Some Old Kingdom execration figurines from the Teti Cemetery

Study of the Old Kingdom execration figurines from the Teti cemetery at Saqqara, published in AEB 1973.0005. The author establishes the reading of the, mostly foreign, names inscribed on the individual pieces and argues them to date to the reign of Pepi II. In his commentary the author notes that just the very fact that the pieces were obviously produced in a time-saving way shows most clearly that they should not be considered as occasional private enterprises but rather as a matter-of-fact business of the state. Given the very close dates on the jars found by Junker at Giza, the Egyptian state in the Old Kingdom supposedly carried out execration rituals of the sort on an almost daily basis, in which saving time and manpower on the actual procedure must have been a major issue. (OEB)