Boat models from the Early Dynastic settlement of Elkab. New insights on the archaeology of Early Dynastic domestic contexts

The excavations of the Royal Museums of Art and History (Brussels) at Elkab are revealing the origins and dynamic development of this provincial town site. From a small community with a subsistence economy that was primarily based on farming and fishing in the Predynastic Period, the settlement expanded and developped into a fully urbanised society in pharaonic times. During the excavation of several well- dated houses of the 2nd Dynasty, seven fragmentary boat models were discovered. These small objects raise interesting questions regarding daily life in a provincial settlement at the onset of the 3rd millennium BCE. Boat models are well known from funerary or cultic spheres, but few of them have been discovered in settlement contexts. Like anthropomorphic and zoomorphic statuettes, they are generally considered to be ex votos and their presence inside settlements allows us to reconsider the evolution and functions of these objects.