Relief fragment from the mortuary temple of Amenemhat I

In the pictureSeveral rows of hieroglyphs are carved into a limestone slab. The upper part holds vessels, birds and human-figure signs; the lower part has rows of bread, jars and ankh signs. The upper right corner has broken away. The museum's image is black and white, so the color of the stone cannot be seen, but the depth of the carving shows clearly.

BackgroundThe walls of pyramid temples were carved with hieroglyphic lists of offerings for the king. Because the signs themselves are pictures of the offerings, the wall goes on presenting them forever, even with no one there to read it. This fragment comes from the temple of Amenemhat I, and since each sign stands out in raised relief, it is also used as a reference for the script's letterforms.

Puzzle tipWith a black-and-white relief, you solve by shape alone. Fit the easy-to-recognize signs such as birds and human figures first, and sort the repeated jar and bread signs by the row they belong to. Build the border from the dark pieces of the broken upper right and the edge pieces of the slab. 48 pieces work well.