9. Bead Necklaces 

These necklaces are made from various garnet and carnelian beads. The amuletic pendant, fashioned into the form of a milk flask, may connect to the idea of sustenance. The red beads may have had additional symbolic resonances in a funerary context (e.g. regeneration, protection). The first necklace was found in one of the royal tombs (L11), which was found to contain numerous furnishings, including an incenser burner with a representation of the Horus bird and 'eggshell ware' pottery. The second one was found in the same tomb as one of the quartz palettes (no. 8, from Tomb L17). Despite the fact that it was interpreted as non-royal, it was discovered to contain many personal accessories and vessels, including a few Egyptian wares and an ivory cylinder seal. Both carnelian and garnet sources are known in Nubia, near Toshka near Abu Simbel and in the Nubian Western Desert. These veins were also the main source for Egyptian chalcedony artifacts, including carnelian. The latter stone appears to have been processed locally at Qustul. Qustul’s location near the Second Cataract was strategic: it controlled the entrance of trade routes along the Nile and those leading to the Western Desert and oases.