DOI: 10.33547/Aegypt2025.18
Only for the dead or also for the living? Use-wear analysis of razor blades from the southern part of the Eastern Kom at Tell el-Farkha. Season 2015
by: Jakub Skłucki 
in: M.A. Jucha, J. Dębowska-Ludwin, G. Bąk-Pryc (eds), Per vias Aegypti et Orientis Medii. Studies Presented to Krzysztof M. Ciałowicz, Kraków: Institute of Archaeology Jagiellonian University, Archaeologica Foundation, Profil-Archeo Publishing House, 2025, pp. 203-208.
Abstract: This article aims to present the results of an analysis conducted on the utilization of the razor blades discovered at the Tell el-Farkha site during the 2015 excavation season. The razor blades occurred in Egypt from the beginning of the 1st to the end of the 4th Dynasty. Razor blades are standardized tools with retouching on both ends. They were made from massive, regular blades produced from various type of high-quality flint. Their variability in their period of occurrence has also been well recognized, which is why they are good chronological determinants. These tools certainly served as grave goods, because initially they were found mainly in cemeteries. An example is the collection from the tomb of Hetep-Heres in Giza, where they were discovered along with a set of tools for cosmetic treatments, such as copper and gold razors, to which they were very similar – that is why they began to be called razor blades in the literature. However, in the following years, razor blades began to be discovered also at settlement sites. Taking into account the context of occurrence of these tools, but also their shape and retouching, the question of the use of these tools seems to be an interesting issue – whether they were only grave gifts or were used for other purposes. This issue has not been properly researched yet.