Pendant in the Form of a Human Face

Pendant in the Form of a Human Face

A bone pendant amulet in the form of a stylised human bust in profile, facing right. The colouration is pale green on the surface with areas in relief in a buff colour. The top of the amulet consists of a rectangular element above the head, perhaps a headdress, with roughly indicated hair below left. There is a hole pierced through the amulet between this element and the hair. The neck is cut in to the left and on the right the nose and chin protrude, with the mouth indicated by a single line. The eye is created by a deep hole surrounded by an inscribed circle. The shoulders are roughly formed and sit on a rectangular plinth at the base of the amulet. The back is flat and mostly green.

Colonel Dr David Gifford Croll CBE VD MID MB found the pendant among ruins at Esdud (ancient Ashdod) in Palestine in 1917 and donated it to the Queensland Museum in 1927, along with a collection ancient flints collected during the First World War and other items. Originally the pendant was thought to be Philistine and made of faience. Despite some general similarities to artistic depictions of the 'Sea Peoples' with their feathered headdresses, it seems more likely that the pendant is later in date, perhaps Roman, and made of bone.

Several Roman bone dolls are known from the region, often with a blue-green patina and sporting headdresses. The form of the figure does not match known examples of Philistine or Egyptian amulets or figurines, and the surface appears to have been carved, as with bone, rather than moulded, as with faience. No exact parallel for this artefact has been identified.

AD 100 - AD 600

Height: 19 mm

Width: 8 mm

Depth: 3 mm

C.006.004

QM E40034

© Queensland Museum, Peter Waddington.

Collected by Col. Dr David Gifford Croll CBE VD MID MB Ashdod, Palestine, 1917.
Donated by Col. Dr David Gifford Croll CBE VD MID MB to the Queensland Museum, April 1927.

Queensland Museum, Brisbane

Winter, T. (2015). Late Roman Funerary Customs in Light of the Grave Goods from the Cemetery on Sallah ed-Din Street, Jerusalem. 'Atiqot, 80, 81-123. www.jstor.org/stable/24484270.

Queensland Museum Miscellaneous Register, A1078.

P.006

Mr James Donaldson