputable, is a small figurine from the Ashmolean Museum, which represents a lying feline whose head probably ended with a beak. Some much clearer griffin’ representations in relief appear on a few late predynastic objects: a tusk fragment from the Main Deposit in Hierakonpolis, the Oxford palette, the Gebel Tarif knife handle and the dagger from Abydos. The second fantastic creature from Tell el-Farkha is a female-faced snake emerging from a basket. Presumably it is the oldest figural representation of Wadjet, the divine ruler’s protector, that comes from Lower Egypt and was depicted in the nebti name. The oldest (Naqada IIIB) presently known notation of the name was discovered on a clay seal from the Central Kom in Tell el-Farkha. Four cobras from the deposit are depicted in poses identical with the later uraei. They might had been elements of some larger objects (such as crowns), which is suggested by both their size and the holes in their tails, the latter undoubtedly meant for fastening.