A stone vessel of princess Itakayet of the 12 th Dynasty from Tomb VII at Tell Mišrife/Qatna (Syria)

Abstract

Among the objects found within Tomb VII discovered in 2009 at Tell Mišrife/Qatna, one Egyptian stone vessel with a hieroglyphic inscription was recovered. The inscription on the stone vessel references an Egyptian princess with the name of Itakayet, a name apparently attested for several princesses of the 12 th Dynasty (Middle Kingdom). The present article concerns the hieroglyphic inscription of the vessel, the princess' identity and the chronological implications pertaining to the vessel's possible dispatch to the northern Levant and ultimately Qatna. Additionally, Egyptian finds from the site of Qatna, especially the famous "Sphinx of Ita" found by Robert Comte Du Mesnil du Buisson within the debris of the Bronze Age palace in 1927, as well as Egyptian objects from other northern Levantine sites will be briefly discussed in order to shed more light on the function of these imports within the cultural sphere of the northern Levant during the 2 nd millennium BC. © 20010 by Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften, Wien.