Commonly Used Materials for Creating Ancient Egyptian Symbols

The ancient Egyptian Symbols were built from a number of materials which were made depending on the context and purpose of each symbol. the materials used to create ancient Egyptian symbols depended on the resources available to the creator. Stone and metals were popular for more permanent symbols while wood, faience, and papyrus were often used for smaller, more portable objects. Stone was the most frequent material as it can stand the test of time and was extremely durable which also explains why the ancient Egyptians carved and adorned the hieroglyphs across the temples and tombs of Egypt. Many metals like gold, Iapis Iazuli, electrum, silver, and bronze were used to make symbols in the shape of amulets in order to offer protection. Wood was used to make symbols which were crafted to make everyday life objects like furniture, tools, amulets, and household items. Faience which is a ceramic material was created to make a number of amulets, beads, and small figurines that each were colored and decorated with magical ancient Egyptian symbols and intricate designs. The Egyptian Egyptians used papyrus as a form of paper in the shape of scrolls which held a number of facts written with symbols and hieroglyphs.

Origin Hieroglyphs may have emerged from the preliterate artistic traditions of Egypt. For example, symbols on Gerzean pottery from c. 4000 BC have been argued to resemble hieroglyphic writing. The first full sentence written in mature hieroglyphs so far discovered was found on a seal impression in the tomb of Seth-Peribsen at Umm el-Qa’ab, which dates from the Second Dynasty (28th or 27th century BC). Around 800 hieroglyphs are known to date back to the Old Kingdom, Middle Kingdom and New Kingdom Eras. By the Greco-Roman period, there were more than 5,000. Geoffrey Sampson stated that Egyptian hieroglyphs “came into existence a little after Sumerian script, and, probably, [were] invented under the influence of the latter”, and that it is “probable that the general idea of expressing words of a language in writing was brought to Egypt from Sumerian Mesopotamia”. There are many instances of early Egypt-Mesopotamia relations but given the lack of direct evidence for the transfer of writing, “no definitive determination has been made as to the origin of hieroglyphics in ancient Egypt”. Others have held that “the evidence for such direct influence remains flimsy” and that “a very credible argument can also be made for the independent development of writing in Egypt.