Funerary scarab

This funerary amulet carved from stone depicts the dung beetle (Scarabaeus sacer) naturalistically, with its legs in high relief tucked underneath the abdomen. Unlike scarabs which have a flat underside with protective symbols or a short inscription, and which could also function as seals and be used in everyday life, this type of amulet only appears in a funerary context to help the deceased in their journey through the afterlife. Similar amulets began to appear in the Twenty-sixth dynasty (664–525 BC) and were found in groups on the chests of Late Period (722–332 BC) mummies. From the earliest times the natural behaviour of the adult dung beetle rolling a ball of dung across the sand was associated with the sun god rising and being reborn at each dawn. The Egyptian noun scarab literally means ’that which comes into being’, and thereby the amulet was associated with the creation of new life and with rebirth for the deceased.