Sweret Bead
Middle Kingdom
Not on view
The sweret is a barrel-shaped bead-amulet made of carnelian. This element of funerary jewelry was usually found at the throat of a mummy, but Wah's seweret-bead is strung on a short length of linen thread suggesting that it was intended to be worn as a ring. It was found clutched in Wah's left hand.
Wah's jewelry was revealed when his mummy was x-rayed in 1939. To no one's surprise, the films showed that his body had been adorned with typical funerary jewelry of the early Middle Kingdom: a broad collar, bracelets, and anklets made of tubular beads (40.3.2–.10) of Egyptian faience, and this sweret-bead. Unexpectedly, he also had personal jewelry of stone and metal (40.3.11–.19). When the mummy was unwrapped in 1940, the superb jewelry was seen for the first time since Wah's burial some 39 centuries earlier.
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