‘Shabti precursors?’ An unusual group of human figures from Harageh tomb 112 (late Middle Kingdom, c. 1800 BC)

The article considers an unusual group of faience miniatures representing very stylized human figures found in the cemeteries of Harageh and datable to the late Middle Kingdom. Labelled by Engelbach as ‘not clear’, their dating, origin and function still remained unexplored. Indeed, although they are rather unmatched in the Middle Kingdom material culture, they may have been inspired by similar miniature figurines found in the Early Dynastic–early Old Kingdom temples at sites such as Abydos and Elephantine. However, the figurines from Harageh differ from their archetypes, having been found in funerary contexts and not in temples. As a working hypothesis, the author suggests that a comparison can be made between the Harageh group and the anthropoid figures in wax and mud found at Deir el-Bahari dating to the early Middle Kingdom. The link between the two groups is a mud figurine discovered at Lahun, which shows anatomical analogies with the miniatures from Harageh and was found within a miniature mud coffin. Although the figurines from Harageh were not preserved within any coffin or sarcophagus, their function could have been similar, as representations of human beings to be dedicated to the deceased, which could have inspired the later development of the first proper shabtis.