An Unusual Mutilation of the Crocodile Hieroglyphic Sign in an Early Middle Kingdom Stela from the Sanctuary II of Heqaib at Elephantine

The article presents the stela of Jj, which is the only inscribed object found in the older sanctuary (II) of Heqaib in Elephantine. While the find context can be firmly dated to the time of Senwosret I, stylistic and epigraphic features give rise to a discussion about the date of the stela’s manufacture, as these initially suggest a date in the late Eleventh Dynasty. Particularly remarkable is the mutilation of the crocodile sign in the hieroglyphic inscription, which is a unique feature. The attestation of a mutilated sign during the early Middle Kingdom at a peripheral site like Elephantine, suggests the phenomenon of the manipulation of hieroglyphic signs, as attested in the Pyramid Texts and late Old Kingdom private funerary contexts, might have continued for a longer time in a cultural level largely invisible in the archaeological record.