Surveyor's Stake from a Foundation Deposit for Hatshepsut's Temple

New Kingdom

On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 116

The Egyptian foundation ceremony was called "the stretching of the cord." This refers to the ritual of dedicating a temple, but it also describes the action of laying out the temple's ground plan by driving stakes into the earth and stretching a piece of cord between them. The stake (22.3.246) and a mallet (22.3.245) in this photograph are from one of the foundation deposit delineating the perimeter of Hatshepsut's temple at Deir el-Bahri.

Surveyor's Stake from a Foundation Deposit for Hatshepsut's Temple, Wood

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Surveyor's Stake from a Foundation Deposit for Hatshepsut's Temple, Wood
Surveyor's Stake from a Foundation Deposit for Hatshepsut's Temple, Wood
Surveyor's Stake from a Foundation Deposit for Hatshepsut's Temple, Wood
Surveyor's Stake from a Foundation Deposit for Hatshepsut's Temple, Wood
Surveyor's Stake from a Foundation Deposit for Hatshepsut's Temple, Wood
Surveyor's Stake from a Foundation Deposit for Hatshepsut's Temple, Wood

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